vol VII: Notes
1999
Notes
[Notebook DB 52A Mathesis]
[Sunday 28 November 1999 - Saturday 4 December 1999]
Sunday 28 November 1999
[page 145]
Monday 29 November 1999
Methodology: everything we know so far.
Dynamics is ultimately hidden in the qbit.
Jones page 326: 'All characters degenerate as soon as their job is done.' Jones
We develop Lonergan's genetic method via the theory of evolution : ontogenesis.
The fundamental philosophic hypothesis: ontogenesis is isomorphic to noogenesis.
We are trying to capture the world using recursive function theory to model evolution.
An essay on method is an essay on the state of the art from the point of view of the writer.
[page 146]
An essay looks at a particular problem from a particular point of view, so we look at evolution from the point of view of recursive function theory = the theory of computation.
What is the fundamental result? transfinite growth → divinity.
God is pure act
The universe is not pure act because there are possibilities that are not actually happening.
Therefore the universe is not God [Aquinas]
God is pure intellect.
The universe is not ure intellect because there are things which have no meaning and therefore cannot be understood.
Therefore the universe is not God [Lonergan]
Insight:
1. Build a space big enough to hold all elements of the question
2. Identify the subspace = answer.
[page 147]
The bandwidth of beauty : contemplating the truly gorgeous.
Tuesday 30 November 1999
Process theology is conspicuous in its special treatment in Avis. Look deeper into this. . . . Avis
The rules of sport are the statement of methodology. How doe you play cricket? Dynamic theology or physical theology.
Lovelock: Geophysiology. Lovelock
Wednesday 1 December 1999
Thursday 2 December 1999
Universe is god ⇒ universe is one organism. To the naked eye a candle flame in still air seems immobile, but we know it is a dynamic reaction, a flow.
We see great diversity in applied theology, in such things as liberation and feminist theology
[page 148]
but the central theological science seems to be dead in the water.
Dynamics divines clearly into linear (quantum mechanics etc) and non-linear, combined to give punctuated equilibrium. Punctuated equilibrium - Wikipedia
We must see spacetime as a whole since it is bound together as a whole by null geodesics, ie photons [, gravitons?]. Geodesics in general relativity - Wikipedia
Communication is inherently dualist, involving two terminals and a channel between them. There is no way to tell what a particular physical symbol means unless we put it in context. Tis dualism can be modelled formally as the interaction of two Cantor spaces to form a transfinite network.
'Entropy always increases'? No. There is a natural maximum in each system which can be detected by combinatorial arguments (eg Boltzmann's k ln W). Actual 'source' entropy is less than this maximum (as a
[page 149]
consequence of the E-theorem) so providing the headroom necessary for error resistant coding (Shannon). Khinchin
Many people are outside the Church becau8se the Church allows for no loyal opposition. Many are dead for the same reason, either murdered b the Church or deprived of physical and spiritual nutrition, starved and suicidal.
Romance competes for cycles with work, or shall we say congenial work.
Work and noise.
The Catholic Church is structured around a body of anthropological theory that does not make a lot of sense [to a reader of science]
It is based on stories written by people whose relationships, from a modern point of view, were just like ours, spread over a spectrum
[page 150]
from murderous hate to procreative love. But they had an entirely different idea of what this all meant. They did not understand how they fitted in with the world in the way adumbrated by science. We are the much modified descendants of organisms that first inhabited the earth between 3 and 4 billion years ago. Abiogenesis - Wikipedia
There is no need in the scientific picture to invoke original sin to explain the human condition. Instead we see the hand of fitness in every feature of our existence. The pain arises because we trail a cloud of history. Our evolutionary adaptation as an animal was some time ago overtaken by our cultural adaptation, Part of culture is religion.
A common bonding myth, and an aggressive one, The big religions can be held responsible for the extinction of thousands of small religions.
Theology is the theory that attempts to outlaw mortal conflict.
[page 151]
. . .
In essence Parmenides opted for a static view of reality and declared motion as something to be ignored, not being. Aristotle, perhaps moved by his biologica studies, opted for the dynamic view f te world, a view descended from Heracleitus.Heracleitus took the other tack. Everything moves (ie being is in motion), but there is a logos in the motions that gives it sense, While Parmenides settled for a static view of being, Heracleitus' model was broad enough to embrace both a static and a dynamic view.
The Stoics fed into the Church + Platonists.
It does not seem possible to understand the recorded actions of Jesus without putting them into a religious, social, political and economic context. There is an enormous range of opinions on these subjects but one thing which stands out is that Jesus
[page 152]
is followed by an organization that embraces more than a billion people and has its eyes on all the other people on the globe as potential members.
The raison d'etre of the Roman Catholic Church is the Fall, the 'felix culpa' which made the redemption necessary if God's plan for humanity was to be realized. Other major religions have different gods and different plans all completely plausible.
Insofar as religions are similar, an evolutionary point of view suggests common origins of similar solutions to similar problems encountered in the evolution of the larger and more complex societies progressively made possible by agriculture, trade and the engineering control of infectious diseases.
. . .
Friday 3 December 1999
. . .
Plato's friend Socrates was executed by the newly restored democrats who had also killed two of his tyrannical uncles. Popper characterizes this period as transition from closed tribe to open democracy, A similar ideas expressed by Jaynes.
. . .
