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Physicalism

@ryan.. you mean like electrons, and photons, like every elementary particle?

What is like electrons, photons ...? I don't know what you are asking.


no I meant electrons, I was just typing like a valley girl from the 80's.
I haven't seen or heard that one ( electron ) really exists besides their effect in some theory, I mean that I haven't seen a picture of one or heard about on one being held.
I am new to elementary particles, just read about them less than a week ago, so I am pretty much ignorant about them.

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An infinitesimal of anything would not take up space, have mass, have energy etc.
I am just barely learning about calculus too.
 
@ryan.. you mean like electrons, and photons, like every elementary particle?

What is like electrons, photons ...? I don't know what you are asking.


no I meant electrons, I was just typing like a valley girl from the 80's.
I haven't seen or heard that one ( electron ) really exists besides their effect in some theory, I mean that I haven't seen a picture of one or heard about on one being held.
I am new to elementary particles, just read about them less than a week ago, so I am pretty much ignorant about them.

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An infinitesimal of anything would not take up space, have mass, have energy etc.
I am just barely learning about calculus too.

I don't know what constitutes direct detection, but we can assume that they exist for the purposes of physicalism in the empirical sense.

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An infinitesimal of anything would not take up space, have mass, have energy etc.
I am just barely learning about calculus too.

Are you going to school, or are you just doing it on your own? In either case, why are you pursuing science?
 
yeah, I wouldn't know about direct detection either, like I said I barely read about it a week ago.
I am not in school, but just trying to learn more for personal improvement.
plus curiosity.
 
Beno's Paradox

If you take an infinite sequence of nonsense you can never make sense..

Beno was Zeno's lessor known uncle.
 
An infinitesimal of anything would not take up space, have mass, have energy etc.
Says Zeno. Of course, any moment in eternity is an infinitesimal amount.

So is the moment non-physical? Does an infinite amount of non-physical makeup what is physical?
It's an infinitesimal amount of eternity. I referenced Zeno for a reason. The point being, even if the moment has finite existence, it is infinitesimal compared to eternity. Finite existence is physical of some sorts, even if what we discuss is a thought that has no duplicate in reality.
 
An infinitesimal of anything would not take up space, have mass, have energy etc.
Says Zeno. Of course, any moment in eternity is an infinitesimal amount.

So is the moment non-physical? Does an infinite amount of non-physical makeup what is physical?

'moment' is a subjective term rooted in the human brain to describe the observed change in the universe.
 
Beno's Paradox

If you take an infinite sequence of nonsense you can never make sense..

Beno was Zeno's lessor known uncle.
The paradox is why I farted as I read that. Uhh... never mind, that is not that meaningful of a coincidence today. :D

Haha... so I'm paying rent to stay with a friend who chain smokes inside, and it fucking blows. But I get some small comfort... wholly shit- they just lit another cigarette and the whole room is already full of smoke. This sucks.
 
Beno's Paradox

If you take an infinite sequence of nonsense you can never make sense..

Beno was Zeno's lessor known uncle.
The paradox is why I farted as I read that. Uhh... never mind, that is not that meaningful of a coincidence today. :D

Haha... so I'm paying rent to stay with a friend who chain smokes inside, and it fucking blows. But I get some small comfort... wholly shit- they just lit another cigarette and the whole room is already full of smoke. This sucks.
I
I as usual have no idea what you are going on about.
 
Beno's Paradox

If you take an infinite sequence of nonsense you can never make sense..

Beno was Zeno's lessor known uncle.
The paradox is why I farted as I read that. Uhh... never mind, that is not that meaningful of a coincidence today. :D
I
I as usual have no idea what you are going on about.

Beano's paradox... it was a joke that seemed appropriate at the time. Anyway- did the following get past you or something?

An infinitesimal of anything would not take up space, have mass, have energy etc.
Says Zeno. Of course, any moment in eternity is an infinitesimal amount.

So is the moment non-physical? Does an infinite amount of non-physical makeup what is physical?
It's an infinitesimal amount of eternity. I referenced Zeno for a reason. The point being, even if the moment has finite existence, it is infinitesimal compared to eternity. Finite existence is physical of some sorts, even if what we discuss is a thought that has no duplicate in reality.

And of course the Zeno reference I made was wrong. I think. There is an infinitesimally small chance I am right about being wrong.
 
An infinitesimal of anything would not take up space, have mass, have energy etc.
Says Zeno. Of course, any moment in eternity is an infinitesimal amount.

So is the moment non-physical? Does an infinite amount of non-physical makeup what is physical?
It's an infinitesimal amount of eternity. I referenced Zeno for a reason. The point being, even if the moment has finite existence, it is infinitesimal compared to eternity. Finite existence is physical of some sorts, even if what we discuss is a thought that has no duplicate in reality.
Okay, but I am concerned about an infinitesimals and what they mean in the real world. Is an infinitesimal physical?
 
An infinitesimal of anything would not take up space, have mass, have energy etc.
Says Zeno. Of course, any moment in eternity is an infinitesimal amount.

So is the moment non-physical? Does an infinite amount of non-physical makeup what is physical?

'moment' is a subjective term rooted in the human brain to describe the observed change in the universe.

I am using "moment" as an infinitesimally short period of time for an physical system, not just an observer.
 
ryan said:
Is an infinitesimal physical?

No. Infintesimals are abstract constructions, like squares, lines, points etc.

Aren't there points in the real world too?

No.

What about the exact location of a particle?

What about it? Are you asking wether a particle can have an exact location? There is something called the Planck length which, if it really has physical significance which we dont know yet, limits the resolution of space-time.
 
What about the exact location of a particle?

What about it? Are you asking wether a particle can have an exact location? There is something called the Planck length which, if it really has physical significance which we dont know yet, limits the resolution of space-time.

The following is a post I made for you a few hours ago that I think you missed.

How can there be a whole object [coherent understanding] about the following: one object [human] that refers an object [word] to another object [actual object/referent]? For example, how can the object [process/understanding/coherence] of: an object [me] that refers an object [the term: "my car"] to the object [car] outside?

In physicalism how can one object [the whole understanding] represent three separate objects?
If you are starting a new thread then think of this:

1) where is the actual logical contradiction. You must first show that there really is a problem and the post above doesnt. It is just a statement. That a text starts with "how" and ends with "?" doesnt mean that there really is a problem.

2) if you really found something that is a problem with physicalism, how is that solved by other alternative views?

Here's an example. Let's assume that something in the universe is infinite or continuous such as space, energy, time, fields, volume of a particle etc. Then mathematical logic about density becomes a physical model.

So the point is that an infinitesimal would have to exist, but it wouldn't exist the way other physical objects exist. It would be non-physical as far as the usual definition for physical goes.

But if the energy of the universe is just quantified parts, then the brain is just a random group of energies and particles that pop in and out of existence. How could the brain have an understanding of wholes; there would just be individual quantities that know what the next quantity is doing. Then no matter how complex the brain is, it is individual parts that affect other individual parts.

We know that the paragraph directly above is not true because if it were true, then something is true about the universe, and that goes beyond the basic particle interactions.
 
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