The Man in a Tailcoat by Tommaso Bolognesi

Hello Mr Bolognesi,

I liked a lot your papper and how you have generalised the algorythmic simplicity.One of my favorites.

good luck in this contest;

Regards

Dear Tommaso Bolognesi,

Please excuse me for I have no intention of disparaging in any way any part of your essay.

I merely wish to point out that "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955) Physicist & Nobel Laureate.

Only nature could produce a reality so simple, a single cell amoeba could deal with it.

The real Universe must consist only of one unified visible infinite physical surface occurring in one infinite dimension, that am always illuminated by infinite non-surface light.

A more detailed explanation of natural reality can be found in my essay, SCORE ONE FOR SIMPLICITY. I do hope that you will read my essay and perhaps comment on its merit.

Joe Fisher, Realist

Nice story like telling Prof Bolognesi,

Congratulations on winning many prizes in FQXi, best wishes for this also!

Your ideas and thinking are excellent, let me show few words like.....

"And goals? Do all mechanisms have a goal?" you may ask. (This seems to be a question of vital importance for The Man in a Tailcoat, tonight.).........

For fixing goals for Galaxies in the universe, have a look at my essay and for your information Dynamic Universe model is totally based on experimental results. Here in Dynamic Universe Model Space is Space and time is time in cosmology level or in any level. In the classical general relativity, space and time are convertible in to each other.

Many papers and books on Dynamic Universe Model were published by the author on unsolved problems of present day Physics, for example 'Absolute Rest frame of reference is not necessary' (1994) , 'Multiple bending of light ray can create many images for one Galaxy: in our dynamic universe', About "SITA" simulations, 'Missing mass in Galaxy is NOT required', "New mathematics tensors without Differential and Integral equations", "Information, Reality and Relics of Cosmic Microwave Background", "Dynamic Universe Model explains the Discrepancies of Very-Long-Baseline Interferometry Observations.", in 2015 'Explaining Formation of Astronomical Jets Using Dynamic Universe Model, 'Explaining Pioneer anomaly', 'Explaining Near luminal velocities in Astronomical jets', 'Observation of super luminal neutrinos', 'Process of quenching in Galaxies due to formation of hole at the center of Galaxy, as its central densemass dries up', "Dynamic Universe Model Predicts the Trajectory of New Horizons Satellite Going to Pluto" etc., are some more papers from the Dynamic Universe model. Four Books also were published. Book1 shows Dynamic Universe Model is singularity free and body to collision free, Book 2, and Book 3 are explanation of equations of Dynamic Universe model. Book 4 deals about prediction and finding of Blue shifted Galaxies in the universe.

With axioms like... No Isotropy; No Homogeneity; No Space-time continuum; Non-uniform density of matter(Universe is lumpy); No singularities; No collisions between bodies; No Blackholes; No warm holes; No Bigbang; No repulsion between distant Galaxies; Non-empty Universe; No imaginary or negative time axis; No imaginary X, Y, Z axes; No differential and Integral Equations mathematically; No General Relativity and Model does not reduce to General Relativity on any condition; No Creation of matter like Bigbang or steady-state models; No many mini Bigbangs; No Missing Mass; No Dark matter; No Dark energy; No Bigbang generated CMB detected; No Multi-verses etc.

Many predictions of Dynamic Universe Model came true, like Blue shifted Galaxies and no dark matter. Dynamic Universe Model gave many results otherwise difficult to explain

Have a look at my essay on Dynamic Universe Model and its blog also where all my books and papers are available for free downloading...

http://vaksdynamicuniversemodel.blogspot.in/

Best wishes to your essay.

For your blessings please................

=snp. gupta

Dear Tommaso,

that was very nice! Well-written, clearly argued, a pleasure to read. I would say your central point is that we can describe processes in macroscopic systems in different ways, either in terms of microscopic "mechanisms" ("mindless mathematical laws") or in terms of macroscopic "goals". These different descriptions are compatible. That's also a central point in my essay, the main difference being our different perspectives: Your views are rooted in computer science whereas I look at it as a physicist.

Good luck, Stefan

PS: You made me listen to Domenico Modungno. :-)

Gently floating, cradled by the waves, he slowly flows down under bridges towards the sea, towards the sea he goes. Who could it be, who could it be, that man in a tailcoat? Adieu, adieu, farewell world, farewell to memories of the past, to a dream never dreamt, to an instant of love that will never come back. (The man in a tailcoat (Vecchio frac), Domenico Modugno, 1955, retrieved from lyrics translate.com)

Hi Tommaso, I like the way you have used the tale of the man in the tailcoat to add interest and cohesion to your presentation. Rather than being goalless, I think with the organisation and structure of his mammalian brain he can imagine a future outcome and plan to bring it to fruition. The same specialized structure providing motivation to act. Though his act may seem contrary to the imagined goals of all life, I think he may be seeking to escape the entrapment of his circumstances or escape from physical or psychological pain. He can imagine an end to his suffering that is better than his current state.These can be regarded as closely aligned to basic emotions.

