This was one of your best yet, it resonated deeply with me. As a sort of Taoist/ believer in Universal Consciousness, I see the world extremely similarly to you. Objective facts matter, but so too does understanding how peoples subjective consciousness experience impacts their ability to interpret those facts and make meaning out of the noise of reality. What you call postmodern naturalism is pretty close to my own beliefs, which I have not formally labeled yet as I am still in an exploration phase. Will dig deeper on your posts on that. Kudos for making me think.
As I read Mike Brock, he doesn't subscribe to the notion of Universal Consciousness. In his magnificent "Grand Finale," he sees a universe as "vast and indifferent."
However, the Universe speaks to us in deeds, eloquently, with laws of biology, chemistry, physics, geology, climatology, etc. . . illustrating universal principles of the behavior of energy/matter/gravity in space. The apex of these principles is "replication" as essential to life. All the laws of nature conspire to support replication.
So those who see the human brain as the Universe's pinnacle of evolutionary achievement and consciousness as its ultimate end product, recognize the analogy between the human brain and the Universe as a replication. Essentially, both consist of sources of energy, conduits of energy, and receivers of and responders to energy. Look at photographs of the energy signatures of the two side by side, and they are virtually identical. In short, the brain is a biological analog of the Universe that created it.
And if the unlikely three pounds of electrically charged, wrinkled grey protoplasm is awesomely conscious (capable of producing, say, nine Beethoven symphonies), imagine what consciousness exists in the vast, analogous Universe that created it in an act of replication.
In the search for meaning, you will find it in the Universe's evolutionary objectives: life, intelligence, consciousness, and self-replication. The Universe is not indifferent. It exhibits purpose. Purpose discloses meaning, and meaning reveals consciousness.
At the human level, we find purpose and meaning by following the Universe's cue to replicate our intelligence and consciousness in the minds of others (i.e. "engaging," as Mike correctly states): writers write, and speakers speak their thoughts; musicians play, record, and write their sounds; painters paint their images; cooks prepare their food and share their recipes; perfumers formulate their scents; sculptors carve their forms, all striving for replication in the minds of those who see, hear, taste, smell, touch their creations. And now the Universe's supreme replicants are busy replicating themselves with "Artificial Intelligence," compelled to fulfill the Universe's fundamental dicta!
And, perhaps, some replicate their consciousness in the "mind" of the conscious Universe through mind-melding meditation and altered states of consciousness. As Artificial Intelligence is "trained" by tapping into human activity, why not the Universe?
I am a (progressive) Christian, and this moved me to tears. Your gravity metaphor made me think of the Aristotelian-Scholastic conception of God as the ultimate telos, drawing all things toward Itself.
I am so filled with apprehension, and sorrow, and rage, and inner conflict these days. This is one of the very few posts I have read that I found not only honest and unflinching, but also deeply comforting. Thank you so much for writing it.
So good! So much to unpack here. The universe is beautifully and inherently coherent, yes? Seems that understanding and aligning with this coherence presents the great challenge of continued human existence. But, for now - having in charge of our systems those who believe reality flows from them instead of through us - we are indeed free falling. And very fast…
It is, as Mike Brock says: "Markets function best when they have coherent frameworks for understanding risk." So too do individual investors. In my series "THE UPSIDE OF THE DOWNSIDE," Parts I through 3 A, B, and C. I offer my subscribers just that -- a coherent framework based on 25 years of economic and financial reporting providing context for the terrifying economic and financial turmoil I predicted last December now unfolding. The most valuable information you can use and most expensive advice to ignore is available at https://davidlsmith.substack.com It's free, and will remain so -- I don't need your financial support, just your eyeballs. Don't just follow. Sign up.
It is all too easy in these frightening days to feel overwhelmed with "what to do" anxieties. One temporary escape I value much is the deeper philosophical reflections of Notes from the Circus.
Regarding the function of markets instilling a hard dose of reality into Trump's misbegotten Tariff plan, you and your readers can appreciate my analysis of what the markets are telling us in my recent two-part post: THE STOCK MARKET IS STILL CRASHING at https://davidlsmith.substack.com. I analyze the response of stocks, bonds, oil, currency, gold and the Fed to the perturbation Trump has introduced into the marketplace with his tariffs. These indicators are uncharacteristically in complete agreement as to what the economic outcome will be. This post is a follow-on to my long-term analysis of what I call Megacycles, (similar to what Kodratiev called "Long-Waves"), by which enabled I predicted the present turmoil long before it happened. See THE UPSIDE OF THE DOWNSIDE at the same URL.
