Recent content by Kherubin

I, as others before me have stated, have a paltry understanding of the philosophical underpinnings of this thread, however, if I could offer some simple definitions, which may or may not be useful by others' reckoning, but which I have seen stated numerous times in the subject literature...

Whilst I think it is true that these 'branching points' exist at the level of biology and below (biochemistry, chemistry and, if you agree with any 'multiverse' theory, physics), I am interested to find out if people believe in the existence of these 'forks in the road to knowledge' at the...

I would like to know precisely what other people think it means for the SO(4,2)xSU(2) periodic table outline in the following link (http://www.springerlink.com/content/j303171428652143/fulltext.pdf) to have an a priori infinite number of elements. The author decrees that the 'observable...

Please forgive my lay understanding of String Theory, but when contemplating it, I am drawn to two questions; one at a level 'above' string theory and the other 'deeper'. I will begin with the former. As is my limited understanding, strings, according to restrictions placed upon them by the...

I was simply struck by his choice of language. Enumerating "all possible such sequences of symbols" sounds like a fairly arbitrary, random reorganizational process to me, but I now assume that what he has in mind is inclusive of the "rules for word formation and syntax" that you speak of...

I take it this was his New Kind of Science (NKS)? Did you read it? Was it any good? So when Wolfram talks of "enumerating all possible such sequences of symbols" he is, in reality, referring only to those systems with the WFF constraints in place? Is this implicit or explicit? In other...

So, when Wolfram talks of this Library of possible formal systems, each 'Formal System' actually refers to a set of symbols together with rules for symbol manipulation AND rules for creating WFFs? Could you please explain the notion of 'naive' in this context? Exactly! Is it possible to...

This is a very fair point. It's clear that the particular kind of 'intelligence/sentience' perceived will depend on the underlying structure of the brain and the available sensory modalities. I suppose my question was, however, more generalised than this. I was asking how far we can 'cast the...

Thank you for your reply. If anyone else has this problem, please: 1) Go to www.closertotruth.com 2) Search for Wolfram 3) The video is filed under, 'Is Mathematics Invented or Discovered'? Is this why all such systems are internally self-consistent, even though, in the case of...

I would be much obliged if you could take a look at the video provided below: http://www.closertotruth.com/video-profile/Is-Mathematics-Invented-or-Discovered-Stephen-Wolfram-/1384 I certainly wouldn't mind a more general discussion on the Platonic/Invented nature of Mathematics...

I was really using Hawkin's opinions as a springboard for a a far wider discussion. In his book Hawkin's espoused his view on the material basis of 'Intelligence', to use his terminology. I am interested in whether others think that this is the only form that said, 'emergent' property can...

The views important to this thread are probably best espoused in the following video and paper: http://www.closertotruth.com/video-profile/Asking-Ultimate-Questions-Max-Tegmark-/888 http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0510188 I am interested in the opinion of others with regard to this...

If you're asking about which theories consider 'non-quantum' universes, then I'm afraid my physical knowledge is not deep enough to help you. That's why I sought out the help of better brains than mine! :smile: If, instead, you're talking about exotic theories theories that make use of...

Thank you again for your replies. The discussion has become very informative, even if a great deal of it is going over my quantized, yet borderline deterministic, free-will-inducing head! :smile: I know some of this is bordering on the philosophical, and I apologize if the mere mention of the...

I understand that the notion of 'intelligence' is tenuous at best, and individuals will have their own understandings of its meaning, however, I was hoping that my questions were sufficiently generalized as to avoid that problem. If you are worried about definitions, or dismayed by the...