A Leap of Faith

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It requires a leap of faith to believe in the "present"
since all we really know about it is based on historical record.

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[+1] - diagknowz - 07/31/2005Re: A Leap of Faith [quote="chris2a"]It requires a leap of faith to believe in the "present" since all we really know about it is based on historical record.[/quote] Eh, my...
[+1] - chris2a - 08/01/2005By the time a "present" event reaches our brain, it has already occurred. Thus, what we have left of the present is recorded within the structure of our memory. It is a historical record. :)
[+1] - diagknowz - 08/05/2005[quote="chris2a"]By the time a "present" event reaches our brain, it has already occurred. Thus, what we have left of the present is recorded within the structure of our memory....
[+1] - chris2a - 08/05/2005While not a professor, I do profess and completely accept my current view of existence. But thanks for the honorary title. You can probably answer your own question if you think about it long...
[+1] - diagknowz - 08/07/2005[quote="chris2a"] In the meantime, if you are genuinely interested in continuing this dialog, tell me what you can about the following image.[/quote] Well, first of all, my...
[+1] - chris2a - 08/07/2005The seven premises OK. Let's agree on some basic premises and proceed from there. [size=16][color=darkred]1. Within the context of our discussion, the term "[i]present[/i]" and...
[+1] - chris2a - 08/07/2005How many NOWs [quote="diagknowz"]To the question, then: How can we have a "Now 0 and a Now 1" when you posited that everything is basically Now 0? Or am I reading the...
[+1] - Instigate - 08/07/2005you believe in the present because there is no other reality
[+1] - chris2a - 08/07/2005[quote="Instigate"]you believe in the present because there is no other reality[/quote] No. It's just that I can never "reach" the present. I will always be "a hair's...

Re: A Leap of Faith

chris2a wrote:

It requires a leap of faith to believe in the "present"
since all we really know about it is based on historical record.

Eh, my own personal experiences are "historical record"? (Methinx that's according them too much gravity Laughing

)

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By the time a "present" event reaches our brain, it has already occurred. Thus, what we have left of the present is recorded within the structure of our memory. It is a historical record. Smile

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chris2a wrote:

By the time a "present" event reaches our brain, it has already occurred. Thus, what we have left of the present is recorded within the structure of our memory. It is a historical record.

OK, I see how you're using "historical record." Makes us all look like mini-Herodotuses Smile

But, Prof, I'm not so sure about something here: it seems to me that my brain is recording (=perceiving) an event I'm experiencing WHILE I'm experiencing it. Maybe later, my brain reflects on the meaning of the experience, but that's separate from the recording of the actual "raw data."

What say?

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While not a professor, I do profess and completely accept my current view of existence. But thanks for the honorary title.

You can probably answer your own question if you think about it long enough. I am fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on your point of view) to have the time to do little else.

I will post more in a day or two. This subject matter can get very strange.

Very, very strange.

In the meantime, if you are genuinely interested in continuing this dialog, tell me what you can about the following image

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chris2a wrote:

In the meantime, if you are genuinely interested in continuing this dialog, tell me what you can about the following image.

Well, first of all, my "now" brain is only a subset of my "tomorrow a.m." brain, which in turn is only a subset of the brain I had many moons ago, before it was beleagured and blighted by time (that ole Brain-napper!!) and illness.

To the question, then: How can we have a "Now 0 and a Now 1" when you posited that everything is basically Now 0? Or am I reading the "Now" sets wrong?

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The seven premises
OK. Let's agree on some basic premises and proceed from there.

1. Within the context of our discussion, the term "present" and "now" are exactly the same.

2. A now has no duration. It is temporal point, i.e., it is a time-zero instant.

3. A time-zero instant, or a now, is just that. It has no time or, in other words, it is timeless.

4. We exist in the present, always. We may remember a past now (present) or predict a future now (present) but existence is manifest only in the present. In other words, there is only one present (now) that can be characterized as the singular time-zero instant of existence. But this can only be considered true if we have a well defined symplectic horizon.

5. A symplectic horizon is a discrete subset of all existential manifestations of reality that we are observing.

6. An existential manifestation of reality is anything that is contained withing the cosmos.

7. The cosmos delineates the boundary of any and all physical realities.

(You may have noticed that this subject matter begins to transcend the capabilities of language and syntax.)

If you disagree with any of these seven premises or if you would like to modify something, let's discuss it further.

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How many NOWs

diagknowz wrote:

To the question, then: How can we have a "Now 0 and a Now 1" when you posited that everything is basically Now 0? Or am I reading the "Now" sets wrong?

To keep things manageable, we do not need to consider all the nows between any two given nows. Suffice it to say that the number of nows between NOW0 and NOW1 may or may not be countable.

And so that you can get an idea of what I mean by "uncountable", try to evaluate Cn below,

http://cosmotheory.com/images/large%20number.jpg

I don't think this number can be expressed any other way. Now that is what I mean by uncountable and it's only the beginning.

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you believe in the present because there is no other reality

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Instigate wrote:

you believe in the present because there is no other reality

No. It's just that I can never "reach" the present. I will always be "a hair's breadth" behind it. That is the nature of my existential reality.

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A Leap of Faith

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