GENIUS FORUMS

must be an event such that event X falls withing the light cone of W. It turns out this rather strictly limits our list of suspects when we try to determine at least one cause for event X. Firstly, your analogy is very well reasoned. I appreciate thought and was afraid that a belief in " causa...

Here's why. No matter what event I can think of, I can think of what would have been at least one of its causes. " Cause" seems to be used as a temporal marker in these situations. If you'll allow; since " cause" attempts no explanation nor definition of the event marked; and be...

Cousinbasil, I think I see what you are saying. But, there is a inherit problem with paradoxical thought. They are fun to think about; but, the recursive logic locks one into an unanswerable question. If I could reword Russells's paradox; it seems that I could just say " The infinite set contai...

If a statement is literally true about everything, then how could it have a bearing on anything in particular? This is not a bad argument. I had to think on it awhile. I suppose that I could say that an all encompassing statement can define boundaries. If we take my statement that all matter is com...

So many good answers.


We look within and we look without.

The following is a paraphrased argument I had made on another thread. Causality, while true, doesn't explain anything to me. A thing being universally true doesn't necessarily give one insight into the underpinnings of the universe as a whole. My example was that all things are made of energy. If I ...

Yeah, well, hopefully you can see this is a very unsophisticated viewpoint. The Western philosophic tradition has a lot to answer for, generating so much rubbish. I agree. I do see this as unsophisticated. Maybe, to better understand the range of our differing views; you could define the limits of ...

yahooyoda, thank you for the link. Very interesting.

:-) Pretty good. Locke, Perhaps in the future I will embrace this idea. All things are possible. Because the existence of Locke is temporary. Subject to change...infant, child,youth, man, old man. Because Locke will cease to exist. Because Locke is 'thrown' into the World and 'thrown' out of it. Wou...

Starting In 1980, it took three years for (american) medical research to discover that AIDS patients all carried the human immunodeficiency virus. What caused those three years of studied AIDS cases before scientists tested and proved the HIV connection? I'm sorry. I'm not sure what you are suggest...

Too right :-) Sorry about where I posted it. I'm new to the forum and have only posted on the Genius forum. Didn't even think to look around. It's correct that the information is relayed incorrectly. It sounds correct to most people when they hear it though. I love when they start counting on their ...

Dennis, I can't deny that cause and effect are a truism of the universe. But, I'm afraid that in my present mode of thought; this is no more insightful to me then saying all matter is composed of energy. The statement is true. I could lose myself in this statement. I could say that since all energy ...

At root, determinism is simply the view that all things have causes. It makes no reference to predictability or unpredictability, which is an entirely different issue. Ah, if I'm mistaken then I apologize. I had taken Laplace's demon as the predominant view of determinism. "We may regard the p...

If time is just a construct. Who constructed the construct? Who constructed the constructor of the construct? This is a very interesting question set of questions. Well, in my view man is the constructor of time in the sense of how we view it. Objects move throughout the universe but with no observ...

Exactly. That little bastard! :-)

For some reason this old math problem came into my head. I had forgotten how much fun the confused look on peoples faces were. I'm sure most of you have heard this or can figure it out quite easily. Three friends while on vacation stop into a hotel for rooms for the night. Speaking to the manager, h...

Hello Carmel and thank you for the welcome, I have to agree that causality is evident in the photon-electron interaction. I don't think that predictability and determinism can be separated though. I agree that I can't find a example of a phenomenon that is uncaused. My main issue is the idea that we...

Yes, I agree time travel to the past is impossible. My viewpoint though doesn't stem from a causal relationship; rather that time is just a construct. All measurements seem to follow this idea. Take a ruler for example; it is not a meter per say. Rather it is a close approximation to our idealized m...

guest_of_logic: Personally, I don't see a way to disprove causal determinism conclusively, because it's internally consistent, but I do see ways to object to it based on its implications, David: This is the telling remark. To reject truth on the basis that you don't like its implications is never a...

David, Thank you for the thoughtful response. What makes you think that the new photon has been uncaused? Predictability and determinism aren't synonymous terms. The fact that a particular event isn't predictable doesn't automatically mean that it is uncaused. We can't predict what number a rolled d...

Hello David, While true that I can't ignore the causal relationship of objects within this universe I believe that there is inherent randomness in the system that can't be predicted. The proponents of Determinism seem to ignore this. An example being star light that travels through interstellar gas....

Laird,

I think you are right. " I hoped man had moved forward from this type of thought" is too extreme a statement on my part. I do think that the readers here value the scientific.

dogmatic quality

Exactly

What makes an electron revolve around an atom then? I'm game. What?.... hmmm.... I'll guess causality. Does this give you a better understanding of the atom? We could stop with that answer or look further into the mechanics of the atom. Now, I'll admit to being no expert on quantum mechanics so if ...

Hmmm.. that does make it hard to discuss the issue. I understand; subjective feelings are almost impossible to relate and yet are no less real to the subject. Why do I love this girl? Can I explain it to you? Would you understand my exact feeling? Probably not. Do you have a feeling on why our share...

This is only a problem when introducing a 'system' as actually being defined somehow or existing. But it's not. The totality isn't. There, I've said it. Hello, could you expand on this. Why isn't the " Totality" a system? Isn't one defining it as such when they call it " The Totality...