There are 2 worlds we as humans experience - the physical world governed by the laws of physics, and the mental world enabled by a physical object, namely our brain, but which gives rise to "worlds" that may or may not ever have a direct physical manifestation. All ideas and thoughts in our brains can be completely expressed in the physical world but many of them do not have direct physical manifestations. The creative interactions, evolution and improvements of ideas can only happen in one object in the universe that we know of - the human brain.
This seemingly simple idea is probably one of the most important pieces of knowledge I have acquired in the last couple of years (I have David Deustch and his books/podcasts to thank for this). The world of ideas, knowledge is a different world altogether from the physical world. And there are many of these abstract worlds - mathematics, morality, art etc. And the theories that govern them are not physical i.e. they are beyond the realm of physics - which actually covers only one part of the entire "reality" - namely the physical part. "Materialists" believe that the only physical world matters and that the physical world can explain all worlds. But they are wrong. A good example is people who believe that the brain is a purely physical system (which it isn't as I mentioned earlier). They believe that the firing of neurons is what explains all human experiences, which again is not correct. If a person sees the color red, a particular set of neurons fire in the brain of that person. Materialists believe that this firing of neurons is all that encompasses the experience of seeing red. So with this logic, if we just fire the same neurons in the brain of the person without him seeing red the experience will exactly be the same as seeing red. But it isn't so. Consciousness (much like mathematics) is a different world - which does have effects on the physical world i.e. neurons of the brain, but that isn't the full story. Since the brain is a universal computer, it has the property that it obfuscates all the details of conscious experience when they are experienced as firing of neurons in the brain.
Which brings me to the topic of this post - progress. I am now convinced that moral progress is the progress I should be aiming for in my life. This is obviously not a new idea - this idea is the basic tenant of many a philosophical thought (prime example being stoicism which I follow). The world of ideas, knowledge and creativity is a different world from the physical world, the laws governing this world are not the same laws that govern the physical world (like i mentioned earlier, the physical world is basically just one part of "reality").
But what is moral progress? There are many theories of morality out there (none of which are true - there is no such thing as an absolute theory that is true). David Deustch believes that the truths of morality are as "true" as the truths of mathematics. And that makes sense to me. But what are these truths? I am still exploring to be honest. In the past I would think of my morality from a point of view of suffering. Any action to be gauged by a simple question - does this action of mine increase or decrease the suffering in the world. If it increases don't do it. But then the question is how do I know? If the beings in question are non-human animals then the answers are easy enough. e.g. should I consume dairy given the suffering farm animals endure? Me consuming dairy definitely increases suffering so I shouldn't. However, when it comes to humans who are vastly different from other sentient beings (due to the fact that humans are creative in a way no other sentient beings are - actually this seemingly simple concept itself is hugely misunderstood in the world), things get very complicated. Because we humans have this rich, creative inner world, what is suffering for one maybe the heights of enjoyment for another. Some humans absolutely enjoy the emotion of dread and fear and cannot get enough of horror movies, while others love jumping off cliffs with parachutes.
One place where I could perhaps start is freedom and choice.
I will leave this post at this and will update when I have formulated it better
This seemingly simple idea is probably one of the most important pieces of knowledge I have acquired in the last couple of years (I have David Deustch and his books/podcasts to thank for this). The world of ideas, knowledge is a different world altogether from the physical world. And there are many of these abstract worlds - mathematics, morality, art etc. And the theories that govern them are not physical i.e. they are beyond the realm of physics - which actually covers only one part of the entire "reality" - namely the physical part. "Materialists" believe that the only physical world matters and that the physical world can explain all worlds. But they are wrong. A good example is people who believe that the brain is a purely physical system (which it isn't as I mentioned earlier). They believe that the firing of neurons is what explains all human experiences, which again is not correct. If a person sees the color red, a particular set of neurons fire in the brain of that person. Materialists believe that this firing of neurons is all that encompasses the experience of seeing red. So with this logic, if we just fire the same neurons in the brain of the person without him seeing red the experience will exactly be the same as seeing red. But it isn't so. Consciousness (much like mathematics) is a different world - which does have effects on the physical world i.e. neurons of the brain, but that isn't the full story. Since the brain is a universal computer, it has the property that it obfuscates all the details of conscious experience when they are experienced as firing of neurons in the brain.
Which brings me to the topic of this post - progress. I am now convinced that moral progress is the progress I should be aiming for in my life. This is obviously not a new idea - this idea is the basic tenant of many a philosophical thought (prime example being stoicism which I follow). The world of ideas, knowledge and creativity is a different world from the physical world, the laws governing this world are not the same laws that govern the physical world (like i mentioned earlier, the physical world is basically just one part of "reality").
But what is moral progress? There are many theories of morality out there (none of which are true - there is no such thing as an absolute theory that is true). David Deustch believes that the truths of morality are as "true" as the truths of mathematics. And that makes sense to me. But what are these truths? I am still exploring to be honest. In the past I would think of my morality from a point of view of suffering. Any action to be gauged by a simple question - does this action of mine increase or decrease the suffering in the world. If it increases don't do it. But then the question is how do I know? If the beings in question are non-human animals then the answers are easy enough. e.g. should I consume dairy given the suffering farm animals endure? Me consuming dairy definitely increases suffering so I shouldn't. However, when it comes to humans who are vastly different from other sentient beings (due to the fact that humans are creative in a way no other sentient beings are - actually this seemingly simple concept itself is hugely misunderstood in the world), things get very complicated. Because we humans have this rich, creative inner world, what is suffering for one maybe the heights of enjoyment for another. Some humans absolutely enjoy the emotion of dread and fear and cannot get enough of horror movies, while others love jumping off cliffs with parachutes.
One place where I could perhaps start is freedom and choice.
I will leave this post at this and will update when I have formulated it better
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