----- Original Message ----- From: "Richard Baker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, April 25, 2004 12:35 PM Subject: Re: does time exist
> Brad said: > > > But isn't our intuition wrong--or perhaps it would be better to say > > that our intuition does not prepare us to study quantum mechanics > > and relativity? It's true that brains that have our intuitions of > > space and time tend to help the selfish genes that program them > > replicate themselves. But "fitness" is not the same thing as > > "truth"... > > Indeed not. But, so far as I can tell, Dan isn't saying that we have > intuitions about time that may or may not be correct, but that time > *exists* because we have intuitions. I presume he means that something > in our brain organises sense impressions into a spatial and temporal > structure. I don't doubt that this occurs, but like you I think that > this structuring only gives us an approximation to what's out there in > nature. Furthermore, I think that it presupposes at least some kind of > temporal structure (although perhaps I could be convinced that what > looks like a temporal structure is in fact a constraint on spatial > patterns in some kind of universe without time, or without temporal > flow [as, indeed, the universes in some theories of quantum gravity > might be, what with the vanishing of the Hamiltonian and all]). I realize that I didn't explain things very well, but a good explanation would probably be a 100k+ post, carefully written. So, you will have to live with me giving the next layer up on the explanation. Intuition, for Kant, is not just a gut feel (e.g. woman's intuition). Rather, it is the way our minds interact with that which is real apart from us: numenon. Space and time are a priori in that they come first; they are an inherent part of the human mind. Numenon is that which exists as itself, apart from us. To use language from later philosophy, its things-in-themselves. We do not live in a world of numenon; we live in a world of phenomenon. Phenomenon is the interface between mind and numenon. It is defined both by that which exists apart from humans and by the human mind. For Kant, space and time do not exist apart from us. One of the great usages of this, at the time, was to better explore causality. He countered the "uncaused cause" proof of God's existence by defining causality as part of the human mind's ordering. Apart from our minds, things simply are. It is us who orders them in space and time, and arranges them with causal links. What is neat about this worldview, is that it has a better explanation of why we are surprised than does idealism. After all, if one is an idealist, and phenomenon is simply the shadows of our own mind, then why should we ever be surprised? But, if phenomenon is also dependant on that which exists apart from human minds, then surprises can be expected. Indeed, this gives a very good place to stand when trying to understand QM. If electrons don't exist apart from the human mind, then it isn't surprising that their properties don't exist apart from observation. Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
