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On Knowledge and beliefs

We consider many propositions about the world as either true or not true.  However, in my view, human knowledge is not a collection of true and false propositions. What we consider as evidently true are only propositions about the world that we believe to have a very small probability to be false. The above is still compatible with an objective Reality, however most of our knowledge about Reality is highly mediated, so that we can rarely be fully certain about something. Mount Everest I "know" that the highest mountain in the world is Everest (from the sea level). However, I never seen that mountain. Even if I could visit and measure mount Everest, it is not realistic for me to check all the other mountains in the world to verify that there is no higher mountain somewhere. Think Popper. I only believe that Everest is the highest mountain in the world because a lot of sources tells me this (externalism). It is unlikely that any of my sources verified personally that there is n...

On Russel's Paradox

Russel's paradox is defining "the set of all sets that don't contain themselves". You can show that such construct leads to a contradiction. Read the wiki link for details. I started this article as answer to this article . There is another interesting paradox discussed by Bertrand Russell: "The smallest positive integer not definable in under sixty letters", actually better known as Berry's paradox  You can also prove that such number creates a contradiction, because you just defined it under sixty letters. For me, the above paradox shows that it is not enough to create a condition for something to exist with that condition - or a set of such elements. Such paradoxes argue that such objects defined by a predicate cannot exist sometimes.

The God concept

Let's start by observing that most civilizations and individuals are developing a concept of God or Gods, even without outside preaching. Polytheistic religions Ancient Greeks and Romans had many Gods. Each God was powerful over a certain aspect of life. For example, Poseidon/Neptune governed the sea, storms, earthquakes. Each God embodied a certain aspect of live where human had little understanding about causation. Aphrodite/Venus governed the love, where humans still struggle to understand the causation.

Punishment is not really about free will

The killing button Suppose I put you in an empty room with only one button. I don't tell you anything. You are free to leave the room without doing anything. Out of curiosity, you push that button. Actually, you pressing that button results in the killing of 100 people. However, you didn't know what will happen when you pushed that button. You were free to not push that button. Still, you pressed it. No people would have died if you wouldn't push the button. Most people and juridic systems would not consider you accountable for the tragic consequences of your action. The moral and legal responsible would be me for putting you in that situation. Would you agree?

Double slit experiment - alternative interpretation - speculation

In the double slit experiment , the puzzle is to explain why measurement of which way the particle went destroys the interference pattern. Interference pattern Let's first challenge the usual assumption that the interference pattern is the results of wave phase interference between particles, even when they are passing one by one. The classical interpretation is that the wave of the particle interferes with itself, that is a little far fetched for me. The interference appears for photons, electrons and even bigger molecules. As the slits are rather tight (fractions of millimeters), we can imagine that the particle has a certain phase that interferes with a certain phase of the walls of the slits. Depending on the timing of the interaction, the particle's wave is deviated by an angle that depends on the periodicity of the two waves - the particle and the walls of the slit.  When there is a single slit, the particle tends to synchronize the walls of the slit with its own phase, s...

The seed and the terrain

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What is more important to have a plant, the seed or the terrain? If the terrain lacks the needed nutrients or energy source (like sunlight), most plants would not grow. Still, a good terrain is not enough to obtain the desired plants. While uncultivated terrains mostly grow weeds, even for that you need some kind of seeds brought by wind. Without any seed, even the best suitable terrain will not feed life. You need that seed to be able to transform nutrients into amino-acids and other organic compounds. Only a seed can spring life in a suitable terrain. The seed is Information. The seed contains the recipe to transform minerals, water, carbon dioxide and light to organic compounds that can grow plants. This is the power of Information. Without Information, matter don't know how to transform minerals into something interesting and adaptable - like a beautiful flower.

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Philosophy of Life Is there a meaning of life? The meaning of human life - for me, now Hell Devil's offer Life is very compressible   The seed and the terrain