Hi Craig, and all --
Animism is apparently still alive and well in the MoQ community. At least the repeated assertion that "awareness" is a property of inanimate objects seems to indicate that this belief is prevalent. For example, on 4/11 Craig asked: > How is the South pole of a magnet attracted to the North pole of > another magnet (to use my favorite example), if it is not aware of it? > It is no good to say that they are forced together because that just > pushes the question back one step. Of course, it is an inorganic > awareness, not to be confused with awareness at the biological level. Just what is "an inorganic awareness"? I assume that all the participants on this forum have had a class to two in Physics or Biology. If so, (unless the "progressive movement" in education has abandoned scientific principles) you will not have been taught any such concept. In the absence of a brain and nervous system, there can be no cognition, feeling, or awareness. Rocks, trees and magnets simply are not equipped for psychic sensibility; they are not sentient organisms. There is no awareness at the "inorganic level". To perpetuate the myth that the "attractive" behavior of objects equates with subjective awareness is a regression to pre-enlightened times when it was thought that objects had souls. For those who need it, here's a primer on electro-magnetic force. Every atom is a tiny magnet. If you attach a coil of wire to a battery so that electric current runs through the coil, it becomes magnetic (i.e. an electromagnet). In the same way, the motion and spin of the particles inside an atom cause the atom to be magnetized. In the iron particles of a standard magnet, the atoms are all aligned in the "same direction". Their magnetic fields work together to concentrate the field force. The polarity of the magnetic poles (positive and negative) is determined by which way the atoms face. Moving charges passing through a magnetic field exert a magnetic force that is perpendicular to the magnetic field line. This is unlike electro-motive force (EMF) which radiates parallel to electric field lines. Since electrical conductors radiate from electric charges, electro-motive force attracts charges toward (or away from) the charge producing the electric field. It's common to metaphorically associate the behavior of things observed in nature with human emotions, such as "feeling", "wanting", and "valuing". But a magnet isn't attracted to an iron bar because it is "aware of it", nor does a ball thrown into the air fall because it "values" the ground. When we succumb to a lteral interpretation of such expressions, we debase the value of subjective awareness. The persistence of this myth is particularly insulting to those of us who are advancing a philosophy based on proprietary value. Essentially yours, Ham > http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/ moq_discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
