Name: Anonymous 2010-09-08 6:08
by PF
“Being, in order to be true, has to be spontaneous.” - GW
Imagine there is an analog signal that contains frequencies between 100,000 Hz and 25,000 Hz. In this analogy this is our Being. Practical metaphysics aims at an experience of this wave, and ontological philosophy aims at the intellectualization of it.
However each organ of human perception has a sampling rate below these frequencies. The body might have a sampling rate of 20,000 Hz, in this example. The emotions might have a sampling rate of 10,000 Hz. The mind, which operates by habituation most of the time, has a sampling rate of 5,000 Hz.
The original signal has to be reconstructed from what is picked up by these organs of perception. Needless to say its impossible for a 100,000 Hz wave to be reconstructed from samples taken at 5,000 Hz
image
However what is not impossible is that, if this device (the brain) continues to grow in size and complexity, and remains obsessively focused during its evolutionary history on a few survival-relevant facets of reality, it will become useful as a feature-detector and pattern-detector for processing this 100 kiloHerz wave.
In order to do this, it will focus primarily on external things, which register merely as impressions on the eye and models in the memory. We could say that these are very low frequency, very superficial modulations in the high frequency carrier wave that is our Being … things like social appearances, the meaning of words, the possible ramifications of an action for self and group, who is mating with whom, threats from outside, possible sources of food and shelter, and ways of keeping oneself alive. Not because these things are important in any deeper sense, but they lead to survival.
[...]
http://majorityrights.com/index.php/weblog/comments/acquired_self_as_digital_signal_processing_algorithm/
“Being, in order to be true, has to be spontaneous.” - GW
Imagine there is an analog signal that contains frequencies between 100,000 Hz and 25,000 Hz. In this analogy this is our Being. Practical metaphysics aims at an experience of this wave, and ontological philosophy aims at the intellectualization of it.
However each organ of human perception has a sampling rate below these frequencies. The body might have a sampling rate of 20,000 Hz, in this example. The emotions might have a sampling rate of 10,000 Hz. The mind, which operates by habituation most of the time, has a sampling rate of 5,000 Hz.
The original signal has to be reconstructed from what is picked up by these organs of perception. Needless to say its impossible for a 100,000 Hz wave to be reconstructed from samples taken at 5,000 Hz
image
However what is not impossible is that, if this device (the brain) continues to grow in size and complexity, and remains obsessively focused during its evolutionary history on a few survival-relevant facets of reality, it will become useful as a feature-detector and pattern-detector for processing this 100 kiloHerz wave.
In order to do this, it will focus primarily on external things, which register merely as impressions on the eye and models in the memory. We could say that these are very low frequency, very superficial modulations in the high frequency carrier wave that is our Being … things like social appearances, the meaning of words, the possible ramifications of an action for self and group, who is mating with whom, threats from outside, possible sources of food and shelter, and ways of keeping oneself alive. Not because these things are important in any deeper sense, but they lead to survival.
[...]
http://majorityrights.com/index.php/weblog/comments/acquired_self_as_digital_signal_processing_algorithm/