Things I can write about include updates on my reading of Scaruffi’s, or my television watching, including the latest episode of The Walking Dead, or a couple of movies I’d overdosed myself. The list of movies included at least: In Time, I Am Gabriel, Grabbers, Good Deeds, Fire With Fire (maybe even more! but I think! that that is it!). I plan to just start randomly and without too...
Paul-Henri Thiry (Baron) d’Holbach Read the SEP entry on Holbach, per which I base the following: Biography: This Frenchman (1723-1789) has been categorized as a materialist and atheist, and was known in his time for his “parties” (for want of a word, although they are described in terms of their guests who were famous intellectuals of all sorts). Despite the revolutionary...
Readings in Scaruffi So I’ve been reading the third chapter of Scaruffi’s book on consciousness, concerning (quote-unquote) machine intelligence. More than the previous chapter, I feel like I’m being presented with a list of relevant facts upon which a narrative is being implied but not explicitly argued. Instead of re-stating a summary of the chapter, I’ll attempt a...
The following is inspired by my notes beginning in chapter 2 of Scaruffi’s book. In the tradition of philosophy, there have been different attitudes and relations to the issue of consciousness. For the most part, consciousness was something incorporated into the architectonic of a particular philosopher; this allows for an impressive array of contexts and perspectives. For instance, there...
A pseudo-essay informed and inspired by Condillac’s philosophy, that aims to describe a monadology of experience as a paradigm underlining autodidacticity and an autodidactic method: I’ve been active and interested in creating what I’ve tongue-in-cheek been referring to as the monadology of experience, which I’ve used to mean, “the independent units from which we...
Things I’ve done today include reading Scaruffi, I made a little progress in chapter 2 but soon became bogged down in details and paradigms that I must admit were a challenge. Not beyond comprehension, but requiring a slow studious read that inevitably results in a loss of perspective as regards the bigger picture, even if it does strongly assist an understanding of the content on a smaller...
An important principle I have absorbed is that while the edifice of philosophy have their values, unless one is viewing them as an historian then they are also merely tools and words; useful but not to be confused with philo-sophia: love of knowledge. Let’s raise the question, “Why read philosophical treatises?” First, it can inspire. But it can be valuable even when approached...
Meta: Idea: Have a list of contents at the top of each date. Each listing to be the text of a heading, or if not then at least some form of anchoring as repeated in the body. I follow now with an exemplar instance of this idea: NOTES on my reading of KANT’s Prolegomena. Dear DIARY. SCIENCE or JOURNAL CLUB on studying NEURONAL COMPLEXITY. Meta: The (mere) fact that I have more to write about...
…you only fall from the point you allow yourself to sink. (Despite the phantom essay that had been unfolding in the back shadows of my mind, now that I’ve written that down, it seems like enough. Now I feel wrong for mocking god. Maybe it (seemed like it) was enough?) Let me add just the slightest of content, by adding some of the obvious: I’ve reason to believe this true. I...
Editorial notes: The Evernote journal entry written on this day contains material (see the second paragraph in the post below) that is fundamental and pivotal to understanding Shai’s life philosophy. I decided to deviate from one of my editorial principles and highlighted it for ease of reading. While the point has been raised in the ‘Editorial notes’ elsewhere, the core of...
