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Author: IainIain Date: Jun 11, 2008 13:12
Consider the state of the whole universe during a single instant. This
is not a new or mystical idea, just the state of everything as it is,
right now. I’ll call this momentary state of the universe an “MSU”.
Think of the MSU as like a snapshot of the present moment, containing
everything, from the momentary position of a baseball in mid-air, the
colour of Mars at that very moment, and, most importantly, the
momentary state of one’s own brain. The MSU contains the state of
one’s brain, and therefore, a moment of one’s subjective experience, a
state of mind, a state of memory, a state of mood, etc, in addition to
the state of the universe outside oneself.
In scenario A, a sequence of MSUs happen in an order that animates a
smooth transition of events. This seems to be what we experience.
In scenario B, the very same MSUs happen, but in a random order. In
this scenario, the contents of each MSU is the same as in scenario A,
but the order in which they happen has been reshuffled randomly. It is
as if one has re-edited a movie, without changing the contents of any
one frame.
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Author: kevirwinkevirwin Date: Jun 11, 2008 13:56
On Jun 11, 4:12 pm, Iain hotmail.com> wrote:> Consider the state of the whole universe during a single instant. This
> is not a new or mystical idea, just the state of everything as it is,
> right now. I’ll call this momentary state of the universe an “MSU”.
> Think of the MSU as like a snapshot of the present moment, containing
> everything, from the momentary position of a baseball in mid-air, the
> colour of Mars at that very moment, and, most importantly, the
> momentary state of one’s own brain. The MSU contains the state of
> one’s brain, and therefore, a moment of one’s subjective experience, a
> state of mind, a state of memory, a state of mood, etc, in addition to
> the state of the universe outside oneself.
>
> In scenario A, a sequence of MSUs happen in an order that animates a
> smooth transition of events. This seems to be what we experience.
>
> In scenario B, the very same MSUs happen, but in a random order. In
> this scenario, the contents of each MSU is the same as in scenario A,
> but the order in which they happen has been reshuffled randomly. It is
> as if one has re-edited a movie, without changing the contents of any
> one frame. ...
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Author: bigfletch8bigfletch8 Date: Jun 11, 2008 17:03
On Jun 12, 6:12 am, Iain hotmail.com> wrote:> Consider the state of the whole universe during a single instant. This
> is not a new or mystical idea, just the state of everything as it is,
> right now. I’ll call this momentary state of the universe an “MSU”.
> Think of the MSU as like a snapshot of the present moment, containing
> everything, from the momentary position of a baseball in mid-air, the
> colour of Mars at that very moment, and, most importantly, the
> momentary state of one’s own brain. The MSU contains the state of
> one’s brain, and therefore, a moment of one’s subjective experience, a
> state of mind, a state of memory, a state of mood, etc, in addition to
> the state of the universe outside oneself.
>
> In scenario A, a sequence of MSUs happen in an order that animates a
> smooth transition of events. This seems to be what we experience.
>
> In scenario B, the very same MSUs happen, but in a random order. In
> this scenario, the contents of each MSU is the same as in scenario A,
> but the order in which they happen has been reshuffled randomly. It is
> as if one has re-edited a movie, without changing the contents of any
> one frame. ...
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Author: Sir FrederickSir Frederick Date: Jun 11, 2008 19:12
On Wed, 11 Jun 2008 13:12:44 -0700 (PDT), Iain hotmail.com> wrote:
>Consider the state of the whole universe during a single instant. This
>is not a new or mystical idea, just the state of everything as it is,
>right now. Ill call this momentary state of the universe...
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Author: ImmortalistImmortalist Date: Jun 11, 2008 20:54
On Jun 11, 1:12 pm, Iain hotmail.com> wrote:> Consider the state of the whole universe during a single instant. This
> is not a new or mystical idea, just the state of everything as it is,
> right now. I’ll call this momentary state of the universe an “MSU”.
> Think of the MSU as like a snapshot of the present moment, containing
> everything, from the momentary position of a baseball in mid-air, the
> colour of Mars at that very moment, and, most importantly, the
> momentary state of one’s own brain. The MSU contains the state of
> one’s brain, and therefore, a moment of one’s subjective experience, a
> state of mind, a state of memory, a state of mood, etc, in addition to
> the state of the universe outside oneself.
>
> In scenario A, a sequence of MSUs happen in an order that animates a
> smooth transition of events. This seems to be what we experience.
