Recent content by Picklehead

I would like to say that I believe ignorance of a quantum objects exact position/momentum does not imply that our general, more fundamental understanding of how the universe works is somehow more limited. In fact, it could be said that the problems brought up by HUP helped deepen our...

IMO, the cat must be an observer, or else you tempt the question of who collapses the superposition of 'observer witnessing live cat/observer witnessing dead cat' . . . assuming we haven't misdefined 'observer' and that the whole concept of waveform collapse is correct in the first place.

Doesnt relativity suggest that holding a specific point in spacetime (whether it be in the past; right 'now'; or in the future; way, way, way far away; or really, really close) to be more 'real' then the other is a violation of the no preferred reference frame or somesuch? Or, if that didnt...

Dennett. What I've read about Singer, I like.

Read that one too. Easier to understand.

I've read that one. Cant say I understood much of it beyond the idea of Nows in what he calls Platonia.

Quote:Can you tell me about an event in space/time reality that is not caused? As for 'causeless' events (if there really are such things), atomic decay, the spontaneous existence and annihilation of pairs of virtual particles.

Question: String theory requires extra dimensions than the expected four to describe the universe. The holographic principle, based on the limits of black holes to hold information suggests that there are fewer than the expected four dimensions needed to describe the universe. Is that...

Why can't 'nothing' be defined as the complete and utter absence of 'things', be they objects or concepts?

Esperanto. No, seriously though . . . not english. Living languages evolve, which makes them sort of kinda unreliable. Speaking in maths about the ecology of the lungfish seems like it would be unnecessarily difficult though. And having separate languages for the different sciences would be...

I think that not only are the problems getting harder, but encreasingly expensive too. I'm afraid there will be a point where cost will prohibit what we can learn about the universe and everything in it well before we run up against any limit to our ability to understand it.

I sort of agree, Scotty was, in a way, a mass murder.

I think it is a misunderstanding between these two statements . . . We are here because the conditions are right. The conditions are right because we are here. The first one, I think (correct me if I'm wrong) implies that the right conditions are the cause of us. The second one implies...

I used to talk in the early mornings, but I don't think I have in a while. Sometimes when I'd get woken up, I'd remember what it was that I was talking about, and for a brief moment, it would still make complete rational sense. Never sleptwalked or acted out though.

We don't so much impose order because at the level of explanation where mind is evoked, information is already only coming through what essentially is 3 space axes and one time axis (gravity may leak, and whatever, but anyway). In fact it is a limiting factor, or a constraint, just try to...