natural theology

We have just published a new book that summarizes the ideas of this site. Free at Scientific Theology, or, if you wish to support this project, buy at Scientific Theology: A New Vision of God

Contact us: Click to email
vol VII: Notes

1999

Notes

[Notebook DB 52A Mathesis]

[Sunday 3 October 1999 - Saturday 9 October 1999]

[page 13]

Sunday 3 October 1999

Pneumatology = spiritology = wholeology = *ology

Christology

In mathematical language the only constraints are consistency and the rules or axioms that the mathematicians introduce to capture the structures that exist in their mind or minds. Here we attempt a mathematica approach t te question: do mathematicians have a mind or many minds?

I ask and answer this question in terms of mathematics. The same type of question may be asked and answered in any natural language, and

[page 14]

brings us to question like what is mind? Is the universe a mind? Is there one mind or many? How do minds unite and divide?

. . .

What we want is a mathematical expression of the evolution of humanity [of the universe]

I react with violence because of forbidden zones in my mind. A false relationship to the body, ie a false management model for the physical substrate. Tis 'original sin' is culturally induced and therefore a sin [error] in the culture as well as in the individual.

VIOLENCE, RAPE / COMMUNICATION / Violation of more spiritual protocols.

[page 15]

a) Tolerance
b) Cooperation
c) Tolerant cooperation

It requires WORK ro build SPIRITUAL CONFIGURATIONS since physical structures (eg synapses) must be moved.

WORK: MOTION (simple space, eg bullet) / CHANGE (complex space, eg embryo)

My violent etc etc streaks are both culturally and genetically inherited. Culture actualizes genetic powers.

Christology : enculturation : peace

When times are toughest, rationalism is purest, so perhaps pure formalism corresponds to infinite energy density (the initial singularity). Energy density from then on decreased, pointing to the arrival of more and more processes sharing the same machine. [On the contrary form is motionless, zero energy].

Feeling is a superposition of all the (eigen?) states of a sustem, from which superposition a state is chosen to be communicated. From a head full of thoughts a sentence is uttered.

[page 16]

Monday 4 October 1999

. . .

[page 17]

The limpid simplicity of Aquinas' model of god arises from its simple theoretical foundation. Thomas appropriates the dualism δυναμις - εντελεχεια developed by Aristotle as potentia and actus. We see them at work in the first proof for the existence of God. Aquinas 13

God, in other words, is actus purus The world, on the other hand, is a composite of potential and act. The fact that the world moves means the existence of an unmoved (and unmoveable) mover. This roof is a succinct restatement of Aristotle's argument in the Metaphysics.

Aristotle's model of potentia and actus enabled him to deal with the problems raised by his predecessors epitomised by Parmenides and Heracleitus.

[page 18]

A mystery: something the mode does not explain.

. . .

Communication channel = UNIVERSE = {messages = all possible }

Impossible message = CONTRADICTION = ERROR

. . .

Tredennick page xxx: '. . . it was Plato, acknowledged or unacknowledged who inspired all that was best in the thought of his great disciple.' Aristotle: Metaphysics

Tuesday 5 October 1999
Wednesday 6 October 1999
Thursday 7 October 1999

What made the big bang go off? What makes anything happen? a) energy; b) possibiity and impossibility = PROBLEM/OBJECTION

Progress in science = progress is modelling = Insight

SCULPTURE = start with a mass, remove WASTE to expose form.

. . .

Noetic big bang = line of progress.

Whatever happens must be done.

[page 20]

Is the Universe complete? Quantum mechanics says every observable event is complete = a quantum.

Ψ of universe exists in transfinite function space = metaphysics = heuristic structure (= part way there)

May be inclined to prolixity but always looking for the densest expression of the idea in view, A sentence is a hold in wrestling sense, designed to capture a snapshot of the variety of the dual.

Insofar as a sentence (string) is self contradictory it is open to an indeterminate number of interpretations and so likely to disintegrate into more stable subsentences, ie separate the contradictory elements. oportet distinguere.

. . .

SPACE = ENTROPY = FIELD

[page 21]

Function = dictionary

MAPPING = MEANING

. . .

CONSCIOUSNESS = MULTIPROCESSING

BANDWIDTH = MASS

. . .

EXPERIENCE is not necessarily associated with experience of time

eternity - time - energy conservation - pleroma Pleroma - Wikipedia

. . .

[page 22]

. . .

