2013/12/1 Bruno Marchal <marc...@ulb.ac.be>

>
> On 01 Dec 2013, at 12:32, Quentin Anciaux wrote:
>
>
>
>
> 2013/12/1 Bruno Marchal <marc...@ulb.ac.be>
>
>>
>> On 01 Dec 2013, at 09:51, Quentin Anciaux wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> 2013/12/1 Bruno Marchal <marc...@ulb.ac.be>
>>
>>>
>>> On 30 Nov 2013, at 22:37, meekerdb wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>>>>> I can conceive of (with apologies to H. L. Mencken), Agdistis or
>>>>>>>> Angdistis, Ah Puch, Ahura Mazda, Alberich, Allah, Amaterasu, An, 
>>>>>>>> Anansi,
>>>>>>>> Anat, Andvari, Anshar, Anu, Aphrodite, Apollo, Apsu, Ares, Artemis,
>>>>>>>> Asclepius, Athena, Athirat, Athtart, Atlas, Baal, Ba Xian, Bacchus, 
>>>>>>>> Balder,
>>>>>>>> Bast, Bellona, Bergelmir, Bes, Bixia Yuanjin, Bragi, Brahma, Brent, 
>>>>>>>> Brigit,
>>>>>>>> Camaxtli, Ceres, Ceridwen, Cernunnos, Chac, Chalchiuhtlicue, Charun,
>>>>>>>> Chemosh, Cheng-huang, Clapton, Cybele, Dagon, Damkina (Dumkina), 
>>>>>>>> Davlin,
>>>>>>>> Dawn, Demeter, Diana, Di Cang, Dionysus, Ea, El, Enki, Enlil, Eos, 
>>>>>>>> Epona,
>>>>>>>> Ereskigal, Farbauti, Fenrir, Forseti, Fortuna, Freya, Freyr, Frigg, 
>>>>>>>> Gaia,
>>>>>>>> Ganesha, Ganga, Garuda, Gauri, Geb, Geong Si,                    
>>>>>>>> Guanyin,
>>>>>>>> Hades, Hanuman, Hathor, Hecate (Hekate), Helios, Heng-o (Chang-o),
>>>>>>>> Hephaestus, Hera, Hermes, Hestia, Hod, Hoderi, Hoori, Horus, Hotei,
>>>>>>>> Huitzilopochtli, Hsi-Wang-Mu, Hygeia, Inanna, Inti, Iris, Ishtar, Isis,
>>>>>>>> Ixtab, Izanaki, Izanami, Jesus, Juno, Jehovah, Jupiter, Juturna,
>>>>>>>> Kagutsuchi, Kartikeya, Khepri, Ki, Kingu, Kinich Ahau, Kishar, Krishna,
>>>>>>>> Kuan-yin, Kukulcan, Kvasir, Lakshmi, Leto, Liza, Loki, Lugh, Luna, 
>>>>>>>> Magna
>>>>>>>> Mater, Maia, Marduk, Mars, Mazu, Medb, Mercury, Mimir, Min, Minerva,
>>>>>>>> Mithras, Morrigan, Mot, Mummu, Muses, Nammu, Nanna, Nanna (Norse), 
>>>>>>>> Nanse,
>>>>>>>> Neith, Nemesis, Nephthys, Neptune, Nergal, Ninazu, Ninhurzag, Nintu,
>>>>>>>> Ninurta, Njord, Nugua, Nut, Odin, Ohkuninushi, Ohyamatsumi, Orgelmir,
>>>>>>>> Osiris, Ostara, Pan, Parvati, Phaethon, Phoebe, Phoebus Apollo, 
>>>>>>>> Pilumnus,
>>>>>>>> Poseidon, Quetzalcoatl, Rama, Re, RheaSabazius, Sarasvati, Selene, 
>>>>>>>> Shiva,
>>>>>>>> Seshat, Seti (Set), Shamash, Shapsu, Shen Yi, Shiva, Shu, Si-Wang-Mu, 
>>>>>>>> Sin,
>>>>>>>> Sirona, Sol, Surya, Susanoh, Tawaret, Tefnut, Tezcatlipoca, Thanatos, 
>>>>>>>> Thor,
>>>>>>>> Thoth, Tiamat, Tianhou, Tlaloc, Tonatiuh, Toyo-Uke-Bime, Tyche, Tyr, 
>>>>>>>> Utu,
>>>>>>>> Uzume, Vediovis, Venus, Vesta, Vishnu, Volturnus, Vulcan, Xipe, Xi 
>>>>>>>> Wang-mu,
>>>>>>>> Xochipilli, Xochiquetzal, Yam, Yarikh, YHWH, Ymir, Yu-huang, Yum Kimil 
>>>>>>>> and
>>>>>>>> Zeus. But I see no reason to believe any of them exist.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Which means it is up to you to prove that none of those Gods can
>>>>>>> exist.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Just because I, or someone else, can conceive of them?  Is that how
>>>>>> you accept the burden of proof - you must either believe in whatever 
>>>>>> anyone
>>>>>> conceives of or else provide a disproof?
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Well, you are the one saying that no Gods exist,
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> No, I said I see no reason to believe in them.
>>>>
>>>
>>> That makes you agnostic, not atheist. I recall you that agnostic = ~[]g
>>> (& ~[]~g). Atheist = []~g.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  You said that being able to conceive of gods makes it hard to
>>>> disbelieve in God.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Once you accept that we are ignorant on the origin of the physical
>>> universe, you can be open to different sort of explanation. "God" points on
>>> an explanation is not physical, but it does not mean it takes some Fairy
>>> tale into account. The God of comp is the God of the Parmenides, which is
>>> the base of the neoplatonist theology (Plotinus, Proclus). Such a
>>> conception is close to Augustin and the christian mystics, the Soufis, the
>>> Kabbala, and the East spirituallity.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  I'm saying it is only when you conceive of something that you can say
>>>> you fail to believe it exists.  Otherwise you don't know what you are
>>>> denying.
>>>>
>>>
>>> That's my exact point.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>  so you are the one pretending having a clear referent for each of the
>>>>> name above, and you are the one acting like if you knew that none exist.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Right.  Of course I don't have clear referent of each one, but someone
>>>> did.  They were worshiped and prayed to and sacrificed for.  But being able
>>>> to conceive of them is what makes it possible say I don't believe in them -
>>>> otherwise I wouldn't know what I was failing to believe.  It doesn't make
>>>> it harder to disbelieve; it makes it *possible*.
>>>>
>>>
>>> We have been naive on thunder, sun, moon, and many things. Obviously we
>>> have been naive on God too, but that is not a reason to abandon the idea,