I do like that in your essay you have explained that what are described as goals (in nature) are alternative descriptions given from an external point of view after the outcome, and can be anthropomorphism.( Sorry if I have not paraphrased that well, I don't have your essay open at the moment.) Perhaps the man in the tail coat can be regarded ironically as breaking the tyranny of goalless, purposeless outcomes, with his purposeful goal directed act. Thanks for an enjoyable essay.

You were right not to include the lyrics. I really like the epilogue as it is "... must have triggered a deadly flow of neural microstate changes in the head of the man, with visible consequences on the macro-variables characterizing both his facial expression and his precarious equilibrium on the parapet." (T.Bolognesi), is lovely. I like how epilogue fits so well with the prologue. Not showing the lyrics makes it intriguing. No need for the details.

I did read the essay entirely. I like the description "a narrative trick" when goals are used for externally considered outcomes.

Lots of very good, accessible descriptions along with the technical writing. Kind regards Georgina

Dear Tommaso,

I'm glad to find you here again!

I read with great pleasure your new essay and, although I need to read it again to fix some details, I have appreciated the usual originality, elegance and great scientific competence. I share, although from a different perspective and with different motivations, your point of view that the existence in nature of purposes and intentions is unprovable.

Of course, like any Italian, I couldn't not know the song by Modugno, one of the most beautiful and poignant of our Twentieth century. I did not know that it was inspired by the story of Raimondo Lanza di Trabia, a Sicilian (although born and died elsewhere) of which you have led me to learn about his incredible life.

Grazie e un caro saluto,

Giovanni

Thank you Tomasso! This was a pleasure to read. There are a few other essays I have enjoyed all of which have broadly made similiar points to my own, but yours is unquestionably the most well-written and moving. You have a wonderful sense of timing and pace to your writing, and you write not just to communicate the technical points of the reasoning but also to illuminate the consequences of your thinking for our real, lived experience. Ines called it tragic, and it is perhaps, but I think the appropriate word is beautiful. Simply beautiful work!

Joe

Hi Tommaso

What a brilliant idea to open and close the essay with this strange meeting.

I agree with you that it is all ontological and basically assessing the potential information that exists in the relation between particles.(See also my essay: "we are together, therefore I am")

Thanks for your interesting and challenging essay

All the best

Yehuda Atai

Hi Tommaso

Well, it did worked for me and it caught my attention to zoom in.

I saw your great and challenging questions in my essay and I will answer them shortly.

Thanks again

yuda

Hi Tommaso,

Your art and physics is a nice mix. I appreciate it, particularly when contrasted with the "bland determinism" dominant in this contest. I imagine the man in the tailcoat is a mathematician, since they have a well earned reputation of tragic endings.

This essay reminds me of Heinz Pagels who was rumored to have ended his life mountain climbing (no one knows for sure), after his son's death. In Heinz's last book "The Dreams of Reason" he develops the "in Theory" vs. the "In Practice" dichotomy of "reality".

You Say:

In practice, however, as the mechanisms (IN THEORY) become more and more complicated, a compact logic formula (IN PRACTICE) is much more preferable for concisely characterising the process at hand, and for referring to it in human-to-human communication.

I do not think you are as much of a determinist as your essay suggests!

Please visit my essay where I tried my hand at...(art?)

Good to be in another contest with you!

Don Limuti

Hi Don,

interesting remarks.

I would be curious to know what gave you the impression that I am not much of a determinist as my essay suggest (all the examples in the essay are indeed deterministic).

As you write, the dualism theory/practice is perhaps another way to look at mechanisms vs. goals, although I still prefer to look at them in terms of ontology vs. epistemology.

Thank you!

Tommaso

P.S. You say that mathematicians have a well earned reputation of tragic endings. I don't know the exact profession of the person to which Modugno's story was inspired - Raimondo Lanza di Trabia. I know he was a noble and a dandy. In my setting, though, his suicide is somehow linked to that of a great physicist (Boltzmann).

Hi Tommaso

Here is my long answer I wrote to you in my essay site, and I decided to paste it here so you get a notice.