You know this was really interesting. All of the comments are from men. You are speaking to the fact that men have to wake up to transformation as you postulate. Not the oppressive. Isn’t it funny that you describe the apple as the movement away from incoherence and yet the story is of Eve taking the bite. Giving men, and in this time, white men, the the moral, physical and spiritual authority. You are absolutely right in your current assessment of what is happening. But you have missed this point. Some older women, especially those who have had children, can easily get what you’re saying. They can understand what’s beyond themselves. Anyway. I appreciate the perspective.
That was a good piece. I hope you elaborate further on these thoughts.
The ancient concept of hubris is relevant here as the opposite of modesty (also a christian virtue). It has all happened again as every generation aspires to escape from gravity and then crashes only to rise again but never in the same way.
Great article. The impact of Goedel’s Incompleteness Theorem (s) from the 1930s is just beginning to be felt. They torch AI Godhead Singularity. Truth as an understanding vs a creation is a great complement to Goedel’s work.
My question today for libertarians and for Democrats and other pretenders to classical liberalism: Should you be free to sell Zyklon B to a Nazi regime?
A funny aspect of free trade theory: besides the gains of trade, based on the division of labor and increased productivity as everyone produces what they have a comparative advantage in, classical liberal free trade theorists also said it promoted world peace.
And it does or did to a great degree, as countries don't want to go to war with countries they have investments in or that are markets for their goods.
But Putin was emboldened to take chunks of Ukraine because Democrats made Putin rich by raising the price of Russian fossil fuel exports when they curtailed American energy production.
And a rich Chinese Communist Party will find it easier to risk WWIII and annex Taiwan or the Philippines if the U.S. continues to import Chinese slave labor produced goods.
The Trump tariff policy that has reduced the Chinese stock market by 12% in one week could be viewed as a foreign policy move, especially as country by country other nations enter no tariff reciprocal agreements with the U.S.
As a libertarian I've always had a problem with free trade with unfree countries - e.g. shouldn't their be a tariff on Cuban or Iranian imports to go into a fund for refugees from the same country?
Likewise, should one allow trade that enriches war-mongering, totalitarian, imperialist, or genocidal countries?
Should one be free to sell Zyklon B to a Nazi regime?
Your narrative on Ukraine is false. Under Biden, America pumped more oil than at any time in the nations history due to advances in fracking. Trumps lies are not reality. Russia invaded Ukraine because Putin is an imperialist madman who wants to rebuild the soviet union. Trump was supposed to just hand it to him without a fight after the election, but he lost. So Putin went to plan B and invaded as soon as Biden took over instead.
So Democrats didn’t close down any pipelines under construction? Didn’t deny any permits? And Europe didn’t turn to Russia for fuels? And Putin didn’t make more money than he would have if there had been more American energy on the international market?
What’s that series about alternative histories? White Castle?
Germany built a pipeline to Russia because of their irrational fears of Nuclear energy. It was a strategic mistake they are now correcting. Nothing you said matters. Not all pipelines are good. It is an objective fact that we pumped and exported more oil in the last several years from America than at any other time in the history of the country.. And we didn't even have to ruin all of our national parks to do it like Trump wants to do. Every word out of Trumps mouth is a lie. If you still haven't figured that out yet, god help you.
So Biden didn't close the Keystone Pipeline? We didn't produce less oil and gas than we would have without Biden's being "elected"? So that Russia was enriched.
Yes primitive people usually call anyone saying they can't understand a barbarian. Studies show libertarians have higher IQs than liberals or conservatives. The person with the highest IQ, WIlliam Sidis, wrote some libertarian essays that are still on line https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_James_Sidis. If I were you I wouldn't even try to read Hayek or Nozick etc. Just stick to your bumperstickers and T shirts.
I don't know what "teade" is. Your Maoist corporatists in China apparently think their form of trade doesn't help the US though. I think your depiction of the US is in a way silly. Unless you are talking about the CIA and the rest of the deep state, and their agency and dependency cutouts (USAID and Ukraine). These people are virtually all Democrats of course.
This was one of your best yet, it resonated deeply with me. As a sort of Taoist/ believer in Universal Consciousness, I see the world extremely similarly to you. Objective facts matter, but so too does understanding how peoples subjective consciousness experience impacts their ability to interpret those facts and make meaning out of the noise of reality. What you call postmodern naturalism is pretty close to my own beliefs, which I have not formally labeled yet as I am still in an exploration phase. Will dig deeper on your posts on that. Kudos for making me think.
