ON CERTITUDE (सिद्धान्त)
The issue of certitude can be approached from two different perspectives: 1) absolute perspective on the statement, which can also be called the abstract perspective, and 2) a more particular or as a special case. Let us discuss the absolute perspective first.
The word certitude is generally understood as: absolute certainty or conviction that something is “surely” the case. Thus, negative certitude would imply: absolute certainty or conviction that something is “surely” not the case. In either case, there is an “absolute certainty or conviction” or “surety” that one’s knowledge about something is validated by proof, aided by logic. Thus, the validity or otherwise of certitude – negative or positive – boils down to the validity of the proof submitted to justify it (siddhaanta). This can be examined from four perspectives.
1) Everyone says something conclusively or with certitude only when he/she thinks it is “surely” true or useful in the particular context, which implies, ruling out its improbability. If the proof or logic advanced in its support of certain philosophy is accepted by all (there are several such concepts where all philosophers agree unanimously) and countered by none – the Holistic Truth or the Big Unitary Truth, then the certitude is positive and universal (sarva tantra siddhaanta).
2) There are philosophies, which some consider as valid, whereas others contest its validity. If both groups could sit together and iron out the differences, then it becomes positive and universal certitude. But before such resolution, the competing philosophies remain as contrary or negative certitude for each other (pratitantra siddhaanta), because a third person cannot be certain, which philosophy is correct. They only “surely” know that one must be correct and the other wrong. Here, every theory has its own truth and truth standards, which cannot fairly be judged in the light of rival standards.
3) There are certain foundational concepts, which, once established, leads to prove another concept. To give one example, the functioning of senses and consciousness are correlated. The senses are different and each perform a specific task – eyes can only see, ears can only hear, etc. But we perceive every sensory impulse uniformly as “I know…(I am seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching)”. We may touch the thing we see, though the senses are different. Thus, the “knower” must be different from the “known” or the object of knowledge. But till the knower or Consciousness is established (i.e. a person is conscious), the individual senses have no meaning. The certitude like this, i.e., statements like “only conscious beings can utilize senses” is called foundational certitude (adhikarana siddhaanta).
4) There may be cases where we do not have a clear stand on any subject, though other philosophies have a specific stand on it. We can temporarily accept that proposition as true and then apply logic to determine related aspects. In such a case, if we come to a conclusion based on an uncertain proposition, the certitude is called directed certitude (abhyupagama siddhaanta).
I am unable to make any sense of it. Kindly remove my doubts by explaining your comments.
a) How does your statement at a) harmonize with the measurement problem of QM? Zeno effect is a wrong description of reality, where the principle of measurement cannot be applied. Measurement is a comparison between similars, out of which one is the unit, with which the other is scaled up or down. Hence, measurement always returns scalar quantities. In Zeno effect, reduction of remaining distance by half is compared with a constant velocity in each step. Both being finite quantities, the answer should be finite and not infinite. Otherwise the definition of motion itself would be wrong. Any reduction must imply a scalar quantity by which the objects are scaled down. This would necessitate a gradual change in the system. If “conscious entity would be a sequence of state function reductions”, the state cannot remain invariant. Your comparison of this with Maya may not be proper. Mostly, people have no understanding of Maya, which, by definition, is related to measurement and superposition – not illusion. Some, who do not know about its mechanism, speak vaguely about it.
b) ) In zero energy states, there cannot be any motion, as all motion requires energy. Time evolution implies change of state in time. Thus, there cannot be zero energy states – these can only be states at equilibrium – or zero net energy. There is much confusion about super-position of states. Suppose in a sea beach, two waves come from two angular directions, where the crest of one interacts with the trough of the other, so that both flatten out. Before their interaction, we could differentiate between the two waves. After the interaction, we can never identify each wave – they have gone into a superposition of states. This is not a uniquely quantum phenomenon, but is happening regularly every moment in the universe. Water from the ocean goes up to come down as rains. We die and our bodies are assimilated in Earth or the atmosphere to reappear in different combinations. It is our inability to point out the “position” of something that we knew earlier – it has a different position now, may be by distribution in parts scattered all over, making it impossible for us to specify its earlier specific position, but known to be present in different positions by part simultaneously. For this reason, it is called superposition of states. Light cone is fiction. If a light pulse expand in time in a two dimensional field, it would generate concentric circles of higher radius in the same plane – not in different planes (that would make it three dimensional, but unlike the images given by Hawking and others, which show it as conic sections). In three spatial dimensions, the light pulse expanding in time, would make it concentric spheres of increasing radius – not cones. “Opposite boundaries of causal diamond (CD) obtained as intersection of future and part directed light-cones” are nothing more than meaningless words. Thus, kindly explain what exactly you wanted to convey, because, rest of your comments are based on these.
