natural theology > notes > 4 november 2007

Notes

[Notebook: DB 62 Interpretation]

[Sunday 4 November 2007 - Saturday 10 November 2007]

[page 27]

Sunday 4 November 2007

If we abstract from complexity, we can see that

[page 28]

all processes in the Universe are formally the same, thinking and bricklaying both involve manipulating physically embodied information. What differs is the [relevant] information per unit mass, encoded in bricks or electrons.

The common law is empirical, insofar as the law making judges look into their carefully trained hearts to discern the law and write at length about what they find there for the criticism of their peers. Kiralfy The scientific enterprise works in a similar way and must be so structured that local self-interest cannot unduly distort the global picture for too long. The overall system, to be stable, needs error correction, that is the ability to root out corruption in every possible transaction. Secrecy is the friend of corruption. Every process should be open to all stakeholders, which ultimately comprises all of us.

Aquinas: 'numerus stultorum infinitus' Lonergan Grace page 45. Lonergan

Averroes: 'Habitus est quo agens agit cum voluerit', ie a power or ability, skill.

Monday 5 November 2007

The monastery: a self-conscious outgroup with a very specific point of view strongly differentiated from the mainstream. Includes terrorist cells and many schools of theologians. Finke & Stark

[page 29]

Normalization is common to both classical and quantum sources. Classical communication theory is built using the classical theory of probability first axiomatized by Kolmogorov. Kolmogorov The probabilistic structure of quantum sources also depends on normalization but introduces a new rule for the superposition of probabilities. Whereas classical probability depends on the theory of measure developed [for real numbers, quantum probability amplitudes are computed using complex numbers].

States move toward minimum energy because given a set of states and a certain amount of energy, the entropy is maximized when all states have equal minimum energy.

Classical probability theory is complete transparent, but quantum probability is based on invisible amplitudes. There is more going on than meets the eye.

Time division multiplexing = frequency division multiplexing = different states have different frequencies in time (energy) and space (momentum).

Lonergan on Christ: fully sucked in by the Christian delusion. Lonergan

Complex numbers are a one dimensional Hilbert space whose inner product is their ordinary multiplication.

Christian theology papers over its contradictions with the notion of absolute mystery, rather as quantum mechanics appeals to the uncertainty principle. Here we admit of no absolute mysteries beyond human ken but accept the

[page 30]

existence of uncertainty because the past is not complex enough to fully constrain the future as classical physics would have us believe.

To be a hippy is to experiment with one's existence.

Anything goes, at least until it comes (if ever) pathological.

Insofar as God is omnino simplex [completely simple] understanding it is trivial. There is nothing to understand, just be. From this point of view there is no control in god, which is equivalent to chaos.

Tuesday 6 November 2007

Wednesday 7 November 2007

Thursday 8 November 2007

Friday 9 November 2007

Theories of History. The 'History of Salvation" vs Hegel-Marx views of history. These things were devised by 'political sociologists / social engineers'.

An incompressible flow of action [= actus purus]

The role of science is to develop new ways of seeing.

Saturday 10 November 2007

Concordat Watch: Revealing Vatican attempts to propagate false religion by international treaty. Concordat Watch

A string of output of length N coded into blocks of length n yields x = N/n. If the entropy per symbol emanating from the source is h, the size of the message space H varies as hⁿ, so the distance between message blocks varies roughly as hⁿ/x = n hⁿ/N, which grows exponentially with block length.

Quantum field theory. Zee

Related sites

Concordat Watch

Revealing Vatican attempts to propagate its religion by international treaty

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

Finke, Roger, and Rodney Stark, The Churching of America 1776 - 2005: Winners and Losers in Our Religious Economy, Rutgers University Press 2005 Amazon book description: 'In The Churching of America, 1776 - 2005, Roger Finke and Rodney Stark once again revolutionize the way we think about religion. Extending the argument that the nation's religious environment acts as a free market economy, this extensively revised and expanded edition offers new research, statistics, and stories that document increased participation in religious groups from Independence through the twenty-first century. Adding to the thorough coverage of "mainline" religious groups, new sections chart the remarkable development and growth of African American churches from the early nineteenth century forward. Finke and Stark show how, like other "upstart sects," these churches competed for adherents and demonstrate how American norms of religious freedom allowed African American churches to construct organizational havens with little outside intervention. This edition also includes new sections on the ethnic religious communities of recent immigrants -- stories that echo those told of ethnic religious enclaves in the nineteenth century.'
Amazon back

