Philosophy Now Forum

If you could only get rid of the zero time interval I'd go along with most of this. The Zeno story is logically flawless so time simply CANNOT be infinitely divisible. If we take into consideration the "processing" time delay that undoubtedly exists between what shows up in consciousness ...

Apologies. My machine is acting up.

[quote="Obvious Leo"] If you could only get rid of the zero time interval I'd go along with most of this. The Zeno story is logically flawless so time simply CANNOT be infinitely divisible. [quote] Very good! I think I can make this work by abandoning the "nexus" along with the f...

Probably the best way to think of the no-further-divisible Planck interval is as a moment in time which becomes its own next moment. According to E=mcc matter is an emergent construct which has no meaning at the Planck scale so we can think of this interval as having only an energy content which is...

PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE: Are these useful terms? The past is what has happened, we think. You may have some recollection of it. You may see some evidence of it, in a dilapidated barn, for example. The present is what is said to be happening. You may be conscious of it an instant after it happens. ...

Words fail us. A case in point is the word "instant". My dictionary defines it as: an infinitesimal space of time; especially a point in time separating two states <at the ~ of death>. Here, we have encountered the word "infinitesimal", which my dictionary defines as: taking on v...

Are we to suppose that a present of zero duration can have an effect on the mind? It is a principle which dates back to the pre-Socratics that time is not infinitely divisible. There MUST be a minimum possible instant of time in which we can meaningfully say that something has actually happened and...

Greylorn Thanks for your advice and assessment. My comment concerning your unprofessorial behavior was in reference to your derogatory remarks, and nothing more. I assumed you were/are a professor based on the quality of your writing. Behavioral psychology studies behavior, not psyche. The curriculu...

Obvious Leo Thanks for your recommendations. I assure you they're much appreciated and will be given serious consideration. As for Non-linear Dynamic Systems Theory: I'll have to look into that; sounds mathy. Does it apply to chaos? Just remember: I equals the cyclic integral of H dotted into dl. Sp...

Greylorn I'm currently studying psychology. I hope eventually to be educated enough in that discipline to be able to determine what motivates folks such as you to interfere in the conversations of others and attempt to disparage, discourage, and intimidate them. Such behavior is not very professoria...

I'm going to try to create confusion while exploring this topic. What if we have someone who has a multipersonality? If you ever seen (or read) The Three Faces of Eve , you'll know that one of the personalities was unawares of the others while another was aware of the first. Is this a situation to ...

How does being conscious differ from being awake? Being awake adds to your database of information while being conscious usually relates to the information you have already accumulated in your database. PhilX Again, I disagree. Our awakened state IS our sense of consciousness. It just doesn't speak...

How does being conscious differ from being awake?

Evolution knows no bounds.

Not sure I can elaborate simply. But here goes. I agree with the notion that all living things are conscious, though for me I'd not accept the idea that exchanging 'information' represents some form of cognition. I suspect that idea is rooted in a quantum view of the universe? I prefer to think mor...