c) Death, just like birth, is a feature of time evolution related to superposition of states. Time, like space, arises from our concept of sequence and interval. The ordered internals of two sequential objects is space and that of events is time. Since intervals have no markers to describe them, these are described by using alternative symbolism of the boundary objects and events. The boundary objects and events are not space and time, but are the digitized versions of arbitrarily chosen segments of analog space and time. Unlike space, time is cyclic. Existence involves six stages from “being” as a cause to “becoming” as effect, to “growth” by accumulation to “transformation” by accumulation of harmonious elements to “transmutation” by accumulation of non-harmonious elements to “change of form” by disintegration and dispersal. This is one cycle for any object. There are infinite interrelated cycles. The beginning of a cycle is called its birth and the end is called death. But these do not define life. There is no proof to show that “Self re-incarnates at opposite boundary as time-reversed self”. Rather your statement raises questions on re-incarnation, arrow of time, and self. What is the proof for re-incarnation and time reversal? WHAT is “SELF”. What are sub-selves? What is geometric time? What is sleep?
There is much confusion about freewill. It is limited freedom of thought and consequent action. All our actions are guided by two factors: 1) any external impulse that stimulates our senses, and 2) our memory that retains the earlier experiences in yes/no/neutral format. If the incoming impulse is harmonious with our stored memory of experience, we get attached to the object. If it is not harmonious, we are repelled by it. If it is the first time or indeterminate experience, we ignore it. Thus, our reaction is shaped by a) our past experience that shapes our mental preparedness b) our ability to respond physically to the mental preparedness. Freewill is subject to these limitations. In case of conceptual issues, it is our ability to understand natural principles based on our early experience (knowledge) and relate it to other aspects of the physical world, guide our thinking process. Mostly people approach the same subject from different angles based on their past experience, which operates on the principle of inertia of limited motion. This inertia is known as the thought. This is continuously updated. That might be called the evolutionary approach.
The idea of Truth must have some perfect correlation to the state of reality. Truth is based on some central theme, around which, we build a field of related experiences, which is confined by our “total knowledge”. This is the same as in the quantum world: a nucleus, surrounded by an intra-nucleic field, and confined by the electron sea. Hence, it is not correct to say that reality prevents us from acquiring such knowledge. Suppose we see a rope in the darkness and mistaken it for a snake. We may not have the knowledge of the rope, but we must have knowledge of the snake. If we start from their and examine it closely, the motionlessness would first give us the impression of a dead snake. Then if we get bold and examine it from close quarters, we can finally come to the conclusion that it is not a snake, but something else, to which we give a name. Later we can have knowledge about the rope. Here we must differentiate between two types of “total knowledge” – individual and universal. Whatever we come across, if we have a knowledge about its reality – conceptual and functional mechanism that is perceivable and communicable – it is “individual total knowledge”. The maximum extent of this “total knowledge” is Omniscience.
Regarding “probabilities are quantifying OUR degree of UNCERTAINTY about reality”, there cannot be any standard candle. The effects can be devastating (the 1 % probability of a bullet hitting a person) or marginal or negligible (99% probability of getting a few rotten wheats in a sack of wheats). In the former case, the 1% probability can become vital (or interesting), whereas in the latter case, even 99% probability is trivial. The same applies to scientific research. Most of our so-called theories are fallacious or are based on unproved or non-existent concepts or particles. The list is never ending, one of which related to the so-called dark energy is dubbed the biggest mismatch in history. Modern science thrives only on technology. Here even there is no probability of 1% of the “theories” standing the test of scientific proof. Scientists cover is up under the cloak of incomprehensibility and reductionism – and the latest trend of cocktail science. Knowledge is never new, because it is our ability to understand some existing function. It is always a discovery.
