Grebels wrote:
Hi Cato, what do you think of John Wheeler and Roger Penrose, both mathematicians as a I understand it. How do you see thought having to do with phenomenon.
Thought and Phenomenon
This section describes a phenomenon which is not based on any guiding principle, like the laws of math or physics, however, cannot fully be explained by pure physicalities. This is the “phenomenon” of thought, because there are no laws that currently prove what will be proposed, the challenge will be a harder one.
Thought, on its surface level, is the synapses between brain neurons which allow a flow of information. This cannot be the end-all-be-all definition of thought, however, as it fails to truly explain what thought—namely reflective thought—can conjure up. Some connections made by this physical thought process are completely explainable by physicalities; namely, how the brain groups certain categories of information. However, nothing physical can explain the seemingly other-worldly connections that a genius’ mind can see: Some of the most profound thoughts in history can leave others in perplexity; and probably because these are unexplainable physically. A broad example of this is when a new breakthrough is made in theoretical physics; these breakthroughs require loosely made connections between math, other phenomenon—what has been discovered before them—however, the categories that the brain naturally makes, which can account for other connections, can not account for this.
Two specific examples that come to mind are: Newton’s invention—rather discovery—of calculus, and Einstein’s theory of relativity.
In both of these cases, the genius’ immaterial thought process—or thought that is not explainable by physical categorization of the mind—gave insight to what immaterialities were guiding the physical observations or insight they had. In the case of Newton, calculus was “discovered” in order to explain what he observed in gravity—the physical world of gravity. What allowed him to see this other worldly insight was not physical thought—as if synapses could account for such a profundity, then there would be a “genius-pill” on the market. Furthermore, the physical grouping of knowledge within the brain cannot account for this immaterial insight, as, logically, there seems to be no physical connection between the observable and the guiding: There is no logical that materialist’s could give. Newton did not get hit with an apple and then set out to find what physically made it break from the twig—no—Newton set out to find the immaterial guidance of what made it fall—what was under the surface level; and to find such he first needed mystical, immaterial, genius insight—connections his mind made beyond physical synapses.
Most likely unconsciously, Newton knew that to figure out the mystifying, gap closing, heavenly body, immaterial force, he had to turn to the immaterial world of mathematics.
This one builds off of previous sections, and kind of deviates from the point of the section, but it is what I have written so far on the topic.
Last edited by Cato Publius on 16 May 2015, 1:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
08 May 2015, 10:53 am