>>> which is basically the idea that the physical universe has a non physical
>>> reason.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Atheists, like fundamentalists often talk like if they were not
>>>>> ignorant in those matter. but in science, not only we are ignorant, but 
>>>>> the
>>>>> very subject is denied by some scientists (when atheists).
>>>>>
>>>>> People like Gödel and Einstein where pissed of by "free-thinkers" and
>>>>> "atheists", because they were quite aware of their dogmatic attitude. I
>>>>> would have read them about that subject, I would have been less naive, and
>>>>> probably run away from them.
>>>>>
>>>>> Atheism and fundamentalist theism is really the same. Same God, same
>>>>> Matter. And same violent responses against the doubter and the agnostics.
>>>>> Same visceral negative attitude against the application of the scientific
>>>>> attitude in the theological field.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I'm fine with applying the scientific attitude to the theological field.
>>>>
>>>
>>> That is my only point here, besides the study of machine's or number's
>>> theology (G* minus G).
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  And it is characteristic of science that it does not confirm theories,
>>>> but sometimes refutes or makes theories very improbable.  The theory that
>>>> the world was created by a superperson who cares about humans and judges
>>>> them and will reward or punish them and answer prayers, the theory known as
>>>> "theism", has been tested and found false.
>>>>
>>>
>>> If that is true, we abandon that notion of God, and then we can come
>>> back to the original scientific conception of God: the Unknown origin of
>>> the Universe.
>>
>>
>> I'm ok with that, why calling that "god" ?
>>
>>
>> Contemporary philosophers call it God. I use the most common term. If I
>> could really choose I would use a more feminine name, as "God" as a
>> masculine connotation which annoy me a lot. The greek  "Theos" means
>> panorama, and is the etymology of "theorem": a result which gives a
>> panoramic view summing the main things.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> You want to be followed and *misunderstood* by all
>> christians/muslims/jewish on earth ?
>>
>>
>> I want to be understood by all agnostic scientists. In science we use the
>> common vocabulary, and we provide technical simplification. When I use the
>> term "biology" instead of "theology", not only this dismissed the G*/G
>> distinction, but I was attacked by people saying that is was theology, and
>> they were right. Using "theology" prevents the work to be labeled
>> "theology" with the negative connotation. I follow both Cantor and Gödel on
>> theology. I have also remark that good willing believer have far less
>> problem with my reasoning, including the fact that I reason on that
>> subject, than with self-labeled atheists. I certainly feel closer to
>> believer than disbeliever (who still believes in a transcendental reality,
>> but take it for granted, and are unaware that physics is not the same field
>> as metaphysics and theology).
>> Then you you read the Muslim, Jewish and Christian theologian (instead of
>> the "sacred texts"), you can discover that they are very often quite
>> rational and serious on the matter, and I have been inspired by many of
>> them.
>>
>>
>>
>> When you write "god", they don't follow what you have in mind,
>>
>>
>> My talk is addressed to all Löbian machine. The vocabulary appears to be
>> a problem only the atheists believers, and of course by any fundamentalist,
>> that are the people who are opposed to come back to accepting our
>> "scientific" ignorance in the matter.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> as such, using god your way is totally misleading because most of the
>> people who read you won't have your meaning in mind.
>>
>>
>>
>> That is true for all terms. What term should I use? I cannot use
>> "reality" or "truth", because that would be the same error than the
>> atheists with the term "universe".
>> Physics studies the universe,
>> but physicalist metaphysics study the consequence that God = the Universe
>> (the universe is the explanation of everything)
>> likewise comp conclude that God = Truth, but that is a consequence, not
>> an assumption.
>> In all case those are different things.
>>
>>
>>
>> As such, you should restrain from using that word, it's useless.
>>
>>
>> What term would you suggest?
>>
>
> What about "ultimate reality" ? Because that's what you say it means...
> It's neutral, does not have all the connotations linked with the word
> god... and eventually, that's what you want to convey.
>
>
>
> But I have not much problem with the connotation with the word God. I
> don't listen to fundamentalists. I reject the answer but I appreciate the
> questions.
>
> Then, one of the most beautiful coherent mystic and rationalist theology,
> the neoplatonist or Plotinus one, get an arithmetical interpretation when
> applying the platonist definition of knowledge (Theaetetus) on machine
> self-referential arithmetical provability (Gödel, Löb, Solovay).
>
> If a machine equates God with "ultimate reality",
>

