Multiple Worlds

By Wayne Brown

 WORK IN PROGRESS - TO BE EXPANDED

It is quite commonplace for kitchen philosophers to point out that what we experience is not the "real" world. What our senses deliver is what evolution has found to be useful for our survival.

Like many "philosophical" debates, vistas open if you say, so what? What then?

What else do our minds construct that is "useful" but not "real" in the usual sense? Do we see worlds that are constructed entirely by our minds? Worlds that are "unreal" in any sensible meaning of the the term?

The list is endless. It is here where we find the unique capabilities of the human mind, where other minds are stuck with just being "useful."

MATH

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-the-mathematical-world-real/

LARGE LANGE MODELS

The following is a good explanation of Large Language Models, which turn out to model a certain aspect of human thought. Most of the discussion is around how amazing the models are. What is missed is that we seem to have modelled the human ability to create "worlds" out of nothing but human language.

There is no requirement that the model refers to the "real world." "AI" based on LLM's can "halucinate." Just like people who fail to notice that their most cherished beliefs - the way they "explain the world" is nothing but talk. This problem has been noticed from the point of view of "reality" that can't be "explained" (Taoism) and 20th century philosophy, regarding the limitations of langage (Wittegenstein).  

ECONOMICS

I am arbitrarily making a distinction between theories of "money" as a mirror of debt, which is thought of as a measure of "stuff" in the real world. This link acts as a constraint behind theories of "money" since economics is concerned with how scarce resources are allocated. Money is taken as the common yardstick that allows us to create general theories of economics in terms of money, such as "supply and demand," which assumes it's talking about supply and demand for real world "stuff" or services.

FINANCE

"Finance" emerges when money itself is thought of as a resource in and of itself. Of course, there are connections with economic theory, but human behaviour departs from a concern with "stuff" to a concern with "wealth", which is as liquid as possible, and produces a nice rate of return at the lowest risk possible. The underlying "stuff" is of no concern. We demand that money itself must breed more money (numbers in our bank account.)

RELIGION - MAGESTERIA (book in Kindle)

There are attempts to reconcile Science and Religion that are characterized by the idea that they cover different versions of reality - somehow both true.

ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE

One central concept of this book is that machines are actually human ideas made real. Following this logic, we are surrounded by the ideas of other humans, making our "reality" a kind of group fantasy.


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