Friday 8 October 1999
Saturday 9 October 1999

Copyright:

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


Further reading

Books

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

Aristotle, and H Tredennick (translator), Metaphysics I-IX , Harvard University Press, William Heinemann 1980 Introduction: "[Aristotle] felt that there must be a regular system of sciences, each concerned with a different aspect of reality. At the same time it was only reasonable to suppose that there was a supreme science which was more ultimate, more exact, more truly Wisdom than the others. The discussion of ths science - Wisdom, Primary Philosophy or Theology, as it is variously called - and of its scope, forms the subject of the Metaphysics' page xxv. 
Amazon
  back
Farman-Farmaian, Sattareh, Daughter of Persia: A Woman's Journey from Her Father's Harem through the Islamic Revolution, Corgi Books 1993 From Publishers Weekly 'As founder in 1958 of the Tehranok/per book School of Social Work, Sattareh naively believed, "If one only avoided politics, one could achieve something constructive." After two decades of humanitarian efforts in Iranian family planning, day care, vocational programs and aid to the poor and prisoners' families, she was arrested in 1979 by Khomeini's machine-gun-toting teenage minions. Branded an "imperialist," she narrowly escaped execution and now lives in the U.S. The 15th of 36 children, Sattareh revered and feared her "all-powerful" father, a prince and governor. This dramatic if restrained autobiography, written with freelancer Munker, describes her patriarchal upbringing and her education at UCLA. She belatedly realized that "keeping our mouths shut let the Shah do what he wanted." Her memoir is actually most effective as a political document. She powerfully condemns the Eisenhower-backed coup that toppled democratic premier Mossadegh and installed ruthless dicatator Reza Shah Pahlavi, whose fascist secret police were trained and financed by the CIA. The Shah's corrupt, unjust regime, she graphically demonstrates, fueled explosive resentment that found an outlet in Khomeini's fanaticism.' Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc 
Amazon
  back
Feynman, Richard P, and Albert P Hibbs, Quantum Mechanics and Path Integrals, McGraw Hill 1965 Preface: 'The fundamental physical and mathematical concepts which underlie the path integral approach were first developed by R P Feynman in the course of his graduate studies at Princeton, ... . These early inquiries were involved with the problem of the infinte self-energy of the electron. In working on that problem, a "least action" principle was discovered [which] could deal succesfully with the infinity arising in the application of classical electrodynamics.' As described in this book. Feynam, inspired by Dirac, went on the develop this insight into a fruitful source of solutions to many quantum mechanical problems.  
Amazon
  back
Nielsen, Michael A, and Isaac L Chuang, Quantum Computation and Quantum Information, Cambridge University Press 2000 Review: A rigorous, comprehensive text on quantum information is timely. The study of quantum information and computation represents a particularly direct route to understanding quantum mechanics. Unlike the traditional route to quantum mechanics via Schroedinger's equation and the hydrogen atom, the study of quantum information requires no calculus, merely a knowledge of complex numbers and matrix multiplication. In addition, quantum information processing gives direct access to the traditionally advanced topics of measurement of quantum systems and decoherence.' Seth Lloyd, Department of Quantum Mechanical Engineering, MIT, Nature 6876: vol 416 page 19, 7 March 2002. 
Amazon
  back
Seymour-Smith, Martin, Robert Graves: His Life and Work, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC 1995 Introduction: 'Robert graves is unique in English letters: in his paradoxical versatility -- as brilliantly successful popular historical novelist, eccentric but erudite mythographer, translator, pungent and outspoken critic, and as arrogant poet oblivious to pubic opinion -- and in his lifelong refusal to conform. It is of course as a poet that he will be chiefly remembered, and by general readers as well as by critics, who are certain to accord him major status (a phrase he hates). But he will be remembered too as a man, as a personality and perhaps as a kind of prophet of 'the Return of the Goddess'.' 
Amazon
  back
Shuster, W Morgan, The Strangling of Persia, Higgins Press 1912, 2008 Review: "Outside Iran, hardly anyone recalls W. Morgan Shuster, or the 1907 Anglo-Russian agreement. Yet what happened then helps explain how Russia was shut out of the Persian Gulf and why Iranians behave as they do today. Before that pact, Iranians looked upon Russia as a traditional enemy and Britain as a well-meaning friend. Britain had aimed to keep all rivals, especially Russia, away from approaches to India, notably the Persian Gulf. The gulf was virtually a British lake, charted, mapped and cleared of pirates by the British Navy... Hardly had he arrived when Shuster became embroiled in a dispute with Russia over customs policy. He asked for, and was given, plenary powers, by Iran's national assembly. Czarist armies were soon marching on Tehran, demanding Shuster's removal. An embarrassed Britain, citing the 1907 pact, came to Russia's support. Shuster departed but then wrote a forceful book, The Strangling of Persia." -- The New York Times 
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
Papers
Landauer, Rolf, "Irreversibility and Heat Generation in the Computing Process", IBM Journal of Research and Development, 5, 3, 1961, page 183-191. 'Abstract: It is argued that computing machines inevitably involve devices which perform logical functions that do not have a single-valued inverse. This logical irreversibility is associated with physical irreversibility and requires a minimal heat generation, per machine cycle, typically of the order of kT for each irreversible function. This dissipation serves the purpose of standardizing signals and making them independent of their exact logical history. Two simple, but representative, models of bistable devices are subjected to a more detailed analysis of switching kinetics to yield the relationship between speed and energy dissipation, and to estimate the effects of errors induced by thermal fluctuations. '. back
Links
Anglo-Persian Oil Company - Wikipedia, Anglo-Persian Oil Company - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) was founded in 1908 following the discovery of a large oil field in Masjed Soleiman, Iran. It was the first company to extract petroleum from the Middle East. In 1935 APOC was renamed the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) and in 1954 it became the British Petroleum Company (BP), one of the antecedents of the modern BP plc.' back
Aquinas 13, Summa: I 2 3: Whether God exists?, I answer that the existence of God can be proved in five ways. The first and more manifest way is the argument from motion. . . . The second way is from the nature of the efficient cause. . . . The third way is taken from possibility and necessity . . . The fourth way is taken from the gradation to be found in things. . . . The fifth way is taken from the governance of the world. back
BP - Wikipedia, BP - Wikipedia, 'BP p.l.c. . . . is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third largest energy company and the fourth largest company in the world measured by revenues and is one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"." back
Dirac delta function - Wikipedia, Dirac delta function - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The Dirac delta or Dirac's delta is a mathematical construct introduced by theoretical physicist Paul Dirac. Informally, it is a function representing an infinitely sharp peak bounding unit area: a function ?(x) that has the value zero everywhere except at x = 0 where its value is infinitely large in such a way that its total integral is 1. In the context of signal processing it is often referred to as the unit impulse function. Note that the Dirac delta is not strictly a function. While for many purposes it can be manipulated as such, formally it can be defined as a distribution that is also a measure.' back
Ferdowsi - Wikipedia, Ferdowsi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Hakīm Abu'l-Qāsim Firdawsī Tūsī (Persian: حکیم ابوالقاسم فردوسی توسی), more commonly transliterated as Ferdowsi (or Firdausi), (940–1020) is a highly revered Persian poet. He was the author of the Shāhnāmeh, the national epic of Persian people and of the Iranian World. . . .

