Ian Durham: A Formal Model of Consciousness and Emergent Free Will

Lorraine Ford

Lorraine Ford
Ian Durham, in effect, says that the laws of nature and randomness are solely responsible for every number that applies to every measurable category for every time-place outcome, so that the laws of nature and randomness are:

solely responsible for building the planets
solely responsible for the planets’ movements round the sun
solely responsible for building the pyramids
solely responsible for every movement of the people who built the pyramids
solely responsible for building Ian Durham
solely responsible for Ian Durham’s every movement, including every movement of his vocal cords, which allow him to speak in this video.

Because that is what Ian Durham’s symbolic equations, and associated verbal explanations are, in effect, saying.

Ian Durham is, in effect, saying that people have no control over, and therefore no genuine responsibility for, any number that applies to any measurable category for any time-place outcome of their own bodies.

This is not surprising, because Ian Durham’s toolbox, of tools which he uses to represent the world, contains nothing more than equations, categories, and numbers. His toolbox, of tools which he uses to represent the world, does not include logical connectives, which are the aspects of mathematics that are more basic than equations.

But as opposed to the clunkiness of symbolic equations, logical connective symbols can be used to represent conscious knowledge of the current surrounding situation e.g.:

(category1=number1 IS TRUE) AND (category2=number2 IS TRUE) AND (category3=number3 IS TRUE)

and logical connective symbols can be used to represent free will in response to this conscious knowledge of the current surrounding situation:

IF
(category1=number1 IS TRUE) AND (category2=number2 IS TRUE) AND (category3=number3 IS TRUE)
THEN
assign number4 to category4

Ian Durham’s toolbox, of tools which he uses to represent the world, contains nothing more than equations, categories, and numbers. But without logical connectives symbols in the toolbox, he can’t represent consciousness and free will.

Georgina Woodward

The cortex (thinking brain) can take on many tasks when the
Cerebellum isn't able to do them. This is not easy, as how ! has to be thought about and the body part instructed. Whereas no conscious effort is normally required,
How should we regard automatic body functions, in relation to freewill ?

Lorraine Ford

Georgina Woodward
Re “How should we regard automatic body functions, in relation to freewill ?”:

Free will is all about who or what is moving the numbers that apply to the measurable categories:

Is it just the laws of nature (in response to situations) that changes the numbers, thereby moving the world forward?
And/or do living things (in response to situations) also change some of their own numbers, thereby moving the world forward by moving their own bodies?

So the question becomes: what is moving the numbers that apply to the laws of nature? Physics merely assumes number movement; physicists have no explanation for number movement, except number movement as a consequence of mathematical relationship, but only if other numbers move.

Lorraine Ford

In a differentiated world (which physicists would represent using symbols for the different categories and the different numbers that apply to these categories),

it is logically necessary that:

the world (or small parts of the world) needs to differentiate itself (i.e. the world needs to discern difference in, be conscious of, its own different categories and numbers).

But how does one symbolically represent this discerning of difference by the small parts of the world? While

“category1=number1” might represent a small part of a differentiated world,

“(category1=number1) IS TRUE” would represent the corresponding discerning of difference by the small part of the world.

In any differentiated world, a corresponding base-level differentiation/ consciousness necessarily exists. The two automatically go together: there is no mechanism which turns the one into the other.

While the base-level differentiation/ consciousness can never go away, the higher levels of consciousness, which can only be built out of the analysis and collation of base-level conscious information, are more malleable. Even “unconsciousness” is clearly built out of this malleability of higher-level consciousness.

Georgina Woodward

Object permeance and material constancy are important because we cannot make predictions and plans regarding the Present Now and to be Presents if there is too much unpredictable change,

Georgina Woodward

Georgina Woodward
Object permenance

Georgina Woodward

At the macroscopic scale, change happens predictably slowly .We predict the Present Now and presents to be. Adjusting according to sensory input. Change may be too fast for human prediction with AI involved.

Georgina Woodward

Objects and materials are both enduring, that is not inclined to de- materialize and vanish or become radically different, because they are held together as a thing by forces; the strong force, covalent chemical bonds, elecrostatic forces and gravity. The reliability of even short lived continuity allows reliable predictions to be made, 'solid ground' to build on.; Part of the Observation independent reality or Object reality is potential sensory data or information transmitted along with subatomic particles. They are what they are. Not subject to the same forces as macrosopic matter, when not part of an ensemble that is a body with mass. Too small and fast to be affected by gravity but vulnerable to the small but rapid fuctuations affecting their external envirionment at that scale.
The products of information processing, howeve, can be ephemeral. Especially as we put less value on having hard copies . When change is rapid its hard to plan as the conditions of that to be Now can't be know, only guessed and what is required for fitness in the new environment is. unknown. A new trend every few days, the ease if manipulating data .The speed of change affecting human planning at individual and societal levels works contrary to free will, it seems.

Georgina Woodward

Georgina Woodward
Fluctuations

Georgina Woodward

Georgina Woodward
Object permanence and material constancy are important, because we cannot make predictions and plans regarding the Present Now and to be Presents if there is too much unpredictable change, At the macroscopic scale, natural change happens predictably slowly. At a speed that does not exceed the rate at which the human brain processes information We predict the Present Now and presents to be. Adjusting according to sensory input.
? Effect of ubiquious AI?

Lorraine Ford

I’m sorry, but physicists do not take people seriously. Physicists very seriously underestimate people and the world.

Damningly, physicists religiously believe that we live in a type of world where their every breath and movement, and our every breath and movement, is due to forces entirely outside their, and our, control. Physicists religiously believe that, when looked at very closely, we people are logically identical to dry leaves blown by the wind.

Physicists religiously believe that they themselves, and everyone else, are just the superficial appearances resulting from an underlying interacting system of forces. It’s the underlying interacting forces, the laws of nature and randomness, that are the only moving parts in the entire world, they religiously believe.

Woe betide anyone who tries to suggest that we live a type of world where PEOPLE, aided by the laws of nature, are genuinely responsible for moving their own fingers and their own vocal cords! Woe betide anyone who tries to suggest that we live a type of world where matter and living things, including people, are non-randomly jumping their own position category numbers to new numeric values, entirely independently of the laws of nature!

Not that these physicists have the courage of their convictions, their own religious beliefs, when it comes to actually living in the type of world that they religiously believe that they themselves, and we, live in.

Lorraine Ford

Lorraine Ford
Re free will (continued):

More correctly, I’m talking about most physicists and most philosophers: they very, very, very seriously underestimate people and the nature of the world.

This is why they keep on coming up with the sort of mathematical nonsense that Ian Durham comes up with, on the subject of free will. Note that he is not actually talking about free will, he is talking about a superficial appearance more correctly described as “free will”.

Free will/ “free will” is all about the type of world we live in.

With “free will”, it is the laws of nature and randomness that are moving each and every number.

With genuine free will, it is matter (e.g. people and other living things), that is responding to circumstances by non-randomly jumping some of their own numbers, independently of the laws of nature. But also, due to the physical structure of more advanced matter, the effect of these number jumps is amplified by the laws of nature.

The big problem for the “free will” theories of physicists and philosophers is that they really have no explanation for why the numbers are moving in the first place. Physics assumes number movement, but physicists have no explanation for number movement, except the pseudo number movement that is a pure consequence of mathematical relationship, which only occurs IF other numbers move. It is the “IF other numbers move” that is the problem for physicists and philosophers.

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