Philosophical Questions: Reality
Jan. 13th, 2024 12:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithPeople have expressed interest in deep topics, so this list focuses on philosophical questions.
As more and more is being discovered about quantum physics, we become less and less able to comprehend the nature of reality. Is this something temporary and our minds will adapt and begin to understand this new reality or is it possible that the human mind will soon reach its limits of comprehension? If it’s only temporary, is there is a limit to what the human mind can comprehend? If we are reaching our limits, how do we continue to study our reality?
*laugh* This is not new. People freak out about this at least once a century or so.
We are still able to comprehend the nature of reality, or rather, the one most people inhabit most of the time. As some people climb into other layers, it is much like opening up a new level in a game: it takes a while to learn how it works. Once you have learned it, you start looking for a new level. This is normal.
The human brain has limitations. It is a finite object with a given (if large) amount of storage and processing capacity. The human mind is less limited, but still has to deal with the brain's limits. The human soul is not limited, but well, it's also a great deal bigger than will fit in the brain. So it's kind of like the soul is a mainframe and the brain is a terminal; you're only dealing with a small subset of the total potential of your soul actually in your brain. (Most people download what they expect to need in a current life at the beginning, and cannot maintain a two-way link the whole time. Those of us with farmemory can learn to maintain that and can send a request at any time, "Oh hey, I need to knap flint, download the Knapping module," for skills we haven't permed. Very handy. That said, where you choose to aim your brain is up to you. Study quantum physics if you want to, it's fun.
You continue to study reality (or whatever else you like) by asking the next questions. There are always more questions. You are never going to run out, because each answer usually spawns several new questions. Curiosity is fractal like that.
As more and more is being discovered about quantum physics, we become less and less able to comprehend the nature of reality. Is this something temporary and our minds will adapt and begin to understand this new reality or is it possible that the human mind will soon reach its limits of comprehension? If it’s only temporary, is there is a limit to what the human mind can comprehend? If we are reaching our limits, how do we continue to study our reality?
*laugh* This is not new. People freak out about this at least once a century or so.
We are still able to comprehend the nature of reality, or rather, the one most people inhabit most of the time. As some people climb into other layers, it is much like opening up a new level in a game: it takes a while to learn how it works. Once you have learned it, you start looking for a new level. This is normal.
The human brain has limitations. It is a finite object with a given (if large) amount of storage and processing capacity. The human mind is less limited, but still has to deal with the brain's limits. The human soul is not limited, but well, it's also a great deal bigger than will fit in the brain. So it's kind of like the soul is a mainframe and the brain is a terminal; you're only dealing with a small subset of the total potential of your soul actually in your brain. (Most people download what they expect to need in a current life at the beginning, and cannot maintain a two-way link the whole time. Those of us with farmemory can learn to maintain that and can send a request at any time, "Oh hey, I need to knap flint, download the Knapping module," for skills we haven't permed. Very handy. That said, where you choose to aim your brain is up to you. Study quantum physics if you want to, it's fun.
You continue to study reality (or whatever else you like) by asking the next questions. There are always more questions. You are never going to run out, because each answer usually spawns several new questions. Curiosity is fractal like that.
(no subject)
Date: 2024-01-13 02:13 pm (UTC)It's weird for me, because I have far memory from a couple of different places...and I'm one of those exceptions because plurality xd.
But the levels are fun. I just...sometimes need a guide because not everywhere is...well...I still have the human body in my dreamscape, and it's sometimes challenging when you realize that you can't find your way back to where you want to be because no landmarks.
I've yet to figure out how to shed the *human* without doing actual *harm* though I'm being told it can be done with time and practice...I just haven't figured out where to start.
On a related topic: I'd thought about studdying cquantom physics, but I feel like it might be confusing without models in front of me, etc. But I could be mistaken about that.
-T~
Thoughts
Date: 2024-01-14 09:24 am (UTC)It is fluid.
>>But the levels are fun. I just...sometimes need a guide because not everywhere is...well...I still have the human body in my dreamscape, and it's sometimes challenging when you realize that you can't find your way back to where you want to be because no landmarks.<<
Yeah, that's complicated.
>>On a related topic: I'd thought about studdying cquantom physics, but I feel like it might be confusing without models in front of me, etc. But I could be mistaken about that.<<
Well, here's one: imagine a spectrum with science on one end, magic on the other. Bend it into a circle so the ends face each other, like a torc. In the gap between the ends is quantum physics.
Probably there are science models for particles and such, but that stuff tends to be expensive.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2024-01-17 04:44 pm (UTC)Well, here's one: imagine a spectrum with science on one end, magic on the other. Bend it into a circle so the ends face each other, like a torc. In the gap between the ends is quantum physics.
Oooh, sweet, that actually makes it make a bit more sence than most people's explanations, doo. Thank you. :)
Probably there are science models for particles and such, but that stuff tends to be expensive.
Yeah, it does. Even when you buy it from companies that make things for people like us folks who are blind.
-T~
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2024-01-18 08:47 am (UTC)Yay!
>> Yeah, it does. Even when you buy it from companies that make things for people like us folks who are blind.<<
People jack up the prices for science items and for disability items.
Look for toys. They may be on the higher end for playthings but will be consistently cheaper than the previous two options, and there are some damn fine science toys. You can get take-apart anatomical models of a human, a horse, and various other things. There are model kits for atoms and molecules.
But there's another, even cheaper option -- crafts. One popular way to model atoms is by sticking toothpicks into gumdrops or marshmallows. It works surprisingly well.
Some science experiments are meant to be played with. Oobleck is an example of a non-Newtonian fluid that performs "the slow blade penetrates the shield" tricks. Approached with force, it behaves like a solid. You can literally run across a swimming pool of the stuff. But with a softer touch, its texture is like a thick liquid.
