natural theology

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vol VII: Notes

2015

Notes

[Sunday 3 May 2015 - Saturday 9 May 2015]

[Notebook: DB 78: Catholicism 2.0]

[page 152]

Sunday 3 May 2015

So we see action as the fundamental quantity, a step in a process. A quantum of action. The quantum of action appears in our world with the dimensions ML-1. Energy, the rate of action, is ML2, , ie E = kmv2, as we know. This community

[page 153]

of action binds classical and quantum mechanics. The dimension of action itself should probably be 2, the unit whose frequency measures the flow of energy, so (again) if c = 1, L = T, if = 1, M = L. Dimensional analysis- Wikipedia

E = mc2

Is it an argument for truth that I have followed the same line of thought for fifty year, continually being led on by little flashes of insight.

Monday 4 May 2015

All creatures (systems) live on the boundary between themselves and the world, inside (psychologically) and outside, politically, maintaining a private space (Hilbert space ortogonal to big Ψ, the wave function if the Universe (a bit of a set of all sets problem here). Russell's paradox - Wikipedia

The real issue here is the role of formalism in the world, that is communication. Formalism - Wikipedia

natural theology.net is a stake in internet real estate which is in a position to grow rapidly. There is a deeper issue in the God / not God debate, which is what do we mean by truth: the political (ego) science (symmetry) spectrum.

Epistemology is the study of truth. Truth is a quality of a belief. One can argue about whether the Sun goes round the Earth or the Earth round the Sun. Both have some truth, but from an astronomical point of view it is easier to see what is happening if we imagine the Earth going around the Sun and revolving on its own axis as well. This explains the phenomena quite adequately.

[page 154]

Tuesday 5 May 2015

All the preliminary material to the chapter on theology is designed (hoped) to lend credibility to the notion that the Universe is divine by dealing with potential objections to this approach stating with the simplex / complex dichotomy.

The output of theology is the design of an ideal society to be applied through religion.

The lower layers in a network do not fully understand the use being made of them by the higher layers. Every bit in a large memory may have a specific unique role in a large process but from its own point of view it just responds to the read and write commands and contents in a purely local way. Higher layers don't show in the lower layers.

Wednesday 6 May 2015

Every layer must be self-sustaining if it is to evolve and so cannot be fully dependent upon the layer above. So hardware of a network can exist without transmitting any symbols, but in this particular instance (application) must be curated by users. The user's use of the system, however, is restricted to a subset of the system. In the communication case we manipulate photons and electrons to serve our purpose but they do not know this but follow the new geodesics which we have constructed for them 'by nature' (as Aristotle might have said). This suggests that the corporate personal of humanity is a subset of humanity in general and so is able to do things like genocide with a clear conscience.

CONSCIENCE = INTERNAL CONSISTENCY

[page 155]

One of the elders' jobs, apart from babysitting and curating the tribal wealth is to sort out the humbug. Humbug becomes a serious problem when tribes begin communicating and the protocols for dealing with all sorts of disputes are different in the tribes. The raison d'etre of . . . naturaltheology is to detect and expose the basic universal algorithm of creation and sustenance of complex organisms.

Science had its origins in practical engineering, pumps, drainage, sewerage, and all the practical essentials that were too mundane for the intellectual class to touch. So I would like to write 'now I see God, a day in the life of a tradie' [Jesus was a tradie, at least his father was?]

Thursday 7 May 2015
Friday 8 May 2015

Streater and Wightman and Feynman presume the existence of Minkowski space when they set out to explain fermions and bosons, following Pauli. Here we take the opposite view and wonder if the massless boson explains the nature of light and the exclusion principle the extension of space. Streater & Wightman, Feynman & Weinberg

Each lower layer is present as the alphabet of the layer above it, so energy, represented by the circle group, appears everywhere and is basically a count of action [energy can be split up because it may be seen as a 'dust' of quanta of action]. How do we differentiate the energy count and the entropy count? The complex [number] representation of energy infuses the whole of quantum mechanics.

Saturday 9 May 2015

We build the [observable] Universe one degree of freedom at a time, beginning with energy, the circle group, and them moving on to bosons (photons) which exist outside [prior to] space and time, since they 'move' on null geodesics, and then fermions which create space-time and c.

[page 156]

The key to good government and functional systems in general is orthogonality, ie absence of mixing symbols or error [corruption]. Nevertheless orthogonal entities must communicate if we are to have a system with more than one part [and the system must be consistent and fit for purpose].

Quantum mechanics operates in the realm of time / energy and does not see space, which is an application of quantum mechanics. Space is a higher layer [that emerges with fermions].

Each new degree of freedom 'spans' all the degrees before it, as a new letter in the alphabet enables one to make a new word with all the existing words.

