Number 91 : March 1998 |
Dear Theo,
Here are a few comments arising from C90 :-
Theo Todman (C90, p.3) : I don’t think I have any objection to putting Commensal onto computers, so long as it doesn’t exclude from anything important those of us who lack the funds or the accommodation for a computer.
I was going to comment on free-will (Stef Gula, C90 p.22), but there was a gaping hole in my argument - perhaps another time.
Michael Nisbet (C90, p.11) : It is plausible that the self is necessarily conscious. Perhaps consciousness is a special model of the world, with the self at its centre.
"Self temporarily or partially set aside" suggests to me a suppression or diversion of an immediate response - something which seems to involve the prefrontal lobes of the brain. The setting aside of the self may be what gives rise to the illusion of free will. (As an alternative to the above, perhaps this is the source of consciousness ?)
Vijai Parhar (C90, p.24) & Theo Todman (C90, p.26) in reply to Vijai : Remember the word "protoplasm" ? We used it when we knew next to nothing about chemistry. Both flowers and men, and birds, and all the rest consisted largely of protoplasm. Now we can distinguish amongst them by appealing to different varieties of DNA and proteins. My biology teacher used to refer to the composition of protoplasm as "CHOPSN" - adding phosphorus, sulphur and nitrogen to carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.
This puts its chemistry in the realm of organic chemistry, where most links between atoms involve just two atoms, and are directed along the line joining the two atoms. Because of this, a molecule’s properties depend not only on how many of each type of atom it has, but on how they are joined together. This partly explains the (infinite ?) possible variety of proteins and nucleic acid. This phenomenon is very important in organic chemistry, and is called isomerism. Thus, this basic principle, which explains the difference between acetone (CH3COCH3) and propionaldehyde (CH3CH2CHO) goes on to (partly) explain the difference between a cat and a butterfly. We also need to consider the physical and chemical reactions among the diverse constituents of protoplasm.
I think these are amongst what Theo calls "emergent properties".
Sorry, I seem to have gone on rather at length, just to point out that the proportions of atoms are not necessarily the most important thing in distinguishing one substance from another. (Besides isomerism in its many forms, there are polymers - glucose can be considered a polymer of toxic formaldehyde, for instance. There I go again !)
Yours sincerely,
David Taylor
David : Good to hear from you. Yes, that’s pretty much what I meant. Thanks for the examples. I look forward to your free-will argument when you’ve plugged the hole. Since when has having a gaping hole in an argument ever stopped anybody ?
Which sets me thinking. There are (at least) two sorts of chess players - attacking & defensive players. Attacking players are all swash & buckle while defensive players like to point out the errors in others’ attacks. Of course, defence can become pathological, in that a player may only see the drawbacks in his/her own attacks, which can be a bit stultifying. That’s what happened to me, which is why I don’t play any more (as well as it being a waste of time ... provocative remark !). Any analogies with philosophical discussion ? Philosophy’s such a difficult subject, that almost anything we say is riddled with errors or confusions, yet we steam on regardless (usually in ignorance until the error of our ways is pointed out !). It’s good that we do, otherwise we’d never say anything and there’d be no progress at all.
Theo