If you do well with models, then collect things to play with. Get in the habit of modeling things with your hands and whatever supplies you have. There are 3D doodle kits for schools, but again, they're expensive. Fuck 'em. You can make models with pencils, Legos, marshmallows, pipe cleaners, cardboard, whatever. A list of craft supplies and a list of makerspace supplies would be good places to start. You can source things from a thrift store or even use stuff that would be thrown out.
https://www.themakersmap.com/supplylist/
https://builderology.com/the-big-list-of-makerspace-materials-ideas/
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2024-01-19 07:14 pm (UTC)My sience teacher mad a double heelix that way.
she taped a holbunch of unopend candycanes together, took toothpicks, then put a marshemmow, gumdrop, another marshmello, then strung it all together in a spiral so we could feel what it would .look like.
Obviously it's way less visible than the moddle (to some people) but it worked.
I'll need to start making a file of the links you give us so I don't lose them. xd
-T~
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2024-01-20 09:28 am (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2024-01-19 10:50 pm (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2024-01-19 11:17 pm (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2024-01-19 11:31 pm (UTC)If I have a physical model (a doll, dollhouse, artists model whatever) you have the physical shape, which might have movement to 'accesorize.'
If using [American] sign languague, the main, hmm, component is the movement. So 'horse running' will show the movement of the ears and the movement of the legs. 'Washing machine' shows the clothes being spin and tossed about.
So if I take the skills /from/ sign languague to model, say, an atom, I might drum my fingers on the table in a tight cluster for the nucleus-particles, and then tap a few places further out with one finger, before using that finger to mark out an orbit.
So you have a model of an atom, so to speak, but it incorporates visual, audial, tactile, and a bit of kinesthetic feedback. It also emphasizes the movement aspect of 'bits of stuff whizzing about in space' far better than a static model.
And it wouldn't require a physical item, beyond working hands and a bit of space.
Or look up the ASL sign for 'spider' - it makes a pretty good model of a big, ugly spider.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2024-01-19 11:44 pm (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2024-01-20 01:51 am (UTC)That concrete-ness seems to be a more common feature in signed languagues (visual or tactile) than spoken-audial languagues. The spoken ones tend to be more abstract/symbols/whatever (& I am not entirely sure /why/, so that is an interesting question).
I guess you could call it onomatopoeia-with-hands, or mimicking the look of things.
It only really occured to me as a thing because I have incorporated it into my communication strategy in the past. For example, it is easier to convey "I am leaving but will come back," by having your hand walk away and then back as opposed to going "I esse ius retro," and recieving a blank look because the other person finds Latin totally incomprehensible. (I do not speak Latin, translation by Google Translate.)
Anyway, my point is that my atom-model would still be a model, but it emphasizes the movement and energy rather than the shape, as with pock 'em up toy models.
Someone could probably do the same thing with sound, like whistling out a graph, though most variations of that trick (like mimicking birdcalls) would register to me as mimicry rather than a model. (Sound is more static in space, and often more 2d than signs.)
(no subject)
Date: 2024-01-15 03:37 am (UTC)I have no idea if it would work, but meditation? I'm sure I've herd of experienced practitioners peeling apart the illusions of reality like separating orange slices.
There's probably a ton of info for Buddhist practices, some that have bled into the secular realm, and a few more from more reclusive religious traditions.
Actually, I think some of the smaller religions might use drugs* with or instead of meditation. Also cross reference with stuff like rituals and chants and hypnosis...
*(For the record, I am not recommending unsupervised use of stuff like LSD. Playing with drugs can be risky!)
(no subject)
Date: 2024-01-17 04:39 pm (UTC)*laughs* I've never heard it put that way. I've heard of onion layers, but orange slices makes it easier to parse for some reason.
I didn't think about meditation. I'd also need to practice lucid dreaming so I could remember how I did it in dreamscape, too. Landmarks/being elven (Because yes, I'm fae as well) is...well, see above. xd
-T~
Thoughts
Date: 2024-01-18 08:31 am (UTC)It could be the shape. An onion is concentric, but an orange is radially divided and also designed to come apart like that.
>> I didn't think about meditation. I'd also need to practice lucid dreaming so I could remember how I did it in dreamscape, too. Landmarks/being elven (Because yes, I'm fae as well) is...well, see above. xd <<
Meditation is a good idea anyway, given the plural context. You want an orderly mind if possible for that.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2024-01-19 07:18 pm (UTC)That's...a fair point.
>> I didn't think abou
Meditation is a good idea anyway, given the plural context. You want an orderly mind if possible for that.
...
Yeah...and I'm still trying to figure out a meditation style that works consistantly for me.
I'm realising that not only am I elven...I have more of thje 'phoenix' in me than I realized. so it's like...uh...Help?
LOL
I'd just start with one layer )elven) tjhen work in the other...but they're sointerconnect now that that isn't working so well anymore.
-T~
(no subject)
Date: 2024-01-19 10:56 pm (UTC)I think in order to see the onion layers, you'd have to destroy the onion, either cutting it in half or chopping it into smaller pieces.
The orange pieces can still fit back together a bit. Plus, people are more likely to have played around with a peeled orange than a sliced onion. At least oranges don't make you cry!
>>I'd also need to practice lucid dreaming so I could remember how I did it in dreamscape, too. Landmarks/being elven (Because yes, I'm fae as well) is...well, see above. xd<<
I know there are some therapy / cognitive training / whatever skills that can be used to influence retrain thought patterns. Some of them seem similar to the aforementioned meditation and meditation-like skills. I can't say for sure, but it does seem like they would be extremely useful in a scenario where thought and emotion have a bigger influence than physics.