Kevin Knuth's talk: http://pirsa.org/10050054/


On Wed, Dec 18, 2013 at 6:16 PM, Stephen Paul King <
stephe...@provensecure.com> wrote:

> Hi LizR,
>
>
> On Wed, Dec 18, 2013 at 5:31 PM, LizR <lizj...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On 19 December 2013 10:45, Stephen Paul King 
>> <stephe...@provensecure.com>wrote:
>>
>>> Hi LizR,
>>>
>>>
>>> On Wed, Dec 18, 2013 at 4:28 PM, LizR <lizj...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 19 December 2013 10:11, Stephen Paul King <
>>>> stephe...@provensecure.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>   No, LizR. I reject the Laplacean vision that is used to "interpret"
>>>>> the mathematical theories. SR, GR and QM, as mathematical models, are
>>>>> immune from my critique. Newtonian mechanics, while a useful tool to use 
>>>>> to
>>>>> build bridges and rockets, is problematic as it implies the Laplacean
>>>>> vision of the universe.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I'm not sure what you are saying - if they are immune from your
>>>> critique, then I assume your critique is in trouble.
>>>>
>>>
>>> SR, GR and QM do not require, and some say even prohibit, a "view from
>>> nowhere <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/View_from_nowhere>". Thus my
>>> claim follows. SR, GR and QM all require some selection of a frame or basis
>>> pr "point of view" that induces a bias. Laplace and the Newtonians and, I
>>> argue, the Platonist assume that the ontological ground can be defined to
>>> have some particular set of properties (and not any other) without any
>>> explanation of how it is necessarily so; like Bruno with his AR.
>>>
>>
>> I'm not sure that SR, GR and QM require "selection of a frame" except
>> insofar as one wishes to perform a particular calculation. SR for example
>> describes what particular observers will measure, but doesn't require that
>> their frame of reference is in any way special. Similarly, QM (with
>> Everett) doesn't require that any basis is special, as far as I know, just
>> that certain observers will select one by making a particular measurement.
>>
>
> What else is a mathematical theory, such as SR, GR and QM, for but to 
> "...perform
> a particular calculation"? This is the problem, we figure out ways to make
> ourselves believe that we can "know" all that there is to know about the
> world given some theory (mathematical or other). Can we gaze upon the
> space of solutions of SR, etc? No! But we can get some pretty good ideas
> exploring exactly how the "particular calculations" work. One has to plug
> in a set of numbers that include the specification of the inertial frame of
> reference (which involves the masses and velocities of the objects that are
> considered in the calculation). One then "turns the crank" and out pops a
> solution that is true* for that particular inertial frame*.
>
>  My point is not about any kind of "specialness", *the same condition
> follows for any frame that is consistent with the math*. There is no such
> thing, mathematically, as a "view from nowhere" or, equivalently, for a
> "god's eye point of view." God is dead and so is his "view".
>   For QM, things are even more restrictive: one has to assume that the
> Hilbert space of the wave function is *finite* and a choice of the basis
> of that space <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basis_(linear_algebra)> must
> be done. That's the math...
>
>
>
>>
>> I think the use of the word "bias" in the context of reference frames and
>> suchlike is misleading.
>>
>
> Not at all. It is a bias. Anything a choice is made from a non-singular
> collection of possibilities, the result is some subset of that collection.
> If no member is "left out" then we could say that the choice is unbiased,
> but what kind of choice is the one that pulls a "I'lll take them all!" when
> "all of them" can not be simultaneously chosen? Nature works that way,
> there is no such thing as an unbiased choice, therefore...
>
>
>
>>
>>
>>>>
>>>>>    That change can be identified with a static pattern in a higher
>>>>> dimensional space is OK, so long as we don't ignore the fact that it is 
>>>>> we,
>>>>> as transitory entities, that are interpreting that map. The map is never
>>>>> the territory. When we try to use a timeless interpretation of the
>>>>> universe, we can only do so by abstracting our own sapience out of the
>>>>> universe: this is cheating don't you think?
>>>>>
>>>>> No I don't see any cheating. Everything we can say about the universe
>>>> is our interpretation, so bringing that up seems at best tangential and at
>>>> worst a non sequitur.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Ah, but neglecting the "interpretation" and its selection bias - as if
>>> it did not exist!- is the problem I am pointing out.
>>>
>>
>> As far as I'm aware it doesn't exist in the theory, only when a specific
>> observer is making a specific measurement.
>>
>
> OK, it doesn't exist in the theory, so where is it coming from?
>
>
>
>>
>>>
>>>>  We don't "extract sapience" (whatever that means) by inventing
>>>> mathematical explanations - I would say we apply sapience. Adding verbiage
>>>> about change and interaction adds exactly nothing to the description of the
>>>> world we obtain from SR, GR and QM. Nothing else is required to account for
>>>> our experience of change beyond an embedded pattern in space-time, and if
>>>> anyone is going to claim that something else is required, it's up to them
>>>> to explain why.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Part of my research is looking at space-time as an emergent ordering of
>>> events. People like Renata 
>>> Loll<http://www.hef.ru.nl/~rloll/Web/research/research.html>and Kevin
>>> Knuth <http://arxiv.org/abs/1209.0881> have some pretty good arguments
>>> against the idea that space-time is something that "we are embedded in".
>>> This "fishbowl" or "container" conceptualization of space-time is just
>>> another version of the Laplacean vision...
>>>
>>
>> I don't know about Kevin Knuth, what is he suggesting? Renate Loll is I
>> believe an exponent of CDT, which as far as I know doesn't make any changes
>> to the notion that events and so on are embedded in space time.
>>
>
> Read Kevin's paper that I linked to his name. Its neat! There is a video
> of a talk that he gave on the subject. The Q&A session at the end is very
> interesting.
>
>
>
>>
>>
>>>    My wording involving sapience was bad/unhelpful....
>>>
>>
>> I know I have oversimplified and even misused words on occasion, but I'm
>> merely a humble housewife / editrix. I'd hope a philosopher would be extra
>> careful about word choice!
>>
>
> LOL, I often get an asynchrony between what my brain is thinking and what
> my hands are typing...
>
>
>
>>
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>
>
>
> --
>
> Kindest Regards,
>
> Stephen Paul King
>
> Senior Researcher
>
> Mobile: (864) 567-3099
>
> stephe...@provensecure.com
>
>  http://www.provensecure.us/
>
>
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-- 

Kindest Regards,

Stephen Paul King

Senior Researcher

Mobile: (864) 567-3099

stephe...@provensecure.com

 http://www.provensecure.us/


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