What he said 🖕❤️
Andy,
I'm surprised you haven't picked up on my rationale supporting Universal Consciousness. I'd be interested in your thoughts on the subject.
As I read Mike Brock, he doesn't subscribe to the notion of Universal Consciousness. In his magnificent "Grand Finale," he sees a universe as "vast and indifferent."
However, the Universe speaks to us in deeds, eloquently, with laws of biology, chemistry, physics, geology, climatology, etc. . . illustrating universal principles of the behavior of energy/matter/gravity in space. The apex of these principles is "replication" as essential to life. All the laws of nature conspire to support replication.
So those who see the human brain as the Universe's pinnacle of evolutionary achievement and consciousness as its ultimate end product, recognize the analogy between the human brain and the Universe as a replication. Essentially, both consist of sources of energy, conduits of energy, and receivers of and responders to energy. Look at photographs of the energy signatures of the two side by side, and they are virtually identical. In short, the brain is a biological analog of the Universe that created it.
And if the unlikely three pounds of electrically charged, wrinkled grey protoplasm is awesomely conscious (capable of producing, say, nine Beethoven symphonies), imagine what consciousness exists in the vast, analogous Universe that created it in an act of replication.
In the search for meaning, you will find it in the Universe's evolutionary objectives: life, intelligence, consciousness, and self-replication. The Universe is not indifferent. It exhibits purpose. Purpose discloses meaning, and meaning reveals consciousness.
At the human level, we find purpose and meaning by following the Universe's cue to replicate our intelligence and consciousness in the minds of others (i.e. "engaging," as Mike correctly states): writers write, and speakers speak their thoughts; musicians play, record, and write their sounds; painters paint their images; cooks prepare their food and share their recipes; perfumers formulate their scents; sculptors carve their forms, all striving for replication in the minds of those who see, hear, taste, smell, touch their creations. And now the Universe's supreme replicants are busy replicating themselves with "Artificial Intelligence," compelled to fulfill the Universe's fundamental dicta!
And, perhaps, some replicate their consciousness in the "mind" of the conscious Universe through mind-melding meditation and altered states of consciousness. As Artificial Intelligence is "trained" by tapping into human activity, why not the Universe?
https://davidlsmith.substack.com
I am a (progressive) Christian, and this moved me to tears. Your gravity metaphor made me think of the Aristotelian-Scholastic conception of God as the ultimate telos, drawing all things toward Itself.
I am so filled with apprehension, and sorrow, and rage, and inner conflict these days. This is one of the very few posts I have read that I found not only honest and unflinching, but also deeply comforting. Thank you so much for writing it.
So good! So much to unpack here. The universe is beautifully and inherently coherent, yes? Seems that understanding and aligning with this coherence presents the great challenge of continued human existence. But, for now - having in charge of our systems those who believe reality flows from them instead of through us - we are indeed free falling. And very fast…
I so appreciate this, it has given me much to think on.
It is, as Mike Brock says: "Markets function best when they have coherent frameworks for understanding risk." So too do individual investors. In my series "THE UPSIDE OF THE DOWNSIDE," Parts I through 3 A, B, and C. I offer my subscribers just that -- a coherent framework based on 25 years of economic and financial reporting providing context for the terrifying economic and financial turmoil I predicted last December now unfolding. The most valuable information you can use and most expensive advice to ignore is available at https://davidlsmith.substack.com It's free, and will remain so -- I don't need your financial support, just your eyeballs. Don't just follow. Sign up.
👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
It is all too easy in these frightening days to feel overwhelmed with "what to do" anxieties. One temporary escape I value much is the deeper philosophical reflections of Notes from the Circus.
Regarding the function of markets instilling a hard dose of reality into Trump's misbegotten Tariff plan, you and your readers can appreciate my analysis of what the markets are telling us in my recent two-part post: THE STOCK MARKET IS STILL CRASHING at https://davidlsmith.substack.com. I analyze the response of stocks, bonds, oil, currency, gold and the Fed to the perturbation Trump has introduced into the marketplace with his tariffs. These indicators are uncharacteristically in complete agreement as to what the economic outcome will be. This post is a follow-on to my long-term analysis of what I call Megacycles, (similar to what Kodratiev called "Long-Waves"), by which enabled I predicted the present turmoil long before it happened. See THE UPSIDE OF THE DOWNSIDE at the same URL.
