Cosmologic philosophy: conscious universe (Introduction)

by dhw, Saturday, January 07, 2017, 12:57 (2877 days ago) @ David Turell

More quotes: "What these two great minds offer is a bold, new understanding of who we are and how we can transform the world for the better while reaching our greatest potential.
"The most distant galaxies billions of light years away, have no reality without you, because everything that makes any galaxy real— with the multitude of stars with their heat, emitted light, and masses, the positions of the distant galaxies in space and the velocity that carries each distant galaxy away at enormous speed—requires a human observer with a human nervous system.

I’m sorry, but for me this is woolly philosophy masquerading as physics. I can only repeat that I firmly believe the galaxies will still be out there whether we observe them or not, but that shouldn’t stop us from understanding ourselves, doing good deeds, or fulfilling our potential.

“If the qualities of Nature are a human construct arising from human experiences, the existence of the physical universe "out there" must be seriously questioned--and along with it, our participation in such a universe.”

A supercolossal IF.

“To understand our true participation in the universe, we must learn much more about awareness and how it turns mind into matter and vice versa.”

What does he mean by “true participation in the universe”? Does he believe we can juggle with solar systems? Our being part of the universe seems self-evident to me, and I can sympathize with philosophies that proclaim the oneness of BBella’s “ALL THAT IS”, but that kind of participation is a zillion light years away from our bringing the universe into existence. In my view this is solipsism gone crazy. However, since consciousness itself is an unsolved mystery, to understand consciousness and its effects on us and on the world around us, we do indeed need to understand more about consciousness and its effects on us and on the world around us. Who could possibly disagree?

"These are difficult truths for mainstream scientists to accept, and some would react to them with skepticism, disbelief, or anger. But following the other track of explanation, beginning with physical objects "out there," fails utterly to explain how we are conscious to begin with.

What "truths"? Nobody understands consciousness. That does not mean the world around us is not real (even though our observation of it is subjective). No wonder mainstream scientists react with scepticism, disbelief or anger.

DAVID: I firmly believe that our universe is conscious and our consciousness is a part of that overall state of the universe and our brain is a receiver of that ability. But the universe obviously preceded our appearance.

I have no doubt that our consciousness is part of the universe. I do not know whether the rest of the universe is conscious. Nor does anyone else, but the belief that it is has nothing whatsoever to do with physics. Thank you for your final comment, which is a welcome and devastating rejection of the article’s main thrust.

As regards the links, sometimes I simply can’t get beyond the first page. The computer gets stuck. I will liaise with Neil.