Re: Searles' Fundamental Error

From: Russell Standish <lists.domain.name.hidden>
Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2007 21:44:28 +1100

On Wed, Feb 07, 2007 at 06:10:34PM -0500, John M wrote:
>
> I can't wait for Bruno's (and others') versions.
>
> John M
>


My take on physical and existence.

Physical: that which "kicks back" in the Samuel Johnson sense. It
doesn't rule out idealism, because the virtual reality in a VR
simulation also kicks back.

Existence: This is a word with many meanings. To use it, one should
first say what type of existence you mean. For instance mathematical
existence means a property of a number that is true - eg "47 is
prime". Anthropic existence might mean something that "kicks back" to
some observer somewhere in the plenitude of possibilities. There is
another type of existence referring to that which "kicks back" to me
here, right now. And so on.

It is possible to say "physical existence = mathematical existence" as
Tegmark does, but this is almost a definition, rather than a statement
of metaphysics.

Cheers

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Received on Wed Feb 07 2007 - 18:40:28 PST