What, Why & How do we Know ?
Despite my “STEM” core, avoiding anything remotely supernatural despite strong human spiritual interests, I’ve always been sympathetic to theists and theologists. (Full statement of my “Sacred Naturalism” stance here.) As thinkers, and carers for humanity, smart theists are at least as impressive – generally more so – as any public scientist / atheist types, when … Continue reading “Faith, Hope and Carnage”
In a break from writing, one or two pieces in need of reading and listening caught my attention. It’s all related. In an ISSS context there has been some debate between two schools, between many different aspects of systems definition, complex detail for systems of different types in different real-world applications versus abstraction of systems … Continue reading “Systems Connections”
The small Matter of the Sacred In a “Discord” discussion-group side-branch off from “Channel McGilchrist” we’ve been having some discussions about the sacred – the most important additional topic in “The Matter With Things” (TMWT) that is not already in his earlier “The Master and His Emissary” (TMAHE). “The Sense of the Sacred” forms the … Continue reading “God Talk and McGilchrist”
Mentioned Sheldrake’s “trinity” in passing at HTLGI last week. He did actually name the three, but I failed to capture … and I’m digging for earlier references. “Is the Sun Conscious” is the same angle he used last week. Talk part-way down this page from 2015 – as a Christian theist / lay preacher he … Continue reading “Rough Notes on Sheldrake’s “Trinity””
I’ve just taken possession of Kevin Mitchell’s (2018) “Innate – How the Wiring of Our Brains Shapes Who We Are”. No idea why it’s taken me so long to acquire a copy, he’s been on my book list for some time and I’ve been following him for a few years on Twitter – he’s a … Continue reading “Innate by Kevin Mitchell”
Just completed Chapters 7, 8 & 9 of the Hidden Spring, having been looking forward to 7 when I finished 6, here. Wow, this is good stuff from Solms. The contents / subjects … Free Energy Principle – Homeostasis, “self-evidencing” in self-organising systems, statistical thermodynamics, entropy and information, efficiency. Markov-blankets between self-organised layers, two-way / … Continue reading “Before Returning to the Cortex”
I’ve had Mark Solms (2021) book “The Hidden Spring – A Journey to the Source of Consciousness” since April last year. [Post Note: Final round-up of reading “The Hidden Spring” here. Many more references to Solms since.] Finding lots of content I recognised (eg. a major dependence on Jaak Panksepp and life as “homeostasis” – … Continue reading “The Hidden Spring of Mark Solms”
A Summary of Iain McGilchrist “The Matter With Things” [My writings on Iain McGilchrist’s TMWT, and TME (The Master and Emissary) before it, are many, but unfortunately that means that no single post, since my reading of TMWT, gives any introductory overview for a new reader.] So what is the matter with things? In Two … Continue reading “What is the Matter with Things?”