Paul Austin MurphyDid Consciousness Come Before Life?The anesthesiologist Stuart Hameroff believes that consciousness predates evolution. Indeed, he believes it predates life itself. Hameroff…2d ago92d ago9
Paul Austin MurphyStephen Hawking on Everything From Nothing… What?!In the book The Grand Design (2010), Stephen Hawking wrote a passage which has been quoted and memed many times. In it, there’s this line…6d ago36d ago3
Paul Austin MurphyAre Kurt Gödel’s Theorems Overstretched, Overused, and Overplayed?In this instance, the philosopher J.R. Lucas relied heavily on Kurt Gödel's first incompleteness theorem to advance his position against…Aug 43Aug 43
Paul Austin MurphyVirtual Realities Are Real Fakes: Chalmers and Baudrillard on RealitySome 40 years ago, Jean Baudrillard rejected the distinction between “reality” and the “simulacrum”. (He stated: “The simulacrum is true.”)…Aug 22Aug 22
Paul Austin MurphyThe Gödelian Argument Against Machine Minds Relies On Skilled Metamathematicians Seeing…Did the philosopher J.R. Lucas and the mathematical physicist Roger Penrose rely on the rare abilities of a very-small set of…Aug 15Aug 15
Paul Austin MurphyinThe Quantastic JournalQualia/Zombie Scenarios and Schrödinger’s Cat: Analogous Thought-Experiments?The philosopher David Chalmers once discussed Erwin Schrödinger’s well-known thought-experiment. Chalmers did so in order to compare what…Jul 29Jul 29
Paul Austin MurphyinPaul Austin Murphy’s Essays on PhilosophyDennett Quines Qualia: A Bitter Taste Is Not a QualeWhat is it for a lemon to be “objectively bitter”? According to the philosopher Daniel Dennett (who died in April), it’s “to produce a…Jul 283Jul 283
Paul Austin MurphyA Pythagorean Reality: Are Quantum Systems Purely Mathematical?“A quark is a purely mathematical construct. It has no meaning apart from its mathematical definition. The properties of quarks — charm…Jul 2413Jul 2413
Paul Austin MurphyinPaul Austin Murphy’s Essays on PhilosophyCarlo Rovelli on Aristotle: Objects and Their Relations(i) Introduction (ii) Aristotle: Substance and Essence (iii) Rovelli on Nāgārjuna and Western Philosophy (iv) Carlo Rovelli’s RelationalismJul 195Jul 195
Paul Austin MurphyinPaul Austin Murphy’s Essays on PhilosophyAre Panpsychism and String Theory Unscientific or Non-Scientific?“We must distinguish between being non-scientific and being unscientific. [] philosophy [perhaps panpsychism and/or string theory] is a…Jul 163Jul 163