Hi Squad, long time no see
Yes Roger, Robert's post was quite offensive, especially the subject line.
My face turned all red and my knuckles white. :) Here we go.
You wrote about the levels:
> First, I don't see a physical/biological split within experience. For
> example, when a tree "defies" gravity by growing upwards, it can be
> explained by photosynthesis which is a physical theory of matter and
> energy. It is only behavior of *conscious* beings that seem to violate
> physics as their choices appear arbitrary from a physics viewpoint.
Do you think a one-cell amoebae is conscious or doesn't its movements seem
arbitrary from a physics viewpoint?
What I'm trying to say is that if the amoebae was inorganic, i.e. dead, it
would simply sink to the bottom of the ocean, (or float to the surface).
But it doesn't, it moves where it *wants* to move because of biological
quality. It's biologically better with food than non-food. And biological
quality is more moral than inorganic so it wins.
You can try to explain this biological quality in terms of inorganic
quality all your life, but you will only be able to prove that biological
patterns are dependent on inorganic patterns. Every taste, smell, touch and
sound is composed of inorganic patterns, but it doesn't explain the sheer
betterness of coffee vs. tea. Yeah, that's right, I'm not talking absolute
betterness either, don't try to capture what is good and what is not good in
an encyclopedia.
> Cartesian dualism could possibly explain the conundrum by directly by
> incorporating "will" into consciousness. This is complicated, but it is
> more intuitive that my "will" violates physics than biology.
I don't think so, it's just more commonly accepted, but nobody has ever
explained how it's possible for this non-physical "will" to violate physics.
A dualism is supposed to be two separate realms, not intermingling.
Maybe I'll stop there for now, I have similar thoughts about your rejections
of the other levels. I know others have a less extreme view of the levels
than I, sometimes I don't think many more but me really takes them seriously.
Let me know if anything I said makes sense, or if I missed your point
completely.
Magnus
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