I do not... I don't equate god with anything.


> or "ultimate truth", or "arithmetical truth", despite she is "correct",
> she became inconsistent. She asserts some G* minus G proposition, on
> herself, in the inconsistent way.
>

No, he/she just use non contreversial word.


>
> God as no description and "ultimate reality" looks already too much to a
> description.
>

That's what you say but see below...


> You will tell me that "arithmetical truth" is also a description. I will
> tell you that this is indeed the subtle point: from inside arithmetic,
> machine's cannot rationally believe that God is arithmetical truth (no more
> than they can rationally believe that they are (consistent) machine).
>
> All we can say is that if comp is correct, god or the ultimate reality
>

You see, it's not that difficult, ultimate reality does not mean more than
utlimate reality...


> is arithmetical truth,
>

So ultimate reality can or can't be arithmetical truth, yet you can call it
ultimate reality without refering to it as god...


> but if a machine believes or proves that god or the ultimate reality
>

once again, it seems you can...


> is arithmetical truth,  or *any* 3p thing, she will be inconsistent.
>

Ok,  if she asserts what *is* ultimate reality, by using the word *god*
you're doing just that, you're applying what you want to fight.


> That explains the hotness of the subject.
>
> G*  minus G is meta-theology, it says what can be true but not rationally
> believed or asserted as such by machine.
>

It is a theory about what is reality ultimately, it is about the primitive
nature of reality, it's not about *god*.


>
> What can be rationally asserted, is that:  IF comp is true then
> arithmetical truth plays the role of God
>

I disagree, it plays the role of ultimate reality noy *god* for the
currently shared accepted meaning.


> for the machine, but no machine can consistently believes that God is
> arithmetical truth,
>

I don't believe in any currently human written god, as such god is not an
adequate word to describe what I believe.