The basic process in quantum mechanics is orthogonalization, ie the resolution of fixed points, legislation in effect, as understood in parliament, or as represented by the sentences distilled out of my central nervous system into these notebooks.

What determines the velocity of light? We presume an optimization process. And we consider it to be so primitive that it sets the standard and is measured against no prior state. This may be the way with quanta of action: we do not know how far apart they are in time because their sequence is the measure of time so that the quantum of action that represents the life of the universe is in a sense the same size as the quantum of action that absorbs a photon and increases the energy of an electron.

So many little pieces of the jigsaw and so far from fitting them all together. Remember our mantra: in the divine universe the only constraint is (local) internal consistency. As in mathematics, the inconsistencies can only exist outside one

[page 158]

another's light cones [logic cones].

Is there any reason at all why God should start off with entropy zero, one fixed point, instead of bursting forth with ℵ0 fixed points all at once? Perhaps the whole gradually [treewise] complexifying network thing is false. We have a couple of bits of 'evidence'. First the ancient belief that God is completely simple, so we woud expect things to start simple, and second the cosmological record as we understand it, which suggests that things started simple and got more complex. Is there some other theoretical reason? Am I hiding behind all this rubbish to justify myself going off to live in the woods? Only success will vindicate my plan, so I have no choice but to push on and hope to do better in my next life if I do not get very far in this one.

Walter Mitty: At any point I am looking to see what can be salvaged from the work so far if it does not succeed. James Thurber

My principal aim, I think, is to use the theological approach to develop a theory of everything which is consistent with observation at every level [not just fundamental particle data]. This is in fact a effort to upstage the Standard Model, which I am completely unqualified to do but would like to nevertheless. The principal aim is to produce a model with no observed parameters and no careful fitting of values but rather everything flows from simple assumptions like the theory of evolution [and the absence of local contradiction].

Such grim thoughts (and reading Bertrand Russell's essays) throw me back to my schooldays where I was some combination of a born loser (of marbles and other games) and a born winner in the small [intellectual] pond of country school. These attributes I think balanced and left me happy. It was only later that I developed a fear of women and sexuality

[page 158]

which was probably some combination of pubescent shyness and an indoctrination designed to steer young people as far as possible from sex and sensuality. It was impossible for me to see, in those days, that my future self would learn that May is world masturbation month and that idea seems fair enough, even though there is a strong undertow of sex toy marketing. Matty Silver

Does this sort of talk help me with my theology [given that personal experience is the source of data for theology]? My continual struggle is to broaden my mind from the narrow country Catholic milieu of my upbringing to comprehend the whole divine Universe, and I think that it is from this point of view beneficial. In effect I am trying to be a successful outlier and feel better (and more afraid) the further out I can lie. Whether this attitude will ever lead to real discovery, I do not know. Time will tell. Meanwhile press on.

Energy is the rate of action, Action is the time integral of energy. Energy may be kinetic K or potential V. Energy is conserved, so K + V = constant. Lagrangian = K - V and action = &integral; L dt. Kinetic energy is always positive. Action in quantum mechanics is reversible, so we may think of constructive action (creation) and destructive (annihilation). The rate of negative action is negative energy.

An instance of an act = h . . . Bed. In the morning we expect a step forward.

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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!)