>
> In scenario B, the very same MSUs happen, but in a random order. In
> this scenario, the contents of each MSU is the same as in scenario A,
> but the order in which they happen has been reshuffled randomly. It is
> as if one has re-edited a movie, without changing the contents of any
> one frame. ...
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Author: IainIain Date: Jun 11, 2008 23:54
On Jun 12, 4:54 am, Immortalist yahoo.com> wrote:
> This is just one of many
> reasons why it is impossible to label a particular mutation as bad or
> good, independent of context.
But hang on. Before I continue reading...Nobody does this.
"Fitness" has always been about context.
In biology, it means the likelihood of reproducing within its
particular environment.
~Iain
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Author: ErrolErrol Date: Jun 12, 2008 01:56
On Jun 11, 10:12 pm, Iain hotmail.com> wrote:> Consider the state of the whole universe during a single instant. This
> is not a new or mystical idea, just the state of everything as it is,
> right now. I’ll call this momentary state of the universe an “MSU”.
> Think of the MSU as like a snapshot of the present moment, containing
> everything, from the momentary position of a baseball in mid-air, the
> colour of Mars at that very moment, and, most importantly, the
> momentary state of one’s own brain. The MSU contains the state of
> one’s brain, and therefore, a moment of one’s subjective experience, a
> state of mind, a state of memory, a state of mood, etc, in addition to
> the state of the universe outside oneself.
>
> In scenario A, a sequence of MSUs happen in an order that animates a
> smooth transition of events. This seems to be what we experience.
>
> In scenario B, the very same MSUs happen, but in a random order. In
> this scenario, the contents of each MSU is the same as in scenario A,
> but the order in which they happen has been reshuffled randomly. It is
> as if one has re-edited a movie, without changing the contents of any
> one frame. ...
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Author: IainIain Date: Jun 12, 2008 04:55
On Jun 12, 9:56 am, Errol gmail.com> wrote:
> The problem is: where are the snapshots stored?
I asked myself that same question, and I answered it in my original
post:
I said :
" We are free to imagine that objective reality is a
shapeless, timeless, lawless whole, like a singularity, and that an
MSU – containing our present state of mind – is just a cross-section
of that whole, existing like a hypothetical statue within a block of
unsculpted marble.
****** This provides an inexhaustible variety of MSUs.********
This is an intellectually satisfying idea of the universe, because it
answers the question: “why is the universe one particular way and not
another”, with the answer “it isn’t; it has no particulars”. "
~Iain
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Author: IainIain Date: Jun 12, 2008 05:04
On Jun 12, 9:56 am, Errol gmail.com> wrote:> On Jun 11, 10:12 pm, Iain hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>>> Consider the state of the whole universe during a single instant. This
>> is not a new or mystical idea, just the state of everything as it is,
>> right now. I’ll call this momentary state of the universe an “MSU”.
>> Think of the MSU as like a snapshot of the present moment, containing
>> everything, from the momentary position of a baseball in mid-air, the
>> colour of Mars at that very moment, and, most importantly, the
>> momentary state of one’s own brain. The MSU contains the state of
>> one’s brain, and therefore, a moment of one’s subjective experience, a
>> state of mind, a state of memory, a state of mood, etc, in addition to
>> the state of the universe outside oneself.
>
>> In scenario A, a sequence of MSUs happen in an order that animates a
>> smooth transition of events. This seems to be what we experience.
>
>> In scenario B, the very same MSUs happen, but in a random order. In ...
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Author: ZerkonXZerkonX Date: Jun 12, 2008 05:22
On Wed, 11 Jun 2008 13:12:44 -0700, Iain wrote:
> In scenario A, a sequence of MSUs happen in an order that animates a
> smooth transition of events. This seems to be what we experience.
This is numerically derived metaphor. This sequence of 'separate' moments
which then animate existence. Like film frames. So these MSU's when
strung together is experience. What of the time between the two MSU units?
What if there is no real separation from one MSU to another?
Or scenario C: we live a perpetually shifting gradient.
This seems to be a constant error. Thinking that thought is the same as
what is being thought about.
good example:
> The universe began as a singularity
This position is a dead end and little different than creationism. It
just presents a battle between the various who or what or how or whys.
Seeing the universe, or anything else, as an singular effect from a
singular cause is a mental convenience. It is a human utility
resource.
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