vol VII: Notes

2014

Notes

[Notebook: DB 77 Discretion]

[Sunday 8 June 2014 - Saturday 14 Jue 2014]

[page 153]

Sunday 8 June 2014

Monday 9 June 2014

Why did I join the Order of preachers?Now, fifty years after I did it, I have at last devised what I consider to be the foundation of an ethically preachable theology and I find myself rather reluctant to preach it. Public personality I am not. Perhaps I look upon my theology rather as I have looked upon newborn children in the past, a treasure to be stared at

[page 154]

and enjoyed rather than an event to be shouted from the rooftops. It seems after my surgery and cancer diagnosis, that I am due for a little holiday and to have some time to think about my position. My feeling, some time ago, that my best way forward is academic has returned, and although there will be some difficulty financing it, it is probably time to.

Tuesday 10 June 2014

Wednesday 11 June 2014

Thursday 12 June 2014

Friday 13 June 2014

Viceroy

Hayek: Hayek

Why does the number of fixed points in the universal dynamics increase? Why doesn't the initial configuration of pure fixed point free dynamics remain eternal, as Aquinas god is said to do. The answer so far is Cantor's theorem: that non-increase of fixed ponts is inconsistent, ie inconsistent with itself. Once we have one fixed point, it is logically necessary that there be two, ad infinitum.

Hayek page 29: 'We have now reached the point at which the main contention of this chapter will be readily intelligible. It is that the case for individual freedom rests chiefly on the recognition of the inevitable ignorance [symmetry] of all of us concerning a great many of the factors on which the achievement of our ends and welfare depends.'

'Liberty is essential in order to leave room for the unforeseeable and unpredictable; we want it because we have learned to expect from it the opportunity of realizing our aims.' Liberty, symmetry, indeterminism.

[page 155]

Hayek page 30: Denialism: 'Compared with the totality of knowledge which is continually utilized in the evolution of dynamic civilization, the diference between the knowledge that the wisest and that which the most ignorant individual can deliberately employ is comparatively insignificant,' Rubbish, treats knowledge as a volume of data rather than meaning. On the other hand, any detail, no matter how small, may lead to a new train of though and Hayek is in effect expressing the idea that the space of incomputable functions is infinitely larger than the space of computable functions.

Logic only applies to fixed points since there is nothing in between the fixed points for it to get a grip on. From an engineering point of view (including software engineering), we use fixed points (algorithms, crankshafts etc) to control dynamics, but we use the desired dynamics to guide our choice of fixed points, what we might call intelligent design, ie design intended to achieve a certain dynamic end, like a steam engine. The relationship of genotype and phenotype is a relationship between fixed points and dynamics where the role of intelligent design is carried out by the selection of fit dynamics.

The future of the world is threatened by libertarians who do not recognise that there are some things we should not do, ie things that are contrary to our collective survival.

As scientist nothing is too much trouble of it leads to the desired result.

Christian theologians might like to think that Kuhn's ideas do not apply to their discipline. The intention of this article is to demonstrate otherwise. Kuhn

The absurdity of the doctrine of infallibility is

[page 156]

demonstrated by the absurdity of the doctrines that have been infallibly defined vis a vis Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Pius XII, Roman Catholic Mariology - Wikipedia

Saturday 14 June 2014

Hayek page 37: 'The argument for liberty is not an argument against organization, which is one of the most powerful means that human reason can employ, but an argument against all exclusive, privileged, monopolistic organization, against the use of coercion to prevent others from trying to do better.'

Francis July Sectarianism.

Copyright:

You may copy this material freely provided only that you quote fairly and provide a link (or reference) to your source.

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Further reading

Books

Click on the "Amazon" link below each book entry to see details of a book (and possibly buy it!)

