Beyond Zen

By Wayne Brown
In the summer of 2016, I stepped beyond Zen. From this point on, my reflections on the self are documented in the "I,You,Us and Them" blog. At least at this point, I regard Hofstadter's ideas, especially his treatment of the self, the mind and consciousness as the most productive way of thinking about these issues. In short, I think I know what a "mind" is and what the word "I" means. This doesn't leave a lot to be discussed in the "spiritual" realm, except perhaps to comment specifically on religions and religious thinking, which pops up all over in places where it is least suspected.

There is still room in this blog to comment on "religious" and "spiritual" ideas, but for me, the fundamental issues seem to have been settled, at least for the moment.

I don't want to clutter this blog with "meme theory", nor do I want to clutter the "I, You..." blog with social commentary.

Similar considerations apply to the "Dragon" blog. I see "Dragon theory" as a special case of "meme theory" (meme theory establishes that "dragons" have minds), although there is still quite a bit to be said about Dragon Theory in its own right. It looks like "Dragon Theory" will assume the "basics" emerging in the "I, You ..." blog but still have room for commentary on exactly how dragons emerge and assimilate human beings.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Panic Part 6 - The IPCC Summary for Policymakers

By Wayne Brown
Image
Love it or hate it, the discussion revolves around this report Bottom line: I accept the IPCC report as a kind of "hub" around which my view of climate issues must turn. It is important to understand what it is saying, along with its limitations. Legions of cherry pickers have descended on this report - many to raise alarm, many to rebut, many to blow smoke over it. It is not difficult for a reasonably intelligent person to read the report itself, especially to examine the baskets of cherries emerging from the forest. Generally speaking, I have found critics of the report to be highly misleading. To call the report "alarmist" is perhaps simply to admit that there is no shortage of worrying facts in the report. For example, the frequently cited concern of the "alarmists" - namely sea-level rise - is completely well documented. To me, the "let them drown" response at COP26 forms the basis of my assumption that the politicians of the world will not...
Read more

Dennis Hoffman and The Nature of Reality

By Wayne Brown
Image
Perplexity Massive data loss.... The great math mystery "Math works so well to describe reality because math is all there is." just 32 numbers and a bit of math Lex Fridman & Dennis Hoffman The Case Against Reality (In Kindle) This may be the wrong question: Does math work so well because it's how we perceive reality or is math a fundamental property of the Universe? Missing is the idea that consciousness itself is essential and that a mathematical description of consciousness could be "fundamental" - more "fundamental" than what we think of as "reality." "The elegance of math meets the messiness of reality" - but this is a clue to how we simplify reality for efficiency. 
Read more

A Challenge to the "Settled Science" Meme

By Wayne Brown
Image
I've read at least a dozen books on the climate issue in the last month. This is the best. Koonin is not just another "skeptic." His approach to the matter rises above "controversy" and depends on evidence. Yet, he acknowledges where the panic is coming from. A lecture by Koonin covers much of the key material and provides color versions of the slides, which are black and white in the book. Another interview, without the slides, is here . In reading IPCC reports, it's evident that the "summaries" don't "summarize" the actual science. The ultimate summary, the speech by the head of the IPCC , bristles with inaccuracies and has no message beyond panic. As a senior climate scientist, Koonin provides some startling stories of the "blow-back" he gets by simply asking for an independent review of IPCC conclusions. In fact, there was a brief attempt to cripple such a review by denying federal funds to any study that challenged t...
Read more