Comment by karol
6 months ago
Beginning is an illusion created by our way of perception. Time is neither linear nor real so how can there be a "beginning"?
6 months ago
Beginning is an illusion created by our way of perception. Time is neither linear nor real so how can there be a "beginning"?
"Your honor, I could not have possibly shot that person, because yesterday might not have been before today, or at least, there is reasonable doubt that yesterday was before today, according to some physicists on crack. I treat those physicists with high regard personally though, and they have degrees that you don't have, so the court must reasonably conclude their opinions should be entertained."
I guess that's a joke, but it's actually kind of serious that causality, personhood, identity, free will, etc. are all social constructs.
They are useful to us, but every now and then it's helpful and humbling to remember it's a fiction we assign, rather than fundamental.
Criminal justice or the concept of culpability is one of these areas. I know I've seen material by Robert Sapolsky, a neuroscientist who does not believe in free will, talking about how off the mark criminal justice and punishment for crimes can be.
You’re stating this as if determinism has been proven beyond a doubt which is not the case.
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An interesting corner of philosophy for me is when people worry about perfect clones with all your memories. The only reason it bothers us is because we're not used to our doppelgangers turning up and claiming our sofas and relationships. In a polity where clones are commonplace and provision is made to inform the source and the perfect copy that their material possess will be divided or some stuff will be provided, the shock value would fade away.
That doesn’t affect time in the sense discussed here, though, which is a fundamental dimension in our physical theories.
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Let me strengthen the observation to say they are the “social constructs [most] useful to [those who survive] us.”
"Objection, your honor. In the many-worlds interpretation there is a world in which that happened."
Many-worlds doesn’t predict that everything happens somewhere; far from it.
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I wonder how far counsel could take it before the judge hit them with contempt for lawyering while Nietzsche.
xkcd super soaker