I am glad to remind you some ideas of Teilhard De Chardin which I don't know him well @ deeply. It seems, that he was both Dualist - body vs spirit and held to the principle of Causation, and the Cartesian belief in the total existence of perfect God.

I am a philosopher that relate more to phenomenology of consciousness; Building a philosophical "floor" on the works of Husserl, Bergson, Ponti etc. My philosophical work is a positive cosmology, (not deconstructionist) a general work in all aspects from ontology through phenomenology to ethics. So I also address to the whole cosmos but in this restricted essay I limit myself to 25000 characters.(it seems I was not clear on that)

My view is ontogenic and with it when I zoom into the nano level into the Movement-phenomenon itself (regardless whether it is a particle or a wave) I found that the subjectivity, the uniqueness of each movement whether its a grain of sand or a person or galaxie is in the quality of the movement in each of them. The movement (non movement is also an option of the system that consume energy) has attributes like "character", "memory", "structure", "material" etc, and the sum total qualities of the attributes are unique to each movement-phenomenon.

In this essay I tried to show that reality is continuously being ratified to us internally and externally. Without this ratification we would not possess the assurance that we are unique though we change continuously.

I showed how the ever changing preset continuous, hold us as self organization and explain the inner self what Ponti or Heidegger and others did not.

What makes the ever changing present? or in other words of Bergson : what makes the Ever duration, Homogeneous Duration works that Bergson did not solve? He sensed and wrote that Causality does not give enough explanation and could not find the answer.

Causality is a special case in the occurrence of Phenomenon and in reality phenomena are occurring based on the natural language of Movements. The language of the attributes of Movements.

As to your last question, since It is all potential information of the possible actions in the relations of each "existent" in the relation, there is a choice of actions (conscious or unconscious) for each of them. This choice I define as "natural choice" bound by the environment. Since each Movement-Phenomenon is finite, the relationships always change the potential choices of action. Once a potential action is chosen the relation change again, and in this way you get a perpetuum mobile of the duration of the ever changing present.

I think that the Mathematics of physics needs a modeling breakthrough. Its Time to philosophy to challenge science and open our horizon. Maybe string theory will be able to calculate the existents of attributes to a movement smaller than 1 in power of -34 to ratify its existent. We today, ratify the existence of quarks at a nano level of 1 in the power of -24. So, there is a way we have to go.

I hope I explained some of your questions and our essay are exposed to large (relative) potential readers through this relationship with FQXi.

Thanks again

Yuda

Hi Tommaso - I enjoyed reading your essay - first because it started with a beautiful painting, and second because all your arguments were embedded in elementary Cellular Automata (ECA), a concept that is central to my Beautiful Universe Model . Moreover you start with a quote by Wolfram, one of my heroes!

Having said that I must say that the mechanisms in my brain are not that well-versed in the actual mathematics you use, and the details (but not the conclusions) of your arguments were lost to me. Its OK - your essay tried to answer the essay contest Question and seems to have done so very elegantly.

In my fqxi essay I also start out with a river scene, but one more joyful than yours! Poor Boltzmann. Cellular Automata do appear in the very last section, but they are not Elementary - rather than on-off or three-state 2D cells they are spherically orientable dipolar units that act as qubits acting on their adjacent neighbors. As I mentioned Gerard 't Hooft has just proven that Quantum Mechanics can emerge out of CA!

Wishing you all success in your work and in the contest,

Vladimir

Tomasso,

Good essay. But I'm not sure the man in the tailcoat didn't further confuse a rather complex construction of what is surely a very simple, if important, truth; 'The universe consists of (hierarchical interacting) mechanisms, and a 'goal' is just a convenient lower order description.'

Does that not abridge the story? I don't criticize the hypothesis but agree entirely, including with it's central importance. But I felt that when clear analysis of how small scale mechanisms could produce the effect was about to emerge the dark and confusing fog, abundant in these parts, seemed to close in. Perhaps I missed some important other point?

Does what we call an 'aim' not simply emerge as an upper level 'decision', or choice informed by running scenario's from (memories & imagination) giving feedback, with implications on lower level choices (all using the same feedback)?

I anticipate you agree as it employs the "universal architecture of emergence" you refer to. But, if not, can you elucidate?

None the less I think you hit some fundamental salient points, right on topic, and very nicely written in plain English. For me those points alone should put the essay rather higher than it is and my score should help.

I hope you'll read and comment on mine which I see as compatible and complimentary. I link the upper problem of cognitive operations with the smallest 'quantum' scale, identifying a real classical mechanism able to reproduce the 'choice' complexity required.

very best

Peter