Monday, 27 January 2025

The world isn't physically closed

It is said that all change in the world is purely due to physical forces playing out. These forces can ultimately be boiled down to the four fundamental forces; the electromagnetic force, the gravitational force, the weak force and the strong force.

But, if that's the case, why do I have to make an effort to get out of bed in the morning?  And I do cos it's frigidly cold in my bedroom!

I should find my body moving of its own accord, getting out of bed, typing everything on here, thinking my thoughts for me. Isn't this all obvious transparent nonsense?

Saturday, 25 January 2025

Induction and the laws of nature

We don't know, nor strictly speaking can we even say it's probable that the laws of nature will continue to operate. But we have to assume nature is uniform, otherwise we couldn't act in the world at all (if, indeed, the world didn't just disappear).

So, if I release a ball, why does it fall downwards? Why not just stay there? Or accelerate upwards? Or suddenly disappear? Or turn into a beautiful woman?

When I first studied philosophy, I couldn't grasp this. I thought, why doesn't past experience render it at least likely that the laws of nature will continue? It was a revelation when I finally got it. One of the few occasions in my life when I suddenly grasp something, and I thought, "oh wow" and "this means that everything we know is ultimately a type of faith". It added to the mysteriousness of this reality we find ourselves in, and the fact we ultimately know nothing in a strict sense.

The Climate Crisis

I just read this: The global far right are weaponising net zero – and we’ll all suffer I don't really care much about economic growth, I...