Re: Lunch
Being --the ontological primitive--wants to know. Shermer is an assumed identity conditioned by religion (not anymore), culture, mythology, ideology, science (maybe even scientism). Genes, neural networks etc. are symbolic signatures of that conditioned identity.
From the dictionary ontology I can'talaje I noun the branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of being.
Being is fundamental existence
Ontologically it can be assumed to be physical or pure consciousness.
We both know where we stand
The hard problem exists only if you assume a physicalist ontology
If consciousness is your ontological primitive --ie fundamental, without cause, irreducible--there is no hard problem.
Consciousness and its modifications --sensations, sensory experiences, images, feelings and thoughts are all experience we can have. These are interpreted by humans as mind and matter--the interpretations are also in consciousness.
'You can't get behind consciousness' Max Planck
The bigger question--Who or what wants to know if they have free will or not?
I do. Me. The self who calls itself Michael Shermer. The pattern of information in the genome and connectome stored inside the skin and skull of the entity known as Michael Shermer.
How do you answer that question?
What do you mean by "being"? Here I think we encounter language problems so semantic precision is helpful.
Got it. I wonder if you then concur or find resonance with Paul Tillich's idea of god as the "ground of being"?
yes--God is an unfortunate term -with many interpretations. For me God is the ground of being as pure consciousness-- potential for all experience--before the conditioning.
Tagore the Indian poet/ philosopher says "God is every child that is born and proof as well that God has not ( yet ) given up on human beings "
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Last nights conversation with Michael inspired this video this morning
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See you at lunch guys
All love
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