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149We give the derivation, as opposed to justification, of the Presentist Fragmentalist interpretation of quantum mechanics in perhaps its most basic form, and then several other considerations.
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97I give more notes about time and quantum mechanics, including notes about entropic time, superdeterminism, retro-causality, Spotlight Presentism, QFT, empirical outcomes of experiments in the present only, and Schrodinger's equation.
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117We give a very curious curiosity about Newtonian Gravity.
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97We give a very curious curiosity about Newtonian gravity.
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168We give a mechanism for how awareness could (indeed *must*) continue after death.
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172This note gives 9 Temporal Knowledge Arguments and, also, makes a few observations about presentism.
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152Why is there something rather than nothing? I don’t know. But ‘nothing’ may not be the correct default state. It may be that the existence of possibilities requires fewer (weaker) assumptions. In this case, arguably, we should start with the existence of possibilities and not ‘nothing’. In this case, there exists the possibility of (for example) red qualia. But the possible existence of a red quale does not delineate what it is the possibility of if the possibility contains only a reference to r…Read more
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224A *qualation* does not contain merely references to qualia, but contains actual qualia. There are many differences to equations. Qualations are irreducibly 1st-person and are required for the statement of a hard problem.
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87Many researchers suppose that the forward direction of time as a consequence of increasing entropy. But the human brain, including the human brain with memories, and life in general, are regarded as pockets of decreasing entropy, so as to accommodate the continual addition of memories and abilities. But then humans and life in general should see time going ‘backward’ in some sense. But we do not. Therefore, time is not entropic in origin. The purpose of this note is to bring attention to this id…Read more
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169I give three brief scientifically informed arguments that free will is causally efficacious over-and-above the efficaciousness of its physical substrate. (This is a second attempt at putting it up on PhilPapers--there seems to have been some problem with downloading the previous version.)
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120I give a reason we are almost certainly *not* in a simulation. I also consider what happens if two simulators simulate each other.
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129In this short paper I suggest a few properties a good realist interpretation of quantum mechanics ought to have. Then I canvass several interpretations, most of which do not have these properties, and further suggest problems specific to each one. Then I give a reference to a novel interpretation that solves all of these problems.
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126The moving spotlight theory of presentism is well-known (Emery et al. 2020). In this article I will give an unmoving spotlight theory of presentism. It has several components and, I will argue, is more satisfactory than a moving spotlight theory.
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232On Einstein's Train and the Big Bang in Fragmental Presentism, Temporal Flow Rates, Existence, Free Will, Qualia, Hard Problems, etc.
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201It is often thought the relativity of simultaneity is inconsistent with presentism. This would be troubling as it conflicts with common sense and—arguably—the empirical data. This note gives a novel fragmentalist-presentist theory that allows for the (non-trivial) relativity of simultaneity. A detailed account of the canonical moving train argument is considered. Alice, standing at the train station, forms her own ontological fragment, in which Bob’s frame of reference, given by the moving train…Read more
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155This brief note gives a modest argument that there may be states-of-affairs that require fewer (weaker) assumptions than the assumption or 'default state' of Nothingness. It is meant as an add-on to the paper "Existence and the Big Bang" and to work in concert with several other papers on PhilPapers. This is meant to modestly help the idea that the Big Bang could have happened in the first place.
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171Why is there something rather than nothing? I don't know. But I give an argument that qualia exist *necessarily*. The *possibility* of the existence of red qualia requires actual red qualia to specify what the possibility is a possibility *of*.
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164There is a profound difference between asking a 'hard problem' and asking a 'hard problem' that has qualia in the question. There are plausible answers to the former that are nevertheless clearly not answers to the latter. I give a method by which hard problems will be able to be solved, if possible. I speculate on the (possible) causal efficaciousness of consciousness in evolution and in quantum mechanics.
