ail in search of reality winter 2007 - r. e. little 1 colby - sawyer college adventures in learning...

AIL In Search of RealityWinter 2007 - R. E. Little

1

Colby - Sawyer CollegeAdventures in Learning

Winter 2007

In Search of RealityLeader - Dick Little


2

ADMINISTRIVIA

• Park at St. Andrews (From Gould Rd.)• Restrooms• Fire Exit Routes NO ELEVATOR• Medical Emergency - Dial 911, AED on

Premises• Break at 10 of the Hour• Name Tags -Leave Them Here• AIL Rep., Evaluation Forms• Snow Days - Call 526-8444


3

CLASS INTRODUCTIONS

In 30 Seconds or Less

• Introduce Yourself

• Tell Us About Your Interests.


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GROUND RULES• This Is a Discussion Group, but Time Is

Limited. I Will Manage Time.• Some of this Stuff is Over Our Heads, I Will

Use Metaphor, (Over)Simplification, Even White Lies.

• I Will Keep Mathematics, Formal Logic, Physics and Other Exotica to a Minimum.

• Participate, Participate, Participate!• Please Do Not Shoot the Messenger.• A word about the Web.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/reality


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DEFINITIONS & HANDOUTS

• “Words Mean Things.”

• Pass the Dictionary.

• My Pantheon Handout.

• Course Bibliography/Discography Handout.


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“Everything That Is, Ever Was, Or Ever Will Be.”

Everything We Know.

REALITY VS. KNOWLEDGE

Reality The Body OfKnowledge

(BOK)


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THERE ARE MANY REALITIES

SocialRealityPhysical

Reality

Hyperreality

OtherRealities

VirtualReality


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REALITIES DEFINED

• Physical R. = The universe and its elements: space, time, matter and energy.

• Social R. = The accepted rules of (a) society.• Virtual R. = Simulations that cannot be

distinguished from the thing they represent.• Hyper R. = Believable fantasies.


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REALITY - EXAMPLES

• Physical - A Rock, The night sky, Life, Distance.

• Social - Money is accepted in exchange for goods.

• Virtual - A Planetarium, An airplane cockpit simulator.

• Hyperreality - Disney World, Today’s consumerism.


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SOCIAL REALITY,THE BUILDING BLOCKS

1. Physical Object Serves a Social Function.

2. A System of Rules Establishes Institutional “Fact.”

3. Collective Acceptance of (1) Physical Function and (2) Rules “Creates” Reality.

As quoted in Baggott. From:Searle, John R. (1932 - )The Construction of Social Reality (1995)


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“THE BIG QUESTIONS”• What is it all about?• How did it all begin?• What is life?• Why is there something rather than nothing?

Philosophers call these, “Primordial Existential Questions” PEQ.

And, the epistemological question:Can we trust what we (think we) know?


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SOME REALITY-RELATED-ISMS

AGNOSTICISMANIMALISMANIMISMANTHROPOCENTRISMATHEISMCREATIONISMDARWINISMDEISMDETERMINISMDUALISMEMPIRICISM

IDEALISMLAMARKISMMATERIALISMMONISMNIHILISMPANTHEISMPLURALISMREALISMSKEPTICISMSOLIPSISMTHEISM


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The belief that there can be no proof either that God exists or that God does not exist.

Strong Agnosticism: There is no way we can ever know.

Weak Agnosticism: We can’t say if we will ever know.

Agnosticism

Atheism

Strong Atheism: The doctrine that there is no God or gods.

Weak Atheism: Disbelief in or denial of the existence of God or gods.

-ISM DEFINITIONS


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Belief in the literal interpretation of the account of the creation of the universe and of all living things related in the Bible.

Creationism

Darwinism

A theory of biological evolution developed by Charles Darwin, stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that increase the individual's ability to compete, survive, and reproduce.

MORE -ISM DEFINITIONS


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The belief that God created a law-abiding world and left it to run on its own. [The Watchmaker argument.]

Deism

Pantheism

The view that God is identical with the totality of nature and its laws andin no way transcending it.

TheismBelief in the existence, immanence and transcendence of a God or gods, especially belief in a personal God as creator and ruler of the world.

STILL MORE -ISM DEFINITIONS


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DUALISM AND REALITY

The term ‘dualism’ has a variety of uses in the history of thought. In general, the idea is that, for some particular domain, there are two fundamental kinds or categories of things or principles. In theology, for example a ‘dualist’ is someone who believes that Good and Evil — or God and the Devil — are independent and more or less equal forces in the world.

In the philosophy of mind, dualism is the theory that the mental and the physical — or mind and body or mind and brain — are, in some sense, radically different kinds of thing.

Discussion about dualism, therefore, tends to start from the assumption of the reality of the physical world, and then to consider arguments for why the mind cannot be treated as simply part of that world.