Ashby, W Ross, An Introduction to Cybernetics, Methuen 1964 'This book is intended to provide [an introduction to cybernetics]. It starts from common-place and well understood concepts, and proceeds step by step to show how these concepts can be made exact, and how they can be developed until they lead into such subjects as feedback, stability, regulation, ultrastability, information, coding, noise and other cybernetic topics' 
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Feynman, Richard P, and Steven Weinberg, Elementary Particles and the Laws of Physics: The 1986 Dirac Memorial Lectures, Cambridge University Press Jacket: Perhaps the two most important conceptual breakthroughs in twentith century physics are relativity and quantum mechanics. Developing a theory that combines the two seamlessly is a difficult and ongoing challenge. This accessible book contains intriguing explorations of this theme by the distinguished physicists Richard Feynman and Steven Weinberg. Richard Feynman's contribution examines the nature of antiparticles, and in particular the relationship between quantum spin and statistics. In his essay, Steven Weinberg speculates on how Einstein's theory of gravitarion might be reconciled with quantum theory and the final laws of physics.' 
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John, and Alexander Jones (editor), in The Jerusalem Bible, Darton Longman and Todd 1966 Introduction to Saint John: '[This] gospel has a complex literary form: it is akin to the earliest Christian preaching, and yet at the same time it gives the final results of a quest ... for a deeper and more rewarding apprehension of the mystery of Jesus. Each of the evangelists has his own approach to Christ's person and mission. For St John, he is the Word made flesh, come to give life to men, 1:14,and this, the mystery of the Incarnation, dominates the whole of John's thought.' p 140.  
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Lawrence, David Herbert, and David Farmer (editor) Lindeth Vasey (editor) Amit Chaudari (Introduction), Women in Love, Penguin Classics 2007 Amazon Editorial Review From Library Journal "The published editions of Women in Love , probably Lawrence's greatest novel, have always been remarkably corrupt due to a lengthy, complex process of revision and transcription, a threatened libel suit, and numerous unauthorized bowdlerizations. The editors of this new Cambridge Edition have labored scrupulously to produce an authoritative text. What emerges, if not dramatically different, is fresher and more immediate. The introduction provides a valuable history of the novel's composition, revision, publication, and reception, and though the elaborate textual apparatus is strictly for advanced students of bibliography, the notes are splendid. Lawrence's 1919 Foreword and two early discarded chapters are also included. The recovery of a modern classic.' Keith Cushman, Univ. of North Carolina, Greensboro Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. 
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Streater, Raymond F, and Arthur S Wightman, PCT, Spin, Statistics and All That, Princeton University Press 2000 Amazon product description: 'PCT, Spin and Statistics, and All That is the classic summary of and introduction to the achievements of Axiomatic Quantum Field Theory. This theory gives precise mathematical responses to questions like: What is a quantized field? What are the physically indispensable attributes of a quantized field? Furthermore, Axiomatic Field Theory shows that a number of physically important predictions of quantum field theory are mathematical consequences of the axioms. Here Raymond Streater and Arthur Wightman treat only results that can be rigorously proved, and these are presented in an elegant style that makes them available to a broad range of physics and theoretical mathematics.' 
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Links
Dimensional analysis- Wikipedia, Dimensional analysis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In engineering and science, dimensional analysis is the analysis of the relationships between different physical quantities by identifying their fundamental dimensions (such as length, mass, time, and electric charge) . . . Any physically meaningful equation (and any inequality and inequation) must have the same dimensions on the left and right sides. Checking this is a common application of performing dimensional analysis. Dimensional analysis is also routinely used as a check on the plausibility of derived equations and computations. It is generally used to categorize types of physical quantities and units based on their relationship to or dependence on other units.' back
Formalism - Wikipedia, Formalism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Formalism may refer to: Formal (disambiguation) Legal formalism, legal positivist view that the substantive justice of a law is a question for the legislature rather than the judiciary Formalism (linguistics) Scientific formalism Formalism (philosophy), that there is no transcendent meaning to a discipline other than the literal content created by a practitioner' back
James Thurber, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, 'We’re going through!” The Commander’s voice was like thin ice breaking. He wore his full-dress uniform, with the heavily braided white cap pulled down rakishly over one cold gray eye. “We can’t make it, sir. It’s spoiling for a hurricane, if you ask me.” “I’m not asking you, Lieutenant Berg,” said the Commander. “Throw on the power lights! Rev her up to 8,500! We’re going through!” The pounding of the cylinders increased: ta-pocketa-pocketa-pocketa-pocketa-pocketa. The Commander stared at the ice forming on the pilot window. He walked over and twisted a row of complicated dials. “Switch on No. 8 auxiliary!” he shouted. “Switch on No. 8 auxiliary!” repeated Lieutenant Berg. “Full strength in No. 3 turret!” shouted the Commander. “Full strength in No. 3 turret!” The crew, bending to their various tasks in the huge, hurtling eight-engined Navy hydroplane, looked at each other and grinned. “The Old Man’ll get us through,” they said to one another. “The Old Man ain’t afraid of Hell!” . . .' back
Matty Silver, Make time for yourselves during National Masturbation Month in May, 'You may be surprised to find out that May is National Masturbation Month! The concept was started in May 1995 by Good Vibrations, the first sex-positive and women-friendly sex-toy shop in California. The focus was to raise awareness and promote masturbation as a healthy, safe and natural way to express one's sexuality, thereby removing the shame and stigma. The move was in response to the president at the time, Bill Clinton, firing the then surgeon-general Jocelyn Elders following a speech she gave at the 1994 United Nations World AIDS Day. Elders was asked by an audience member about masturbation as a way of discouraging risky sexual activity among young people. She responded "I think it is something that is part of human sexuality and a part of something that perhaps should be taught". As a result she was forced to resign from government.' back
Meliorism - Wikipedia, Meliorism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Meliorism is an idea in metaphysical thinking holding that progress is a real concept leading to an improvement of the world. It holds that humans can, through their interference with processes that would otherwise be natural, produce an outcome which is an improvement over the aforementioned natural one.' back
Russell's paradox - Wikipedia, Russell's paradox - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'According to naive set theory, any definable collection is a set. Let R be the set of all sets that are not members of themselves. If R is not a member of itself, then its definition dictates that it must contain itself, and if it contains itself, then it contradicts its own definition as the set of all sets that are not members of themselves. This contradiction is Russell's paradox.' back

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