Dear Denis,
You wrote 11/11 23:58 +0100 that you would like me to expand on
some points from my 10/11 23:36 +0100 posting.
I fully agree with your explanation and elaboration of my
intuition that (in your words:) "we experience a series of
quality events ... and then when a series of similar quality
events has reached a certain 'critical mass', we 'see' the
pattern".
You question my statement that "patterns of value are not
elements to compose anything from, they are not to be treated as
objects. If we do treat them as such, we are discussing SOM and
not MoQ." You write: "I mean, it
seems obvious that atoms are patterns of value, and that they do
compose molecules, which are also patterns of value. Similarly,
words are intellectual patterns of value that compose sentences.
And sentences can join up to form a play or a novel. So, what did
you mean exactly?"
I agree that the nouns "atom", "molecule", "word", "sentence",
"play" and "novel" can be used to refer to patterns of values in
our experience. Only relatively simple patterns of values,
though, like "chair" in my toddler example, that is composed from
consecutive head bumpings. (Like "chairs" is a more complex -and
for adults more relevant- pattern of values than "chair", needing
more experience for its composition, "atoms" would be a more
complex and more relevant pattern of values than "atom". My
posting becomes too complex if I elaborate on this, however.
(-; )
It is difficult to imagine a physical experiment that enables one
to experience a single atom or molecule as a pattern of values,
but maybe an electron-microscope might do it: making an atom or a
molecule visible as a series of hits by the electrons it emits
that return photons (light particles) to the microscopist's eyes.
A word could then be experienced as a pattern of black lines on
white that stays the same every time my eyes pass the same spot
on the paper. Etc.
We are used however to communicate our experience to each other
as "experience of objects that have (or have not) value for us".
Communicating the experience of value (quality) and of static
patterns in this value needs long-winded wordings in language
that presupposes nouns to refer to subjects and objects and that
presupposes that subjects and objects are primary, that
manipulation of objects by subjects is secondary and that
evaluation of objects by subjects (determining their value) is a
kind of manipulation (because "to evaluate" is a transitive verb,
it needs not only a subject but also a direct object). In other
words: our communication presupposes SOM unless we very carefully
(and wordy) explicate so every time we refer to a pattern of
values, for we can only refer to patterns of values by using
nouns that usually refer to "things" (subjects and objects).
According to my MoQ, the pattern of values "atom" consists of the
experience of the photons reaching our eyes via the
electron-microscope. The idea that it might be an "atom" (an
object) that we see, comes after the experience. The pattern of
values "molecules" may also consist of (a slightly different)
experience of photons reaching our eyes via an
electron-microscope. Whereas a "molecule" can be composed of
"atoms" understood as objects, it can not be composed of "atoms"
understood as patterns of values. You can't compose a molecule of
water (H2O) from two "experiences of photons reaching your eyes
via an electron-microscope that are emitted by electrons hitting
a hydrogen atom" and one "experience of photons reaching your
eyes via an electron-microscope that are emitted by electrons
hitting an oxygen atom".
So we can COMMUNICATE our experience of a pattern of values (e.g.
a "molecule" or an "atom") by referring to objects (e.g. "atom",
"photon", "electron-microscope", "electron" etc.) that compose or
explain that experience. As said, it is a very wordy way.
Metaphors and paradoxes are usually more efficient, but can be
misunderstood.
With friendly greetings,
Wim
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