From the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophyhttp://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dualism/


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DUALISM AND REALITY (CONTD.)

• Plato, Aristotle - Body/Soul

• Descartes - Mind/Body

• Kant - Noumena/Phenomena(Thing-in-itself/Thing-in-the-mind)

• Computer Age - Hardware/Software


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DEVELOPMENT OF HOMO SAPIENS & THE BOK

• Earth Formed ~4BYA• Earliest Life (Single Cell Micro Organisms) ~3.5BYA• Earliest Primates (Gatherers) ~60MYA• Homo Erectus (Hunters, Tools, Fire, Shelter) ~2MYA• Homo Sapiens (Reasoning, Language) ~150KYA


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EARLY ENTRIES IN THE BOK

Marks on bone ~3 inches long

~1.3MYABulgaria

Bird carving~2 inches long

30 KYAGermany


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THE EARLIEST SCIENTIFIC ENTRY IN THE BOK ?

The Ishango Bone ~20KYA

Wolf Bone about 5” Long, Chunk of Quartz in End, Marks in GroupsFound Zaire 1950, Now in Brussels


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THE LASCAUX CAVE PAINTINGS ~15KYA

A Rectangle & 13 Dots 29 Dots

Lascaux, SW France, Discovered 1940

A Lunar Calendar?


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COURSE SCHEDULE (FLEXIBLE)

• Week 1 - Reality & Knowledge

• Week 2 - Science & Religion

• Week 3 - The Big Questions

• Week 4 - Continuation of Week 3• Week 5 - Prof. Willem deVries

The Possibilities Of Idealism: How Mind Colors Reality

• Week 6 - Open Forum, Wrapup


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PROGRESSION OF RELIGIOUS THOUGHT

1. IGNORANCE & UNCONSCIOUSNESS

2. OBJECTS HAVE MAGICAL POWERS

3. SUPERIOR DEITIES EXIST

4. GODS ARE LIKE US AND SUBJECT TO PERSUASION

5. GOD AS “AUTHOR OF NATURE”

6. GOD DEMANDS MORALITY

Adapted From Pre-historic TimesSir John Lubbock (1834-1913)

TIME


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PROGRESSION OF SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT

1. Spiritualism Anatomy Medicine2. Astrology Astronomy Cosmology3. Mysticism Philosophy4. Numerology Mathematics & Logic5. Supernatural(ism)* Physics6. Alchemy Chemistry

*Invented word (R.E.L). Is there a real one?


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THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

1.Observe some aspect of the universe.2.Invent a tentative description (a hypothesis)

that is consistent with what you have observed.3.Use the hypothesis to make predictions.4.Test those predictions by experiments or

further observations and modify the hypothesis in the light of your results.

5.Repeat steps 3 and 4 until there are no discrepancies between theory and experiment and/or observation.

A THEORY IS SCIENTIFIC IFF IT IS FALSIFIABLE!


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• Physicist• Physician• Head, Human Genome Project• Author, The Language Of God

From American University RadioThe Diane Rehm ShowJuly 25, 2006Edited by REL (15:36)

Photo: www.ornl.gov

http://www.wamu.org/programs/dr/06/07/25.php

AN INTERVIEW WITH FRANCIS COLLINS

Self Description:“DEVOUT CHRISTIAN”


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• Oxford Professor Public Understanding of Science

• Zoologist• Author• Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature

From Wisconsin Public RadioThe Best Of Our KnowledgeOctober 15, 2006Edited by REL (11:35)

http://www.wpr.org/webcasting/ideas_audioarchives.cfm?Code=bok

Photo: www.vub.ac.be

AN INTERVIEW WITH RICHARD DAWKINS

Self Description: “AGNOSTIC”


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THE COLLINS - DAWKINSDEBATE

TIME MAGAZINENOVEMBER 13, 2006


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• Prof. of Entomology, Harvard• Philosopher• Pulitzer Prize Winning Author• Described as: “Darwin’s Natural Heir”

http://www.wpr.org/webcasting/ideas_audioarchives.cfm?Code=bok

From Wisconsin Public RadioThe Best Of Our KnowledgeMarch 26, 2006Edited by REL (13:00)

Photo: WIKIPEDIA

AN INTERVIEW WITH EDWARD O. WILSON

Self Description: “DEIST”


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SUMMING UP,QUOTES FROM THE THREECOLLINS - “I’d like to know what the purpose is for my life. Science isn’t helping me with that, but my faith is.”

DAWKINS (from TIME Mag.) - “If there is a God, it's going to be a whole lotbigger and a whole lot more incomprehensible than anything that any theologian of any religion has ever proposed.”

WILSON - “This planet can be a paradise if we use our intelligence to makeit so. . . . And I think it will be reached not by traditional religious faith, butit will be reached by knowledge and human self-understanding.”