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147We start by asking the question of ‘why there is something rather than nothing’ and change this to the question of ‘what are the weakest assumptions for existence’ Eagle [1]. Then we give a kind of Fragmental Perspectivalism. Within this Fragmentalist interpretation of quantum mechanics (each quantum mechanical system forms a fragment) Merriam [2], it turns out McTaggart’s [3] A-series of time (the A-series is future to the present to the past) has a kind of perspectivalism. We then use McTaggar…Read more
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108We are each entitled to our own opinions, and it’s my opinion that, as of this writing, 8/19/2021, physicists are endlessly confused about both the anthropic argument and the fine-tuning argument. Here is my take on them. The Anthropic argument (which I think works) involves two, not one, data points. The fine-tuning argument fails because ever smaller changes could always be contemplated.
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97We give an apparently new possible explanation for why there might be something rather than nothing—the weakest assumptions coupled with a kind of perspectivalism. Within a Fragmentalist interpretation of quantum mechanics (each quantum mechanics system forms a fragment), McTaggart’s A-series of time has this kind of perspectivalism. We then use the A-series and the B-series to differentiate between how far in the past the big bang was vs. how much earlier than now the big bang was. In one examp…Read more
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100This is an outline of the basic reasoning in the fragmentalist interpretation of presentism and quantum mechanics.
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166Observations on why is there something rather than nothing, fine tuning, beauty, time, intelligent design, qualia, Zen, Bach, Jesus, poetry, consciousness.
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264This paper develops a Fragmentalist theory of Presentism and shows how it can help to develop a interpretation of quantum mechanics. There are several fragmental interpretations of physics. In the interpretation of this paper, each quantum system forms a fragment, and fragment f1 makes a measurement on fragment f2 if and only if f2 makes a corresponding measurement on f1. The main idea is then that each fragment has its own present (or ‘now’) until a mutual quantum measurement—at which time they…Read more
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211We motivate and develop a perspectival A-theory of time (future/present/past) and probe its implied interpretation of quantum mechanics. It will emerge that, as a first take, the time of relativity is a B-series (earlier-times to later-times) and the time of quantum mechanics is an A-series. There is philosophical motivation for the idea that mutual quantum measurement happens when and only when the systems’ A-series become one mutual A-series, as in the way qualia work in the Inverted Spectrum.…Read more
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191Abstract to Equations, Qualia, and Qualations With regard to consciousness, we could write an equation B = black. But it is possible to rewrite this using a quale, namely, B = █. This latter equation might be called a ‘qualation’. It has the same meaning regardless of the physiology that apprehends it. This article argues a whole theory of qualations could be developed. Further, to a Dualist, it could be that a materialist is convinced by materialist arguments involving the first equation, but i…Read more
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12577 observations on qualia, quantum mechanics, time, mechanism for life after death, incompleteness, perspectivalism, Anthropic principle, two-dimensional semantics, materialism, God, the Hard Problem, Bach, entropy, string theory, qualations, etc.
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129Observations on qualia, politics, Godel incompleteness, two-dimensional semantics, feminism, Bach, entropy, time, and other things.
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219Abstract We motivate and develop an A-theory of time and probe its implied interpretation of quantum mechanics. It will emerge that, as a first take, the time of relativity is a B-series and the time of quantum mechanics is an A-series. There is philosophical motivation for the idea that mutual quantum measurement happens when and only when the systems’ A-series become one mutual A-series. This accounts almost trivially for many quantum phenomena, including that the electrons of a Bell pair do n…Read more
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184Non-locality is one of the great mysteries of quantum mechanics (qm). There is a new realist interpretation of qm on the table whose notion of time incorporates both of McTaggart's A-series and B-series. In this philosophically motivated interpretation there is no fact of the matter as to whether the 'now' of one system is the 'now' of another system, until measurement. But this reproduces the idea that the spins of a Bell pair of electrons do not become definite 'until' measurement. And this al…Read more
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Time, Misc |
Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics, Misc |
Schrodinger's Cat |
Areas of Interest
11 more