[extropy-chat] intelligent design homework

[Robert Lindauer]

On Aug 7, 2005, at 8:36 AM, Mike Lorrey wrote:
>>
>> Simple: it was created by a still more intelligent designer.
>>
>> And so on all the way down.
>
> Exactly: The Simulation Argument. This is our hook for implanting
> transhumanist philosophy in the population.
>
> Nor does there need to be an original IDer. The chain of designers
> could easily be a loop, given that all universes are indistinguishable
> from a closed time-like curve, there could also be a Meta-loop of
> universe designers.
>

Oy vey.

Let's consider a causal chain of events where a cause is considered 
simply a sufficient condition (nevermind necessary conditions for now):


a -> b -> c -> d -> e

Let's say that each event is time indexed and that causal loops are 
essentially related to their temporal series:


a at t1
b at t2
c at t3
d at t4
e at t5


The series is comprehensible in both quasi-causal systems (eg. QM) and 
in traditional models (NM and GR).

Now consider the possibility:


e -> a

Leaving us the loop:

a -> b -> c -> d -> e -> a -> b -> c -> d ...


This loop has some rather disturbing characteristics:

1)  Some events temporally precede themselves violating GR.
2)  Some events are sufficient for themselves, violating QM (since the 
occurence of a, for instance, would cause the occurence of a, making it 
completely determinate whether or not a would happen).
3)  Some -apparently contingent- events would be necessary events (e.g. 
we might think of -a- as possibly not happening, but if this is right, 
then a is a necessary fact about our universe).


So we put the matter thusly:

either GR and QM are false and all apparently contingent series of 
events are actually necessary series of events OR

There are no temporally causal loops of this kind.

QED by reductio, there are no temporally causal loops of this kind

_____


The other commonly considered possibility is that there are infinitely 
descending causal chains, eg..


a <- a' <- a'' <- a''' <- a'''' ...

Where each succeeding a(') precedes the a for which it is a temporally 
sufficient condition (e.g. cause).

It follows, in such cases, that there are aleph-0 events in that given 
series.  However, the series as a whole (e.g. considered as a whole) is 
still a contingent series, itself having a sufficient condition, let's 
call it b.

b, being contingent, has a sufficient condition.  Given the no-boundary 
condition of infinite regress, we get the series

(a <- a' ...) <- b <- b' ...

and then also the series:

((a <- a'...) <- b <- b'...) <- c' ...

etc.

This series, the total series of events, then, has the power of Omega, 
being an absolutely infinite multiplicity.  But by Cantor's proof to 
Dedekind, there are no absolutely infinite multiplicities.  Hence, the 
series does not exist.  Hence there are no infinitely descending chains 
of events or in the common mathematical language, there is no cardinal 
number which is the number of the series, and hence the series doesn't 
in fact have a number of events in it and hence is what Cantor refers 
to as an "inconsistent absolutely infinite multiplicity" - e.g. a 
contradiction.  QED.

_______________

Finally, that there are necessary beings has been demonstrated here 
already and it is not necessary to repeat it.  There is a common 
misunderstanding that a necessary being could not be a sufficient 
condition for a contingent being, but this rests on the mistake of 
assuming that every aspect of a being must be necessitated by its 
sufficient condition which isn't the case.  It may be a sufficient 
condition of some being's existence that it be born, but that may not 
be sufficient to explain why, for instance, it dies, intermediate 
causes may be involved.  It's granted that every series of events must 
have a causal resolution in a necessary event, but this doesn't prevent 
necessary events from being intertwined temporally with contingent ones 
(for instance, my own will to think about Marx being a sufficient and 
necessary condition of my thinking about Marx making it a necessary 
event).

Best wishes,

Robbie Lindauer