Kiralfy, A K R (ed), Potters Historical Introduction to English Law and its Institutions , Sweet and Maxwell 1958 back

Kolmogorov, A N , and Nathan Morrison (Translator) (With an added bibliography by A T Bharucha-Reid), Foundations of the Theory of Probability, Chelsea 1956 Preface: 'The purpose of this monograph is to give an axiomatic foundation for the theory of probability. ... This task would have been a rather hopeless one before the introduction of Lebesgue's theories of measure and integration. However, after Lebesgue's publication of his investigations, the analogies between measure of a set and mathematical expectation of a random variable became apparent. These analogies allowed of further extensions; thus, for example, various properties of independent random variables were seen to be incomplete analogy with the corresponding properties of orthogonal functions ... '
Amazon back

Lonergan, Bernard J F, and (edited by Frederick E Crowe and Robert M Doran, Grace and Freedom: Operative Grace in the Thought of St Thomas Aquinas, Jacket: "Grace and Freedom represents Lonergan's entry into subject matter that would occupy him throughout his lifetime. At the same time it is a manifestation of the thinking that has made him one of the world's foremost Thomist scholars. ... Lonergan's thesis is that from the sixteenth century onwards, commentators on Thomas Aquinas lacked historical consciousness, raised questions that Thomas had never considered, and obfuscated the issues. Lonergan's achievement consists in having retrieved the actual postion by adopting a historical approach that has reconstructed [Thomas's] intellectual development on grace. ... What Lonergan also adds is a unique diagnosis of the mistakes made by the modern scholastic authors in their treatment of grace. Throughout this work, Lonergan discovers in Thomas a mind in constant development, displaying radical shifts on fundamental questions. ... '
Amazon back

Lonergan, Bernard J, and Michael G Shields, Grederick E Crow (Editors), The Ontological and Psychological Constitution of Christ, University of Toronto 2002 Amazon Book Description 'Bernard Lonergan's De constitutione Christi was written to accompany a course being taught in Latin at the Gregorian University, Rome during the 1950s and 60s. This little-known treatise, volume seven in the series, is presented in English translation, accompanied by the original Latin text. Here, Lonergan tackles the metaphysical and psychological questions raised by the unique makeup of Christ, who is both fully human and fully divine, according to traditional Christian theology. His analysis falls into two parts: ontological and psychological. In dealing with the ontology of the incarnate Word, Lonergan explores the notion of person, and in doing so provides an interesting treatment of the existential question of personal authenticity raised by Kierkegaard and treated by Lonergan under the heading of Existez. Moving into his psychological analysis, he argues that consciousness is not a matter of introspection, a perception of oneself as object, but rather an awareness of oneself as subject. He then applies this understanding to the self-awareness of Christ, with particular reference to the question of Christ's knowledge of himself as both human and divine. This book is a foundational text in critical areas of contemporary theology; however, it was never widely circulated and has remained effectively unknown to contemporary scholars. With this translation the work will finally be made accessible'
Amazon back

Zee, Anthony, Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell, Princeton University Press 2003 Amazon book description: 'An esteemed researcher and acclaimed popular author takes up the challenge of providing a clear, relatively brief, and fully up-to-date introduction to one of the most vital but notoriously difficult subjects in theoretical physics. A quantum field theory text for the twenty-first century, this book makes the essential tool of modern theoretical physics available to any student who has completed a course on quantum mechanics and is eager to go on. Quantum field theory was invented to deal simultaneously with special relativity and quantum mechanics, the two greatest discoveries of early twentieth-century physics, but it has become increasingly important to many areas of physics. These days, physicists turn to quantum field theory to describe a multitude of phenomena. Stressing critical ideas and insights, Zee uses numerous examples to lead students to a true conceptual understanding of quantum field theory--what it means and what it can do. He covers an unusually diverse range of topics, including various contemporary developments,while guiding readers through thoughtfully designed problems. In contrast to previous texts, Zee incorporates gravity from the outset and discusses the innovative use of quantum field theory in modern condensed matter theory. Without a solid understanding of quantum field theory, no student can claim to have mastered contemporary theoretical physics. Offering a remarkably accessible conceptual introduction, this text will be widely welcomed and used.
Amazon back

Links

Concordat Watch Concordat Watch "A concordat is a pact between the Vatican and a nation-state whereby the Vatican gains certain political and financial benefits in return for support of a policy or arm of the national government. Such a concordat in a nation with numerous Catholics is also helpful in getting their allegiance or in curbing opposition to the government."Prof. John M. Swomley, St. Paul School of Theology, Kansas City, Missouri: back