tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2202092988208583550.post2802294781289876510..comments2024-03-04T15:09:00.479-08:00Comments on The Scientific Worldview: Neomechanical ImpossibilitiesGlenn Borchardthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09394474754821945146noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2202092988208583550.post-56756423427162980702015-09-28T10:58:46.885-07:002015-09-28T10:58:46.885-07:00Comment 20150928 Uncivilization
You wrote: Explai...Comment 20150928 Uncivilization<br /><br />You wrote: Explain this please: "65. The unobserved quantum particle does not exist."<br /><br />I thought you rejected such things as "quantum particles".<br /><br />[GB: Remember Luis, these were neomechanical “impossibilities,” many of which are commonly reiterated by regressive physicists. I consider “quantum particles” simply to be aether particles. They exist whether observed or not, of course.]<br /><br /><br />You wrote: This is certainly not an impossibility:<br /><br />"22. Humanity is becoming increasingly uncivilized."<br /><br />If humanity is plunged into a thermonuclear war or an ecological catastrophe, the post-war society could easily revert to religious darkness, feudalism and even slavery.<br /><br />[GB: 22 is obviously false, your speculations about the future notwithstanding. You need to reread the section on “The Rise of Civilization” ("The Scientific Worldview" p. 281+) where I discuss the regressive, static, and progressive views on the subject. Also see Pinker, Steven, 2011, The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined: New York, Viking, where he shows that the level of violence has been declining throughout the ages. BTW: If there ever was to be a nuclear war it was when Reagan shook us up by saying: “Better dead than red.” The prospects for a third world war are ever declining as resources become more globalized and the capitalists who normally would instigate such a war already have stakes in almost every country. It is no longer a simple matter of invasion, genocide, and occupation. In isolated areas there are, of course, there are occasional regressions toward the feudalistic practices you mention. That is why we say that progress is spiralic. Note that the determinism-indeterminism philosophical struggle follows the same pattern (p. 14 in "The Scientific Worldview").] <br /><br /><br /><br /> ]<br /><br />You wrote: <br /><br />"23. Humanity will commit suicide."<br /><br />Why is this impossible? Cults can draw in thousands of people, and there's no reason that a post-apocalyptic society couldn't come under the sway of a cult leader who proposes mass suicide.<br /><br />I'm being slightly facetious, of course, but these things are POSSIBLE even if not particularly LIKELY.<br /><br />[GB: That would be one big cult—currently 7 billion folks all having to be equally stupid. Good luck with that. It is almost impossible to get even a few people to agree on the same thing, much less suicide. What you propose is species suicide, which I discussed on p. 302 of "The Scientific Worldview" in the chapter on “The Myth of Exceptionalism.” There is no evidence that any species has committed suicide. All extinctions result from changes in the macrocosm. Humanity eventually will become extinct too—when Earth is hit by a large asteroid or when the Sun runs out in 4 billion years or so—but it will not be by its own hand.]<br /><br />Glenn Borchardthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09394474754821945146noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2202092988208583550.post-1886706183908911472015-09-13T19:13:17.167-07:002015-09-13T19:13:17.167-07:00Explain this please: "65. The unobserved quan...Explain this please: "65. The unobserved quantum particle does not exist."<br /><br />I though you rejected such things as "quantum particles".<br /><br />This is certainly not an impossibility:<br /><br />"22. Humanity is becoming increasingly uncivilized."<br /><br />If humanity is plunged into a thermonuclear war or an ecological catastrophe, the post-war society could easily revert to religious darkness, feudalism and even slavery.<br /><br />"23. Humanity will commit suicide."<br /><br />Why is this impossible? Cults can draw in thousands of people, and there's no reason that a post-apocalyptic society couldn't come under the sway of a cult leader who proposes mass suicide.<br /><br />I'm being slightly facetious, of course, but these things are POSSIBLE even if not particularly LIKELY.Luis Cayetanohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05210714337197709016noreply@blogger.com