Ferdowsi is one of the undisputed giants of Persian literature. After Ferdowsi's Shāhnāmeh a number of other works similar in nature surfaced over the centuries within the cultural sphere of the Persian language. Without exception, all such works were based in style and method on Ferdowsi's Shāhnāmeh, but none of them could quite achieve the same degree of fame and popularity as Ferdowsi's masterpiece.' back

Fixed point theorem - Wikipedia, Fixed point theorem - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In mathematics, a fixed point theorem is a result saying that a function F will have at least one fixed point (a point x for which F(x) = x), under some conditions on F that can be stated in general terms. Results of this kind are amongst the most generally useful in mathematics. The Banach fixed point theorem gives a general criterion guaranteeing that, if it is satisfied, the procedure of iterating a function yields a fixed point. By contrast, the Brouwer fixed point theorem is a non-constructive result: it says that any continuous function from the closed unit ball in n-dimensional Euclidean space to itself must have a fixed point, but it doesn't describe how to find the fixed point (See also Sperner's lemma).' back
Pleroma - Wikipedia, Pleroma - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Pleroma (Greek πλήρωμα) generally refers to the totality of divine powers. The word means fullness from πληρόω ("I fill") comparable to πλήρης which means "full", and is used in Christian theological contexts: both in Gnosticism generally, and by St. Paul the Apostle in Colossians 2:9 (the word is used 17 times in the NT). Pleroma is also used in the general Greek language and is used by the Greek Orthodox church in this general form since the word appears in the book of Colossians.' back
Rydberg-Ritz combination principle - Wikipedia, Rydberg-Ritz combination principle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The Rydberg-Ritz Combination Principle is the theory proposed by Walter Ritz in 1908 to explain relationship of the spectral lines for all atoms. The principle states that the spectral lines of any element include frequencies that are either the sum or the difference of the frequencies of two other lines.' back

www.naturaltheology.net is maintained by The Theology Company Proprietary Limited ACN 097 887 075 ABN 74 097 887 075 Copyright 2000-2020 © Jeffrey Nicholls