An Evolutionary Argument for a Self-Explanatory, Benevolent Metaphysics (original) (raw)
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Steps Toward a Computational Metaphysics
Journal of Philosophical Logic, 2007
In this paper, the authors describe their initial investigations in computational metaphysics. Our method is to implement axiomatic metaphysics in an automated reasoning system. In this paper, we describe what we have discovered when the theory of abstract objects is implemented in prover9 (a first-order automated reasoning system which is the successor to otter). After reviewing the second-order, axiomatic theory of abstract objects, we show (1) how to represent a fragment of that theory in prover9’s first-order syntax, and (2) how prover9 then finds proofs of interesting theorems of metaphysics, such as that every possible world is maximal. We conclude the paper by discussing some issues for further research.
Is the Universe a Self-Computing Consciousness? From Digital Physics to Roycean Idealism
The burgeoning field of digital physics is based on the fact that physical processes are thoroughly computable, with the laws of nature acting as algorithms taking the present state of a physical system as input and producing the next state as output. In this paper I will be concerned with one of the most fundamental problems in digital physics: the problem of the hardware or – more generally – of the computing platform, i.e. the pre-existing environment that facilitates the process of computation. If physical processes are computations, if the entire universe is computational, what then is the "cosmic computer" underlying the universe, what is the hardware or platform on which the computations run? In this paper I will argue for an idealist solution to this 'platform problem' in digital physics, i.e. a solution that crucially involves self-consciousness as the ontological foundation of reality. Here Royce's mathematical model of absolute self-consciousness will prove very useful. Focusing on the recursive structure of self-consciousness (i.e. its awareness of itself, and its awareness of that awareness, and its awareness of the awareness of its awareness, and so on), Royce argued that self-consciousness exhibits the same recursion that defines the natural number system N. This then allows us to describe absolute self-consciousness as an awareness of N and thereby also of all possible mappings from N to N – i.e. an awareness of all possible algorithms, including the complex computation that constitutes our universe. Our universe can then be – tentatively, of course – explained as that complex computation that maximizes the absolute's self-consciousness insofar as it is the universe that is most conducive to the evolution of life and intelligence.
From Deep Thought to Digital Metaphysics
In this chapter I will be focusing mainly on what (for many of us) is the most momentous and memorable of the discoveries made by Arthur Dent in the course of his galactic travels: the surprising news about how and why our planet came to exist: the Earth and its inhabitants constitute “the the matrix of an organic computer running a ten-million-year research program”. This is all big news—or would be if it were true. But could any of it be true? Is it really possible for a computer to take the form of an Earth-like planet? Could we all be parts of a gigantic computer program? Could a super-intelligent computer be designed by a merely intelligent computer, or succession of such? Would a super-intelligent computer be able to answer every question? These are far from idle questions: over the past few decades they have been taken increasingly seriously by a growing number of philosophers, physicists and computer scientists. We do not yet have all the answers, but as we shall see, some progress has been made—and some highly intriguing possibilities have been uncovered.
The central motivating idea behind the development of this work is the concept of prespace, a hypothetical structure that is postulated by some physicists to underlie the fabric of space or space-time. I consider how such a structure could relate to space and space-time, and the rest of reality as we know it, and the implications of the existence of this structure for quantum theory. Understanding how this structure could relate to space and to the rest of reality requires, I believe, that we consider how space itself relates to reality, and how other so-called "spaces" used in physics relate to reality. In chapter 2, I compare space and space-time to other spaces used in physics, such as configuration space, phase space and Hilbert space. I support what is known as the "property view" of space, opposing both the traditional views of space and space-time, substantivalism and relationism. I argue that all these spaces are property spaces. After examining the relationships of these spaces to causality, I argue that configuration space has, due to its role in quantum mechanics, a special status in the microscopic world similar to the status of position space in the macroscopic world. In chapter 3, prespace itself is considered. One way of approaching this structure is through the comparison of the prespace structure with a computational system, in particular to a cellular automaton, in which space or space-time and all other physical quantities are broken down into discrete units. I suggest that one way open for a prespace metaphysics can be found if physics is made fully discrete in this way. I suggest as a heuristic principle that the physical laws of our world are such that the computational cost of implementing those laws on an arbitrary computational system is minimized, adapting a heuristic principle of this type proposed by Feynman. In chapter 4, some of the ideas of the previous chapters are applied in an examination of the physics and metaphysics of quantum theory. I first discuss the "measurement problem" of quantum mechanics: this problem and its proposed solution are the primary subjects of chapter 4. It turns out that considering how quantum theory could be made fully discrete leads naturally to a suggestion of how standard linear quantum mechanics could be modified to give rise to a solution to the measurement problem. The computational heuristic principle reinforces the same solution. I call the modified quantum mechanics Critical Complexity Quantum Mechanics (CCQM). I compare CCQM with some of the other proposed solutions to the measurement problem, in particular the spontaneous localization model of Ghirardi, Rimini and Weber. Finally, in chapters 5 and 6, I argue that the measure of complexity of quantum mechanical states I introduce in CCQM also provides a new definition of entropy for quantum mechanics, and suggests a solution to the problem of providing an objective foundation for statistical mechanics, thermodynamics, and the arrow of time.