Epiphenomenalism
Sep. 21st, 2022 04:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
This article talks about epiphenomenalism, the idea that thoughts don't matter.
Epiphenomenalism is the idea that our conscious minds serve no role in affecting the physical world. On the contrary, our thoughts are a causally irrelevant byproduct of physical processes that are occurring inside of our brains. According to epiphenomenalism, we are like children pretending to drive a car — it can be great fun, but we are really not in charge.
This claim is falsifiable, and indeed, there is plenty of diverse evidence disproving it. Examples include:
* "The observer changes the experiment" is a known issue in science. Quantum physics has some fascinating cases like Schrodinger's cat.
* Thoughts can influence the body in many ways, such as the placebo effect. Sometimes, thoughts cause results that fly in the face of what purely physical science would predict, like the "will to live" keeping people alive in impossible situations where hard science says they should die.
* The farther down the evolutionary scale you go, the more organisms tend to run entirely on instinct. The higher up you go, the more instinct becomes an influence rather than an absolute. Humans have instincts, biochemistry, and other base influences but also have highly developed thought. This allows them (at least sometimes) to perform feats like, "I shall put on a condom before having sex because I do not want to make a baby right now." It is counter-evolutionary and achievable only by thinking ahead about the possible consequences of actions and then choosing to suppress a very strong drive long enough to take precautions. There is nothing in the base influences that tells a horny organism not to reproduce; that is purely an artifact of thought.
Epiphenomenalism is the idea that our conscious minds serve no role in affecting the physical world. On the contrary, our thoughts are a causally irrelevant byproduct of physical processes that are occurring inside of our brains. According to epiphenomenalism, we are like children pretending to drive a car — it can be great fun, but we are really not in charge.
This claim is falsifiable, and indeed, there is plenty of diverse evidence disproving it. Examples include:
* "The observer changes the experiment" is a known issue in science. Quantum physics has some fascinating cases like Schrodinger's cat.
* Thoughts can influence the body in many ways, such as the placebo effect. Sometimes, thoughts cause results that fly in the face of what purely physical science would predict, like the "will to live" keeping people alive in impossible situations where hard science says they should die.
* The farther down the evolutionary scale you go, the more organisms tend to run entirely on instinct. The higher up you go, the more instinct becomes an influence rather than an absolute. Humans have instincts, biochemistry, and other base influences but also have highly developed thought. This allows them (at least sometimes) to perform feats like, "I shall put on a condom before having sex because I do not want to make a baby right now." It is counter-evolutionary and achievable only by thinking ahead about the possible consequences of actions and then choosing to suppress a very strong drive long enough to take precautions. There is nothing in the base influences that tells a horny organism not to reproduce; that is purely an artifact of thought.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-09-22 02:28 pm (UTC)Thoughts
Date: 2022-09-22 07:27 pm (UTC)Turns out, that doesn't always happen. Developed nations always have a lower birth rate, from a combination of birth control, better health care (meaning it no longer takes 12 children to have 1-2 survive), and changing economics (children become a drain instead of an asset). By now, many countries have a falling birth rate that is starting to concern people. While humans in general have severely overpopulated the planet, and a falling birth rate is good for the environment, it poses problems on Ponzi economies that require growth to continue.
>> because babies bring immeasurable joy.<<
Babies are a joy if and only if:
* acceptable breeding pairs can form up
* adequate health care minimizes the risks
* and it is safe for this particular pair to reproduce
* good support is available during pregnancy and childrearing
* the parents can afford a baby
* and they actually do want one.
Failing any of these prerequisites can quickly turn what should be a joy into a nightmare. That is an unfortunately common problem today, made unnecessarily worse by social conditions that make it hard to find and keep mates, undermine health and access to care, shatter social supports, leave many people poor, and force people to have children they don't want. The results are good for nobody.
America is a particularly wretched place to reproduce, with many numbers down in the undeveloped range despite allegedly being a developed nation. Texas alone tanks the perinatal survival rate by denying health care to women, not just abortion, but so few places offering any kind of gynecological care that many women cannot get it. Conversely, some places like Sweden have genuine family values and are fantastic places to reproduce.