You know this was really interesting. All of the comments are from men. You are speaking to the fact that men have to wake up to transformation as you postulate. Not the oppressive. Isn’t it funny that you describe the apple as the movement away from incoherence and yet the story is of Eve taking the bite. Giving men, and in this time, white men, the the moral, physical and spiritual authority. You are absolutely right in your current assessment of what is happening. But you have missed this point. Some older women, especially those who have had children, can easily get what you’re saying. They can understand what’s beyond themselves. Anyway. I appreciate the perspective.
That was a good piece. I hope you elaborate further on these thoughts.
The ancient concept of hubris is relevant here as the opposite of modesty (also a christian virtue). It has all happened again as every generation aspires to escape from gravity and then crashes only to rise again but never in the same way.
A new era is coming.
Great article. The impact of Goedel’s Incompleteness Theorem (s) from the 1930s is just beginning to be felt. They torch AI Godhead Singularity. Truth as an understanding vs a creation is a great complement to Goedel’s work.
My question today for libertarians and for Democrats and other pretenders to classical liberalism: Should you be free to sell Zyklon B to a Nazi regime?
A funny aspect of free trade theory: besides the gains of trade, based on the division of labor and increased productivity as everyone produces what they have a comparative advantage in, classical liberal free trade theorists also said it promoted world peace.
And it does or did to a great degree, as countries don't want to go to war with countries they have investments in or that are markets for their goods.
But Putin was emboldened to take chunks of Ukraine because Democrats made Putin rich by raising the price of Russian fossil fuel exports when they curtailed American energy production.
And a rich Chinese Communist Party will find it easier to risk WWIII and annex Taiwan or the Philippines if the U.S. continues to import Chinese slave labor produced goods.
The Trump tariff policy that has reduced the Chinese stock market by 12% in one week could be viewed as a foreign policy move, especially as country by country other nations enter no tariff reciprocal agreements with the U.S.
As a libertarian I've always had a problem with free trade with unfree countries - e.g. shouldn't their be a tariff on Cuban or Iranian imports to go into a fund for refugees from the same country?
Likewise, should one allow trade that enriches war-mongering, totalitarian, imperialist, or genocidal countries?
Should one be free to sell Zyklon B to a Nazi regime?
Your narrative on Ukraine is false. Under Biden, America pumped more oil than at any time in the nations history due to advances in fracking. Trumps lies are not reality. Russia invaded Ukraine because Putin is an imperialist madman who wants to rebuild the soviet union. Trump was supposed to just hand it to him without a fight after the election, but he lost. So Putin went to plan B and invaded as soon as Biden took over instead.
So Democrats didn’t close down any pipelines under construction? Didn’t deny any permits? And Europe didn’t turn to Russia for fuels? And Putin didn’t make more money than he would have if there had been more American energy on the international market?
What’s that series about alternative histories? White Castle?
Germany built a pipeline to Russia because of their irrational fears of Nuclear energy. It was a strategic mistake they are now correcting. Nothing you said matters. Not all pipelines are good. It is an objective fact that we pumped and exported more oil in the last several years from America than at any other time in the history of the country.. And we didn't even have to ruin all of our national parks to do it like Trump wants to do. Every word out of Trumps mouth is a lie. If you still haven't figured that out yet, god help you.
So Biden didn't close the Keystone Pipeline? We didn't produce less oil and gas than we would have without Biden's being "elected"? So that Russia was enriched.
I think you are lost- like many, sadly. You are part of the problem.
You didn't answer any of my questions. Which is why I would have the same assessment of you.
I could tell you’re a libertarian by the gibberish
Yes primitive people usually call anyone saying they can't understand a barbarian. Studies show libertarians have higher IQs than liberals or conservatives. The person with the highest IQ, WIlliam Sidis, wrote some libertarian essays that are still on line https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_James_Sidis. If I were you I wouldn't even try to read Hayek or Nozick etc. Just stick to your bumperstickers and T shirts.
🥱
Should on allow teade that enriches war-mongering, totalitarian, impetialist, genocidal countries like the USA?
I don't know what "teade" is. Your Maoist corporatists in China apparently think their form of trade doesn't help the US though. I think your depiction of the US is in a way silly. Unless you are talking about the CIA and the rest of the deep state, and their agency and dependency cutouts (USAID and Ukraine). These people are virtually all Democrats of course.
The “deep state”, or what I always pictured as the “deep state”, is who/what is running the U.S.currently
Trade not teade
Chinese stock market shrank 12% and they are doing well?
Is there a point you're trying to make? Because if so, I have not yet seen it.
I guess it’s a test then.
You are failing :|