Quentin

for herself. She can prove that for simpler machine than themselves
> (simpler means that the machine as less provability ability in arithmetic).
>
> Machines get mystical when looking inward, they talk like Plotinus and the
> rationalist mystics. Plotinus is quite in pain when he attempts to explain
> that the One has no name, and that calling it "the One" is already a
> mistake. God named is Not God. That's the first axiom of the Tao (called
> Dao nowadays).
>
> I don't know if the 'ultimate reality' is a person, but I am pretty sure
> that the relation that a machine can have with 'it' can be, for a large
> amount, personal and non communicable, and 'god' can be felt more like an
> 'ultimate first person experience', for the mystic machine.
>
> I have no problem with the word "god". I have no problem with the fairy
> tale either. I have problem with all those who take the fairy tales
> seriously, to assert them literally, or to deny them, which I think just
> perpetuate them.
>
> All religion have common points. You might read Aldous Huxley 'Philosophia
> Perennis'. Alan Watts is not bad, Smullyan is very good on the Tao. We can
> focus on them and be open minded in the search of the solution of the
> mind-body problem. Using "God" for the ultimate reality, it seems to me,
> can in the long run enlarge the listening and the understanding of what the
> machines are already telling us.
>
> We can call it X, and what matter is that we agree on proposition on X
> like,
>
> X is has no description
> If x makes a description of X then shit happens in the neighborhood of x,
> X is responsible for all the questions you can have,
> X cannot be invoked in public decision, nor in public proof or explanation
> etc.
>
> Then may be we will be able to formulate and perhaps answer, in this or
> that theory (like comp, or not-comp) if X is a person or a thing, what is
> the nature of our relation with X, etc.
>
> In some context, "ultimate reality" is OK, but in many context "God" will
> better makes the point, like in "God created only the integers". That rings
> better than "The ultimate reality created only the integers". Einstein
> would not have said that the "ultimate reality" is not malicious. Well OK,
> that's easy :)
>
> Bruno
>
>
>
>
> Quentin
>
>
>> People on this list have already provide terms, but it did not work as
>> well as "God", which is used easily to denote the ultimate unknown
>> transcendental reality in all culture, where terms like 'universe',
>> 'reality', 'truth' would beg the question.
>>
>> Aurobindo uses sometimes the term "existence", (see the quote below(*)),
>> but I have explained to Stephen King why this would be disastrous given the
>> precise modern use of "existence" in logic and metaphysics.
>>
>> Another advantage of using "theology" is to remind that comp is a
>> religion, meaning that although comp is science, the *practice* of comp
>> needs a special non provable belief in a form of reincarnation, and that
>> nobody can impose to you that belief, i.e. an artificial brain. It helps to
>> understand the comp ethics which is the right to say "no" to the doctor.
>>
>> Many religious tradition agrees with most features of the comp "God" or
>> "Goddess":
>>
>> - That it is the incomprehensible "reason" of all things.
>> - that is has no name, no description, no images, etc.
>> - that it can't be use in science as an explanation (that follow from the
>> first point above),
>> - that all creatures are confronted with It (again like consciousness),
>> - that it can't be invoked explicitly in terrestrial public decision
>> (like politics),
>> - etc.
>>
>> Is it a sort of person? perhaps, with some large sense of "sort". It has
>> a personal aspect in the manifestation of soul (the inner God that we can
>> all awaken, or simply the first person when not too much sleepy).
>>
>> Bruno
>>
>> (*)
>> *"What, you ask, was the beginning of it all?*
>>
>> *And it is this ...*
>> *Existence that multiplied itself*
>> *For sheer delight of being*
>> *And plunged into numberless trillions of forms*
>> *So that it might*
>> *Find *
>> *Itself*
>> *Innumerably" (Aurobindo)*
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Quentin
>>
>>
>>> It is discussed in many books, including many treatise written by
>>> theologian, in most traditions. Of course such theologians have problems
>>> with the religious institutions. But that is a point in their favor, as
>>> most institutions perpetuates authoritative arguments.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>  But the ONE is not anyone of those, as it has no name.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> A god, with a name, that might be a comp reason to disbelieve in it,
>>>>>>> or to try to look who is hiding beyond the name.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Exactly!  And "God" is a name.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> It is a NickName, pointing on the one without name, and in theology,
>>>>> it is the most common term used. To change its name would be to give an
>>>>> importance of the name. It is the axiom one about God, "It has no name", a
>>>>> bit like the tao, which once named is no more the tao.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> No it's not a nickname, that's why it is capitalized.
>>>>
>>>
>>> It is capitalized because it is unique, and a name of something very
>>> often conceive as a person. With comp, the "person" character of the outer
>>> God is an open problem. But the inner God *is* a person.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  You just like to use it because some atheists gave you a hard time.
>>>>  Otherwise you could call it "reality" or "the tao" or something else not
>>>> implying theism (see definition above).
>>>>
>>>
>>> Not at all. I use it because all the theologians I read use it, and this
>>> in many variate cultures. If I was using TAO, most people would believe
>>> that I defend specifically Taoism, but what I defend is more general than
>>> that, and closer to the Greek notion explained in Plato and Neoplatonism.
>>> The problem I got with atheists came before I use any term from
>>> theology, as they were oppose the word "mind", "consciousness", AI, and
>>> even "computer" for many. I still don't know if the problem was ideological
>>> at the start, but apparently it has become ideological.
>>>
>>> Bruno
>>>
>>>
>>> http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~marchal/
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. (Roy
>> Batty/Rutger Hauer)
>>
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>>
>> http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~marchal/
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. (Roy
> Batty/Rutger Hauer)
>
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>
>  http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~marchal/
>
>
>
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-- 
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. (Roy
Batty/Rutger Hauer)

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