[MD] Philosophy is dead

[John Carl]

Greetings, Ham,

It's nice to have a simpatico interest.  I too caught that on coast to
coast.  Eschewing the tube, I'm naturally hooked on radio...

On Thu, Sep 16, 2010 at 12:13 PM, Ham Priday

Steve:

 I suspect that he thinks scientific descriptions have
>
> some privileged status over other sorts of descriptions. ...
>>
>
>
Ham:


> I think your analysis is right on, Steve.  Leonard Mlodinow, a science
> journalist who knows Hawkin has published a best-selling book on his
> theories of reality called "The Grand Design."  I heard him interviewed on
> Coast-to-Coast AM last night and thought you might like to review this
> summary of the discussion prepared by the show's host George Noory.
>
> "Caltech physicist Leonard Mlodinow discussed his current work with Hawking
> on the grand design of the universe and two central questions-- where does
> the universe come from, and why are the laws of nature what they are?
> Hawking's theories and the latest research in physics were used to answer
> those questions.  While the conditions for life are just right on Earth,
> Mlodinow noted that we're looking backwards at the situation-- whatever
> conditions it took for us to get here, have already happened.
>
>
John:  And yet Hawking claims philosophy is dead?





> "The notion of the multiverse (many universes each with their own physical
> laws) is a consequence of Hawking's theory of cosmology, said Mlodinow.
> These various universes arose from nothing, but we now understand from
> quantum theory that the state of nothingness is actually very unstable, and
> that "things are always coming and going from nothingness," he explained.
> Hawking's picture of the universe incorporates three theories:
>
> ". A 'no boundary' condition in which time becomes a dimension that looks
> like space.
> . M theory-- an extension of string theory dealing with forces like
> gravity.
> . Top Down Cosmology-- a new quantum approach that suggests the cosmos has
> many   different simultaneous histories.
>
> "Mlodinow also reviewed the Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe,
> and the search at the Large Hadron Collider for the theoretical Higgs boson
> particle.  Interestingly, Hawking has predicted that the Higgs particle will
> not be found."
>
> For all his alleged brilliance, Hawkin apparently believes the universe (or
> "multiverse") was created from nothing, despite its 'Grand Design'.  When
> Mlodinow was asked several times if he (and Hawkin) believed there was a
> Creator of the Grand Design, he dismissed the question as "one way of
> thinking," for the unsophisticated.  His reaction was the same when asked if
> he thought life had any purpose.
>
>
John: well, I say consider the source on that one.  Ask somebody who's
drinking wine and getting laid regular if life has any purpose.

Not some gnat in a knot.


Ham:


> In short, the Hawkin-Mlodinow team is promoting the view that conscious
> life and the ordered physical universe are mere happenstances that arose
> from the chaos of nothingness.


John:  sigh.  More moronists.  The world is full of them.

Ham:


> They are unwilling to even speculate on a principle to explain existential
> reality.  For the life of me, I can't fathom a writer choosing the title
> "The Grand Design" if he doesn't acknowledge a Designer. (But perhaps the
> Pirsigians here view it differently.)
>
>
John:  I've always maintained that anybody who names a book "a brief history
of time" and does so non-ironically, is an ass and a philosophical cretin.

And I bet I could whip him in a game of one on one, as well.


Ham:


> Anyway, it provided a fascinating look into the scientific mindset.
>
>
John:

Yes.  Sigh again.

Good to hear from you, Ham.

John