Answer by TKoL for Are there some subjects about which we should not even ask...
One philosophical community put a ban on discussing Roko's Basilisk because just knowing about the possibilty of such a being was causing some people distress.
View ArticleAnswer by TKoL for Does the distinction between "weak" and "strong" emergence...
I'm going to respond just to this specific quote:To my mind, emergence evokes a slow progressive process, it starts very small and then it grows progressively. So from that angle, I suspect the...
View ArticleAnswer by TKoL for Would an external observer be the absolute reference frame...
For all we know, to an observer outside the universe, the universe could be a 4, 5, or infinite-dimensional lattice, a crystal. The "reference frame" of the outside observer wouldn't be comparable to...
View ArticleAnswer by TKoL for How does quantum mechanics affect the probability of macro...
To my eye, it looks like multiple questions are being asked at once, so I'm going to try to pick them out and answer them:Is quantum mechanics deterministic, or probabilistically random? You'll read a...
View ArticleAnswer by TKoL for Does Multi-World Interpretation really eliminate...
I think the answer would make more sense if we construct a simple analogy.Imagine you have programmed a little simulated universe on your computer, and in your simulation you have a conscious being...
View ArticleAnswer by TKoL for Must all ultimate causes be mindless?
Either way, the causal chain would brutely start at these laws, not John himself. Where, then, does John enter the causal picture?Your question is arguably the central question of Compatibilism, and...
View ArticleAnswer by TKoL for What are the ontological implications of that “the...
To put it as concisely as possible, I would say that when you hear about 'non-realism' in Quantum Mechanics, it's not to be understood as a statement that NOTHING is real - merely a statement that the...
View ArticleAnswer by TKoL for What does "fundamental" mean?
Take this with a huge grain of salt, but this is how I interpret the word:Many people like to imagine the universe as operating a lot like a computer program, a simulation involving rules, and...
View ArticleAnswer by TKoL for What, if anything, is the flaw in SMBC's "happiness-3" comic?
I think the reasoning of the comic is actually pretty air-tight. Boredom is a mental experience, and such a machine should thus have control of this mental experience, including the control to stop...
View ArticleAnswer by TKoL for 'Free will' as a 'confused concept': Is Ned Block correct?
My question is whether Block is right in saying that there is 'something wrong with the concept' merely because it can't be squeezed into determinism or indeterminism. An initial instinct may be that...
View ArticleAnswer by TKoL for Can an omnipotent being create a world where 1+1=3?
Disclaimer: this is just my own thoughts, and is NOT meant to be me presenting what is objective unquestionable fact.In my view, mathematical facts are, somehow, more primal than just about anything...
View ArticleAnswer by TKoL for Where would consciousness be located in a machine?
The conscious thought I experience is behind my eyes and is located within my skull. I assume that experience is common. however, it may not be?It should be noted, I think, that you would feel like...
View ArticleAnswer by TKoL for Reductionism from a philosophical viewpoint
Reductionism is the idea that knowledge at a higher level can be deduced from the entities and their interaction at a lower levelthere are multiple meanings to reductionism, and this is one of the...
View ArticleAnswer by TKoL for What is lost upon death?
How does physicalism (physical monism) explain what that loss is?The question, to me, seems... kind of absurd. How do we know that someone is dead? How does, for example, an EMT or a doctor decide that...
View ArticleAnswer by TKoL for Can an action be both determined and free?
This question is just another way of phrasing "Is compatibilism true or reasonable?" or "Why do people believe in Compatibilism?" or something along those lines.Like most things in philosophy, there's...
View ArticleAnswer by TKoL for How come non-aesthetic position on art is not really...
In your question, you lay out some qualities someone who accepts the non-aesthetic position on art might have.An artist who is non-aesthetic is not concerned with producing something the majority of...
View ArticleComment by TKoL on Why is the non-aesthetic position on art not absorbed by...
@ScottRowe mothers? Artists who make art out of moths?
View ArticleComment by TKoL on Quantum Physics and Deep Learning, What are possibilities?
If a superintelligent computer were able to analyse the data we have on this type of physics, i wouldn't be massively surprised if it just came up with a model that's exactly isomorphic to the Quantum...
View ArticleAnswer by TKoL for Quantum Physics and Deep Learning, What are possibilities?
What would be if we could record all the quantum behaviors (momentum, rotation, translation, etc) of atomic (or subatomic) particles over a certain period of time (long enough) and the values of the...
View ArticleAnswer by TKoL for If Something Exists Does Everything Exist?
There are in fact many variations of this idea, and it's actually more popular than you might think. It's an intuition that I share.If you want two relatively well-formulated elucidations of the idea,...
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