Damasio, Antonio R, The Feeling of What Happens : Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness , Harcourt Brace 1999 Jacket: 'In a radical departure from current views on consciousness, Damasio contends that explaining how we make mental images or attend to those images will not suffice to elucidate the mystery. A satisfactory hypothesis for the making of consciousness must explain how the sense of self comes to mind. Damasio suggests that the sense of self does not depend on memory or on reasoning or even less on language. [it] depends, he argues, on the brain's ability to portray the living organism in the act of relating to an object. That ability, in turn, is a consequence of the brain's involvement in the process of regulating life. The sense of self began as yet another device aimed an ensuring survival.'  Amazon   back

Hayek, Friedrich A., The Constitution of Liberty, The University of Chicago Press 1978 'Friedrich August Hayek (1899-1992), recipient of the Medal of Freedom in 1991 and co-winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 1974, was a pioneer in monetary theory and the principal proponent of libertarianism in the twentieth century. He taught at the University of London, the University of Chicago, and the University of Freiburg. His influence on the economic policies in capitalist countries has been profound, especially during the Reagan administration in the U.S. and the Thatcher government in the U.K.'  Amazon   back

Jech, Thomas, Set Theory, Springer 1997 Jacket: 'This book covers major areas of modern set theory: cardinal arithmetic, constructible sets, forcing and Boolean-valued models, large cardinals and descriptive set theory. ... It can be used as a textbook for a graduate course in set theory and can serve as a reference book.'  Amazon   back

Kuhn, Thomas S, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, U of Chicago Press 1996 Introduction: 'a new theory, however special its range of application, is seldom just an increment to what is already known. Its assimilation requires the reconstruction of prior theory and the re-evaluation of prior fact, an intrinsically revolutionary process that is seldom completed by a single man, and never overnight.' [p 7]   Amazon   back

Needham, Joseph, Science and Civilisation in China (Volume 2) History of Scientific Thought, Cambridge UP 1956   Amazon   back

Links

Aquinas 45, Whether this is a good definition of eternity, "The simultaneously-whole and perfect possession of interminable life"., I answer that, As we attain to the knowledge of simple things by way of compound things, so must we reach to the knowledge of eternity by means of time, which is nothing but the numbering of movement by "before" and "after". For since succession occurs in every movement, and one part comes after another, the fact that we reckon before and after in movement, makes us apprehend time, which is nothing else but the measure of before and after in movement. Now in a thing bereft of movement, which is always the same, there is no before or after. As therefore the idea of time consists in the numbering of before and after in movement; so likewise in the apprehension of the uniformity of what is outside of movement, consists the idea of eternity. Further, those things are said to be measured by time which have a beginning and an end in time, because in everything which is moved there is a beginning, and there is an end. But as whatever is wholly immutable can have no succession, so it has no beginning, and no end. Thus eternity is known from two sources: first, because what is eternal is interminable--that is, has no beginning nor end (that is, no term either way); secondly, because eternity has no succession, being simultaneously whole. back

No cloning theorem - Wikipedia, No cloning theorem - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The no cloning theorem is a result of quantum mechanics which forbids the creation of identical copies of an arbitrary unknown quantum state. It was stated by Wootters, Zurek, and Dieks in 1982, and has profound implications in quantum computing and related fields.' back

Pius XII, Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus, ' by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory. 45. Hence if anyone, which God forbid, should dare willfully to deny or to call into doubt that which we have defined, let him know that he has fallen away completely from the divine and Catholic Faith. back

Roman Catholic Mariology - Wikipedia, Roman Catholic Mariology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The four dogmas of Perpetual virginity, Mother of God, Immaculate Conception and Assumption form the basis of Mariology.[12] However, a number of other Catholic doctrines about the Virgin Mary have been developed by reference to sacred scripture, theological reasoning and Church tradition.[13] The development of Mariology is ongoing and since the beginnings it has continued to be shaped by theological analyses, writings of saints, and papal statements, e.g. while two Marian dogmas are ancient, the other two were defined in the 19th and 20th centuries; and papal teachings on Mary have continued to appear in recent times.' back