Tony Brussat
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Surfers, Sufis, and Qualia
Learning to appreciate new qualia will change the world. Qualia, of course, is at the heart of how we perceive the world we live in. We have evolved, in qualiadelic relationships, with the environment. Thus, for instance, we have no problem understanding the idea of gravity, while relativity is almost completely baffling. But understanding relativity might not be much more difficult than learning to understand depth perception.... (posted by Tony 196 days 15 hours ago.)
Learning to appreciate new qualia will change the world. Qualia, of course, is at the heart of how we perceive the world we live in. We have evolved, in qualiadelic relationships, with the environment. Thus, for instance, we have no problem understanding the idea of gravity, while relativity is almost completely baffling. But understanding relativity might not be much more difficult than learning to understand depth perception.... (posted by Tony 196 days 15 hours ago.)
Qualia and Chess
Garry Kasparov has done a lot of thinking about computerized chess. He had the fortune (or misfortune, as he hints) to be the reigning chess champion when computers challenged and then surpassed their human chess-playing counterparts. Kasparov concluded that “correctly evaluating a small handful of moves is far more important in human chess, and human decision-making in general, than the... (posted by Tony 201 days 16 hours ago.)
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Garry Kasparov has done a lot of thinking about computerized chess. He had the fortune (or misfortune, as he hints) to be the reigning chess champion when computers challenged and then surpassed their human chess-playing counterparts. Kasparov concluded that “correctly evaluating a small handful of moves is far more important in human chess, and human decision-making in general, than the... (posted by Tony 201 days 16 hours ago.)
Qualia and the Mind-Body Dualism
Let's just say, for the sake of argument, that the reason the pigeon can navigate home from anywhere, even if he is prevented from “knowing” where he is, is because he is able to sense the magnetic fields which surround the Earth. Well, he didn't just wake up one morning with that sense, he evolved it over millions of years. Now, on the other hand, there is the physicist, some Maxwell or Einstein who never... (posted by Tony 206 days 14 hours ago.)
Let's just say, for the sake of argument, that the reason the pigeon can navigate home from anywhere, even if he is prevented from “knowing” where he is, is because he is able to sense the magnetic fields which surround the Earth. Well, he didn't just wake up one morning with that sense, he evolved it over millions of years. Now, on the other hand, there is the physicist, some Maxwell or Einstein who never... (posted by Tony 206 days 14 hours ago.)
The Spirit of Qualia
The first anthropologists to study religion around the world found what they considered to be primitive, almost fossilized predecessors to the modern, “great” religions. The fetishism and nature worship of our ancestors still lingered in some cultures, here and there, but that wasn't a surprise – they, just like many ancient creatures that still exist today, are just waiting to go... (posted by Tony 211 days ago.)
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The first anthropologists to study religion around the world found what they considered to be primitive, almost fossilized predecessors to the modern, “great” religions. The fetishism and nature worship of our ancestors still lingered in some cultures, here and there, but that wasn't a surprise – they, just like many ancient creatures that still exist today, are just waiting to go... (posted by Tony 211 days ago.)
Qualia Blossoms
There is some debate about which is more important, a flower's seeds or its blossom. Seeds, of course, carry the flower's DNA into the next generation, but the blossom is the flower in full potential. In a human, we are slaves to our own seed, our own DNA; but we are also slaves to ideas, and if we live up to our best ideals, being honest, or tolerant, or courageous, or creative, or whatever is most meaningful to us, then we... (posted by Tony 215 days 20 hours ago.)
There is some debate about which is more important, a flower's seeds or its blossom. Seeds, of course, carry the flower's DNA into the next generation, but the blossom is the flower in full potential. In a human, we are slaves to our own seed, our own DNA; but we are also slaves to ideas, and if we live up to our best ideals, being honest, or tolerant, or courageous, or creative, or whatever is most meaningful to us, then we... (posted by Tony 215 days 20 hours ago.)
Star-Spangled Qualia
There is a passage in Plato, when Crito is trying to convince Socrates to flee Athens, when suddenly the Laws of State become personified and argue why Socrates ought to stay and suffer his sentence of death. The Laws of State argue simply and truly that they married his parents who begat him, they educated him, and he, by spending his life in Athens, contracted to obey them. Were he to flee, the Laws... (posted by Tony 222 days 1 hour ago.)
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There is a passage in Plato, when Crito is trying to convince Socrates to flee Athens, when suddenly the Laws of State become personified and argue why Socrates ought to stay and suffer his sentence of death. The Laws of State argue simply and truly that they married his parents who begat him, they educated him, and he, by spending his life in Athens, contracted to obey them. Were he to flee, the Laws... (posted by Tony 222 days 1 hour ago.)
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