- #1
octelcogopod
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I tend to think of the universe in a simple matter.
There are tons and tons of atoms, particles, strings, whatever, and these things interact to make up stuff.
That's pretty much the extent of it.
Take art, if you think about art in a physical way, it's just a mass of paint molecules, smeared over a canvas. But to a human, it's a beautiful salvador dali piece with lots of ties to all sorts of eras and concepts and emotions.
The sentient beings who perceive this painting, are analogous to robots, biomechanical (:P) beings that react in a certain way because of their brains chemistry and their bodies biology.
But regardless, the point of my thread is this;
Is there a relation between the matters physical states, and the mental "object" that the matter creates?
Do you think we can one day empirically measure the subjective states of a human being?
If all things in the universe do stem from particles or whatever, then all the answers must also lie in the physicality of things. Or not?
To give some help, think of a car engine.
The car engine cannot be explain yet, in any meaningful sense, via the quantum mechanics that run it.
We can only explain it subjectively, but then again, if an alien race came to Earth and saw a car engine, and they were intelligent, they should've been able to figure out what to do with it and how it works.
Can really all levels of reality be explained by the lowest levels? Say quantum physics or string theory.
Or can a subjective thing like a painting, only be explained by a conscious being, with the capability to see?
Do you personally think that science and objectivity will answer this question, or that subjective thought and reasoning is the only way to solving it?
There are tons and tons of atoms, particles, strings, whatever, and these things interact to make up stuff.
That's pretty much the extent of it.
Take art, if you think about art in a physical way, it's just a mass of paint molecules, smeared over a canvas. But to a human, it's a beautiful salvador dali piece with lots of ties to all sorts of eras and concepts and emotions.
The sentient beings who perceive this painting, are analogous to robots, biomechanical (:P) beings that react in a certain way because of their brains chemistry and their bodies biology.
But regardless, the point of my thread is this;
Is there a relation between the matters physical states, and the mental "object" that the matter creates?
Do you think we can one day empirically measure the subjective states of a human being?
If all things in the universe do stem from particles or whatever, then all the answers must also lie in the physicality of things. Or not?
To give some help, think of a car engine.
The car engine cannot be explain yet, in any meaningful sense, via the quantum mechanics that run it.
We can only explain it subjectively, but then again, if an alien race came to Earth and saw a car engine, and they were intelligent, they should've been able to figure out what to do with it and how it works.
Can really all levels of reality be explained by the lowest levels? Say quantum physics or string theory.
Or can a subjective thing like a painting, only be explained by a conscious being, with the capability to see?
Do you personally think that science and objectivity will answer this question, or that subjective thought and reasoning is the only way to solving it?