Notes
[Notebook: DB 57 Language]
[Sunday 30 January 2005 - Saturday 29 January 2005]
[page 79]
Sunday 30 January 2005
Adding one --> transfinite transition 'in intelligence terms, solving the problem at hand'. Spacetime, para 23 We can rewrite this idea in terms of the transfinite network, myself as a node and my problem a message or set of messages I have received from another node or nodes which may be any entity from fundamental particles to another person to a planet, star system or galaxy. The problem always is to understand the meaning of the message, that is to discover its relationship to things I already know. 'Feed the chooks' is fairly simple. Answering the question posed here is more difficult, since, among other things it involves a time displacement of 2005-1987 = 18 years, a lot of water . . .
We create the next natural number by adding one, by applying what we might call a 'scalar creation operator, so 2 = 1' = 1 + 1. We create the next transfinite number by collecting together all the permutations (mappings onto itself) of the transfinite number before it:
'To every transfinite cardinal number there is a next greater proceeding out of it according to a unitary law, and also to every unlimitedly ascending well-ordered aggregate of transfinite cardinal numbers, {a} thee is a next greater proceeding out of that aggregate in a unitary way.' Cantor, para 496. diagonal method
Now we imagine solving a problem as rather like finding a key to fit a lock. If we imagine a Yale type lock, different lock/key combinations are different permutations of pin lengths and key serrations that bring the pins to exactly the
[page 80]
right height, to allow the tumbler to turn. One may 'solve' such a lock by selecting keys from the solution space of all possible keys until one is found that does the job. This task may take a very long time, so that practical lock pickers use quicker methods, but we are interested only in the principle.
In this light we may consider each transfinite number as the 'solution space' of its predecessor, in that we know it contains the permutation of elements of the previous transfinite number which will solve our problem, and give meaning to the message we have received by fitting it to existing structures.
A more abstract example of the same idea is the solution of crosswords, where we seek a word of a certain length , certain meaning and certain fixed letters to fit a place in the crossword grid. The crossword grid and its clues may be represented by a certain transfinite ordinal. The solution to the crossword will be contained somewhere in the next transfinite ordinal, and it is simply a matter of trial and error to find it. An experienced solver of crosswords finds this task much simpler than a novice because experience has to some extent reduced the space to be searched.
Yale, pin tumbler or Egyptian lock, Encyclopaedia Brittannica, 15th ed, vol 11, p 11.
We may express this idea more precisely in the language of quantum mechanics. For simplicity, we use the 'toy' version of quantum mechanics known as quantum information theory.
[page 81]
One may see it as characteristic of 'power trippers' to make many necessary rules which others will inevitably break, so becoming subject to discipline and punishment, and proving the recalcitrance of the ruled to the ruler.
Monday 31 January 2005
de Soto page 54: 'By transforming people with property interests into accountable individuals, formal property created individuals from masses.' de Soto
Tuesday 1 February 2005
You make yourself very vulnerable, you get hurt and then you whinge. Why do people do this? The answer seems to be idealism. My ideal world is like this. I act as though my ideal world is operative. It is not and my action goes astray, pissing me off. Obviously people would be happier if the respected the nature of the real world and acted with commensurate prudence.
Wednesday 2 February 2005
Thursday 3 February 2005
Friday 4 February 2005
We see the transfinite transition as a bearing, a hinge, a universal joint, universal joint, universal and a joint. It is so because at least initially, every possible permutation of the lesser set has an equal probability of appearing as an element of the greater, ie the only constraint placed by physics on the representation of information is cardinality.
page 82]
TRANSFORMATION - GROUP - NON-CREATIVE deterministic/controlled
TRANSITION - UNIVERSAL JOINT - CREATIVE, non-deterministic, uncontrolled, equiprobable.
Saturday 5 February 2005
