[extropy-chat] Continued from wta-talk: 'Beating Eliezer' ;)

[Marc Geddes]

>Marc, please explain why you think there are three
>kinds of causality. As far as I know, even the
>"physics causality" you speak of is contentious in
>that temporal ordering of events is dependent on ones
>inertial frame of reference in relativity. On the
>other end of the scale, there are experiments that
>seem to violate causality in quantum mechanics (e.g. ,
>EPR paradox, quantum erasure, etc). In light of this,
>on what basis do you contend that not only is standard
>causality real but that there are two other kinds?
>After all any number of angels can be conjectured to
>dance on the tip of a unicorn's horn, yet without
>proof of angels or unicorns, the conjecture is
>baseless. 
>
>
>
>The Avantguardian 

The notion of causality is not based on the time ordering of events as such.  It's based on cause and effect - how causes are correlated with effects.  Clearly causes *are* connected to effects to some degree.  There's no problem with causality in relatively theory, since events which can be observed to be temporally reserved are not causally connected.  All observers must see the same ordering of events when these events *are* causally connected, even in relatively theory.  EPR is not a problem either, because quantum correlations of this kind are not causal in nature.
 
It's true that the notion of 'causality' does start to become problematic when you bring in qauntum events.  But even there, there's still a *statistical* correlation between cause and effect.
 
See my discussion of causality in the other thread.  My proposed 3 kinds of causality were:
 
"The first is physical causality - motion of physical objects through space.

The second is mental causality   - agents making choices which effect agents

The  third is what I call 'Multiverse causality', a sort of highly abtsract 'causality' close to the notion of logical consistency/consilience - that which ensures that knowledge has a certain ordered 'structure' to it ."
 
My third kind of causality may be equiavlent to Stephen Hawking's notion of 'Imaginary Time', a definition of which can be found at the link below:
 
http://library.thinkquest.org/27930/time.htm

 
 
 


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