Comments on: Transfinite Minds

By: John Snazelle

John Snazelle — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:29:41 +0000

-Can the infinite exist? Yes. It may be in only a mathematical sense that it exists, but this mathematical sense must be taken as one of the proper, if qualified, senses of “existence”. Otherwise we would not be able to make sense of our mathematical propositions. When we say that there is no largest prime number, we are saying that a certain kind of prime number cannot exist. But what would it mean to say a certain kind of number does not exist unless we already presupposed that other kinds of numbers do exist? It is not only the existential quantifications and singular terms that carry some kind of ontological committment in mathematics, but also the assertions of non-existence. Being is contrast, which means that without some contrast there can be no Being. But the same is true of non-Being. Without some Being with which to contrast, what would we mean when we signified non-Being? Likewise, without an existence with which to contrast, what would we mean when we tried to talk about mathematical objects that cannot or do not exist? But we clearly can and do talk about things in mathematics that cannot exist, such as the set of all sets, or the set of all propositions. And we meaningfully contrast these things with other things that do exist, like the set of all natural numbers or an equilateral triangle. One could respond by saying that such things exist only in the mathematical sense, but that’s fine. Other than some relative, restricted sense of existence, what else could there be? World-indexed properties and world-indexed existence is all even concrete, physical beings like us can aspire to. There is only one Absolute, and of It it cannot meaningfully be said either that it exists or does not exist. At any rate, the direction of contemporary physics seems to be asymptotically approaching an ontology every bit as bloated as plenitudinous platonism, which in my opinion is great. If the physics of information is correct, we are justified in the kind of “patternism” Rudy was already proposing more than thirty years ago: even physical objects are ultimately patterns, and every pattern is a mathematical object.

By: mike3

mike3 — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 03:20:16 +0000

“Can there really be a direct correlation between mathematics as we know it and human conciousness?”

Don’t know.

“Can the infinite in fact exist? ”

I think so. Although one might not be able to prove it,
it still seems *possible*. Who’s to say the physical universe
is the whole story?

“Is every moment of our lives a manifestation of some “magic” that we are far from understanding?”

Wouldn’t call it magic, but there could be a force that
runs things that is far beyond our ability to grasp.

“Could the dim light of our lifeforce ever illuminate a whole universe?”

“Are these animals that populate our planet under the name homo sapien anything more than murderous thugs and theives?”

Considering that not every single human being out there goes out
and murders his fellow human being, I’d have to say yes, they
are something more.

By: Mac Tonnies

Mac Tonnies — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 00:56:51 +0000

The “drones” are fakes — but *interesting* fakes with some appealing backstory. Someone put some time into this.

By: Element 5

Element 5 — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 00:59:05 +0000

Are you keeping up with what’s happening with the “drones” that have been spotted lately, along with the corresponding “Isaac” documents? The documents show a very odd looking text which is supposed to act as self-actuating software when paired with the incredibly detailed material that the drones are made of, a very curious form of sophisticated computing that finds a parallel in your “runes”. You might want to look into (and lock onto) this.

By: rs

rs — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 14:41:23 +0000

Now that is some rich sh-t to think about.

By: Kelson Philo

Kelson Philo — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 13:52:10 +0000

Haha! Thanks!

By: Rudy

Rudy — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 00:55:23 +0000

Glenn, my goal in SF is to what-if about ways the world could be more fun. Like having infinity be real. Could be. Why not? I’ll write the story just to see how it might work out. Thought experiment!

As for humans being murderous—hey, we’re omnivorous terratorial animals, whaddaya want. I saw some Humboldt squid on the news last night who looked every bit as ruthless as us. I could watch them for hours.

Kelso, the swirl is a Borneo door. In general, you can find out the origin of any of my images by typing its name into the blog Search box to find the first time I posted it, when it’s usually explained. Get the image’s name by right-clicking on the image, selecting Properties… and then dragging the corner of the Properties box so it’s big enough to show the image name. You only need to search for the file name, you don’t need the “http://www.rudyrucker.com/blog” prefix or the “jpg”. So in the case of that swirly image you’d be searching for ngdoor. And you’d get this page:

http://www.rudyrucker.com/blog/?s=ngdoor

And on this page you’d click the earliest entry and find the source.

I reuse my images a lot. My personal deck of Tarot cards.

By: glenn branca

glenn branca — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 21:17:58 +0000

Can there really be a direct correlation between mathematics as we know it and human conciousness?
Can the infinite in fact exist? Or is it just a product of our imaginations?
Is it not possible that our world (universe) is a dying lifeless desert that we are stranded on?
Is every moment of our lives a manifestation of some “magic” that we are far from understanding?
Could the dim light of our lifeforce ever illuminate a whole universe?
Are these animals that populate our planet under the name homo sapien anything more than murderous thugs and theives?

By: Kelson Philo

Kelson Philo — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 21:04:07 +0000

I must ask, what is that delightful looking rectangle beneath the first photo? It’s swirl (gnarl?) is stunning.

Your thought process on the immortals is intriguing, what is the name of the snake that eats it’s tail, ouruboros(sp?)? Not to call them ‘ouruborians’ or anything, but for some reason, i thought, add an ‘ell apostrophe’ to it, “French-ify” it if you will. Because it just seemed right that such a creature would be able to speak in beautiful flowing tones…And once that was done, it suddenly seemed very close to ‘Lobrane’…

Downward Infinity certainly sounds a bit like a cosmic looking glass of sorts. Very peculiar indeed…