If meta-truth means the descriptive properties of terms such as “good”, “bad”, “right”, and “wrong” do not stand subject to universal truth conditions, but only to societal convention and personal preference, then you are correct. What is good for one can be bad for the other. These are relative. But there are a few universal truths like death for everything that was born, seasonal changes, etc. These are neither good nor bad universally. To that extent, your statement: “Reality … requires some sort of balance between order and chaos at all levels (both physical and abstract), which seems to demand of us successive levels of both humility and acceptance of diversity in ways that may not be at all comfortable”, is correct.
Though you are talking sensibly, are you not mixing two things? When you talk of numbers, we have to differentiate between the concept of numbers and its application. Number is a property of all substances, by which we differentiate between similars. If there are no similars, it is one. If there are similars, it is many, which can be 2,3,4,…n, depending upon the sequential perception of “one’s”. The number game applicable to many. But can it be applied to something like consciousness? The objects of our knowledge may be different, but in all such perceptions, the knowledge: “I know ….” Remains invariant. Without the common “I know ….”, there can be no meaning to anything.
When you talk about the pixels or colored dots, you are talking about the process of the “many”. But unless one possesses the “eyes”, you cannot interpret it. You analyze the external impulse in the brain and decide what you want to do. But as I have explained earlier while discussing freewill, you are really not independent, but are guided by your memory of past experiences and physical capabilities. You are also telling the same thing in a different language. The only difference is you are mixing up brain and the consciousness. Functioning of the brain is a conscious process, but brain is not the “consciousness”. There is a difference between the knower, the known and the mechanism of knowledge. You are talking of the last two, but leaving out the first.
Does “quantum mechanics chipping away at one side, and AI and virtual reality approaching from a completely different paradigm space”? I have shown while discussing truth that both have a similar format. Only we have to see it in the contextual perspective. “Complexity theory, maximal computational complexity, and notions like density matrices” etc. are related to mechanism of observation or knowledge. There may be “a great many limits to our ability to ‘know’ anything at any level beyond some sort of ‘useful approximation’ relevant to the context”. But even there, the “I know ….” Part remains invariant.
“Science, logic, computation, abstraction”; do not change the knower or the object to be known. Humility “that accepts a sort of fundamental ignorance that no AGI (Artifical General Intelligence) is a sign of higher intelligence. Non-computable approximations are working arrangements within our limitations.
But does the description “one spec of dust” has any meaning in isolation? You must differentiate dust from everything else to make any sense for the word “dust” (differentiation from dissimilars) and differentiate all other dust specs from the “one” you are talking about (differentiation from similars). Thus, your perception depends upon these two differentiation (there is also the differentiation of parts from the whole). Eyes and light are only subsidiary instruments for perception of objects. For example, consider something placed in a room. If one is blind or there is no light, one cannot perceive anything. But if there is light and the person has healthy eyes, he/she can see clearly and describe such object. Mere placement of objects before our eyes cannot ensure perception – or information. This is my scientific training.
Can you count 10^10 molecules at a time? No. We count one by one. We may make units of thousand or million or billion in this process. Then we have a mental picture of the total unit. That was only we could count or know or measure 10^10 molecules. That is the only scientific explanation. It applies for everything universally – be they molecules, atoms, nucleons or quarks. We never utilize the full capacity of our brain, but use only a small fraction of its total capacity. That is our inability – bot brain’s failure.
How do you “take a snapshot of all the atoms in our bodies, and blow it up to a size we can see”? Magnification distorts. We observe only the present at here-now. Can we meet our ancestors or progenies if we move fast enough? This is fiction – not science. Does the pulse of light that radiated by a galaxy a billion light years away reach us undisturbed by anything in its flight path? Not likely. Then how can we say that we are looking at the past? How does relative speed affect perception? In the laboratory, we measure wavelength of light. Since light moves at constant speed, while our instruments are stationary, should we apply length contraction to the wavelength? In that case, the result will be zero or infinity depending upon how you interpret it. Will that be scientifically correct? My 50 years of experience in this field tells me NO. Could we take a movie of a single active enzyme site within one of our cells, for just one second of real time, then slow it down enough so that we could actually see the movement of the water molecules? The mismatch you say is proof enough for its scientific validity.
Your view that “to know something means simply to have some sort of approximation that is useful in context” is a practical one and is often used by everyone.