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“Mathematics is a more powerful instrument of knowledge than any other that has been bequeathed to us by human agency.” Rene Descartes (1595-1650)

“To those who do not know mathematics it is difficult to get across a real feeling as to the beauty, the deepest beauty, of nature.” Richard Feynman, Physicist, Nobel Laureate (1918-1988)

“All life is Biology. All Biology is Physiology. All Physiology is Chemistry. All Chemistry is Physics. All Physics is Mathematics.” Dr. Stephen Marquardt

“In mathematics you don't understand things. You just get used to them.” John von Neumann (1903-1957)

“Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater.” Albert Einstein (1879-1955)


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MATHEMATICS AND NATURE

restart:

> ifsmaple:=proc(imax)> # Iterated Functions Systems> # Originalprogramm 'Chaos-Spiel fuer ein Farnblatt' geschrieben> # in BASIC, ver"ffentlicht in: 'Bausteine des Chaos - Fraktale',> # Springer Verlag/Klett-Cotta, S. 415 von denselben Autoren> local e1, e2, e3, e4, f1, f2, f3, f4, x, y, xn, yn, z, pts;> pts:=NULL;> e1:=0.5; e2:=0.57; e3:=0.408; e4:=0.1075;> f1:=0; f2:=-0.036; f3:=0.0893; f4:=0.27;> x:=e1;> y:=0;> to imax do> z:=rand()/1e12;> if z<=0.02 then> xn:=e1;> yn:=0.27*y+f1> elif z<=0.17 then> xn:=-0.139*x+0.263*y+e2;> yn:=0.246*x+0.224*y+f2> elif z<=0.3 then> xn:=0.17*x-0.215*y+e3;> yn:=0.222*x+0.176*y+f3> else> xn:=0.781*x+0.034*y+e4;> yn:=-0.032*x+0.739*y+f4> fi;> pts:=pts, [xn, yn];> x:=xn;> y:=yn;> od;> [pts]> end:

> plot(ifsmaple(12500), axes=NONE, style=point, symbol=POINT,scaling=constrained);


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ZERO & INFINITYSTRANGE BEDFELLOWS

€

limn→∞

1

n= 0

€

limn→0

1

n= ∞

An example of beauty in mathematics.

Notice the symmetry in these definitions of zero and infinity.Each one is the other with the symbols 0 and interchanged.

€

∞


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SO YOU THINK YOU KNOW REALITY?

http://users.skynet.be/J.Beever/coke.html


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TRUST YOUR VISION?

http://users.skynet.be/J.Beever/Blair.htm


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HUMAN THOUGHT ABOUT REALITY

• Religious Thought (Supernatural Basis)• Scientific Thought (Natural Basis)-------------------------------------------------------• The Common Ingredient?

THOUGHTTHOUGHT


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TWO “POLES” OF THOUGHT

• Nature Is What It Is. We Don’t Know All About It Yet, But We Will.

• There Is More to It All Than We Can Ever Know.


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MODES OF NORMAL HUMAN BEHAVIOR

• Abstract Thinking (Defining Concepts)

• Planning (Steps to Achieve Goals)

• Innovation (New Solutions)

• Symbolic Behavior (Images, Rituals)

Source: WIKIPEDIA


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MODES OF EXTRA-NORMAL BEHAVIOR

• Hypnosis

• Spells

• Hallucinations

• Trances

• Dreams

• Genius

With Or Without Chemical Assist


40

MAJOR RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD

Christianity: 2.1B Islam: 1.3B Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: 1.1B Hinduism: 900M Chinese traditional religion: 394M Buddhism: 376M primal-indigenous: 300M African Traditional & Diasporic: 100M Sikhism: 23M Juche: 19M Spiritism: 15M Judaism: 14M Baha'i: 7M Jainism: 4.2M Shinto: 4M Cao Dai: 4M Zoroastrianism: 2.6M Tenrikyo: 2M Neo-Paganism: 1M Unitarian-Universalism: 800K Rastafarianism: 600K Scientology: 500K

http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html


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WHAT IS SPACE?

• If It Weren’t for Space, Everything Would Be in the Same Place.


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WHAT IS TIME?

• If It Weren’t for Time Everything That Has Happened, Is Happening or Will Happen Would Have Happened at Once.


43The Ishango Bone (20,000 BCE)


44

CAVE PAINTINGS OF LASCAUX


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13 dots and an empty square. The dots may represent a lunar cycle, up until the 14th day when the moon disappears from view, represented by the empty square.

A horse, and a series of 29 dots.The dots may represent the 29 days of the lunar cycle.

The Lascaux Cave Paintings (13,500 BCE)Lunar Calendars?


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Stonehenge Megalith ca. 3,000 BCE

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