EXISTENCE: TO BE, OR NOT TO BE, WHAT IS THE QUESTION?
Introduction
I want to begin this post by thanking
every one of you who have followed me this far. I really appreciate your
interest and willingness to put forth some mental effort to understand what I
am trying to tell you. I was warned by other scientists and writers to stay
away from mathematics as much as possible. “You will lose dozens of readers
with just the mention of mathematics, and an equation will scare off almost
everyone” they said. Over the years, Dr. Neppe and I have certainly experienced
the truth of this. We’ve found the warnings to be borne out, even when the
readers are scientists. Even gifted scientists and mathematicians balk at the
mention of new mathematics. No one wants to invest long hours and diligent
effort to learn new mathematics. But, going against all conventional wisdom, I
decided to take TDVP to intelligent, informed laypersons with these blog posts.
I decided to do this because I believe that, intelligent readers, even without much
formal training in mathematics and physics, are capable of understanding the
truth.
Sprinkled throughout these posts are
allusions to the calculus of distinctions,
the mathematical, geometrical system of logic that has allowed us to reach the
level of understanding that has produced explanations of some of the puzzles
that have perplexed scientists for hundreds of years, not the least of which is
why quarks combine in groups of three to form protons and neutrons at the heart
of atoms. I want to embark now on revealing to you, dear reader, the basic
truths of the calculus of distinctions, because I believe that you will comprehend
them. Furthermore, I believe that comprehension will enable you to make the
paradigm shift to understanding reality as consciousness based. You will be
able to say with conviction as Planck did, and as I do: “I
regard Consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from
Consciousness.”
WHAT IS ‘A CALCULUS’?
One online dictionary defines a calculus as: “A method of
calculation”, but this is, of course, not helpful if you don’t understand the
word in the first place! No understanding is gained when a word involving the
same root is used in its definition. So what is the definition of ‘calculation’?
Amazingly, the online dictionary defines calculation as “the act of calculating”!
If you persevere, you will find definitions like “using mathematics to solve a
problem”, or, if you find the Cambridge online dictionary, you have: “The
process of using information you already have and adding, taking away,
multiplying and dividing to judge the number or amount of something.” Good grief!
Add to this nonsense the fact that ‘calculus’ or ‘the calculus’ is almost always only used
to mean specifically the abstract algebraic method of describing infinitesimal
change developed by Newton and Leibniz, and it is no wonder that the average
person avoids mathematics like the plague. Let’s see if we can bring some
common sense to bear and shed some light on this problem of defining
mathematics.
G. Spencer Brown’s
Laws of Form
From the moment I developed the calculus of distinctions, I
have recommended British polymath G. Spencer Brown’s wonderful little book “Laws
of Form” to anyone wanting to understand the calculus of distinctions. In my
opinion, Brown’s Laws of Form is the most important advancement in mathematics since
Euclid’s Elements, and will eventually be recognized as the first step leading
to the science of the future. Brown should be recognized as a genius of the
first order. In this little book, of less than 150 pages, he re-aligns symbolic
logic with mathematics and geometry and expands the Theory of Types (by Russell
and Whitehead) to include the logical equivalent of imaginary numbers. This opens
the door to the reality of extra dimensions in a way that they can be explored
systematically. Unfortunately, Professor Brown may not see the real fruition of
his work in his lifetime. He is now 93 years of age.
Back to definitions: G. Spencer Brown gives us a clear and
concise definition of ‘calculation’ and ‘a calculus’ in Laws of Form. He says that
‘calculation’ is a procedure by which one form
is changed to another, and ‘a calculus’
is a system of calculation. To fully understand
what calculation really is, we must complete Professor Brown’s elegant
definition of a calculus and calculation by including his definition of the
term ‘form’. It is: “The space cloven by any distinction, together
with the entire content of the space, [is] the form of the distinction.” (Page
4, Laws of Form) In plain American English: the modification of any distinction
whatsoever, from one form to another by some logical process, is calculation,
and the steps and rules of the process define a calculus. Thus a calculus is
simply a system of logically consistent rules and procedures, and the calculus
of distinctions is the most general calculation system possible. All other
calculi, including the calculus of
Leibniz and Newton, are definable within the all-encompassing logical structure
of the calculus of distinctions.
If the distinctions upon which the system operates are
quantifiable, the calculus is a mathematical system. Space, time, mass, energy,
and consciousness are all quantifiable using different types of variables.
Space is quantifiable using three numerical variables of extent: x, y and z, or
length, height and depth. Time is quantifiable as a fourth dimension of extent,
using imaginary numbers to describe duration. Mass is quantifiable using
numerical variables of content, as is energy, by virtue of its algebraic equivalence
with mass (E=mc2). Consciousness is now also quantifiable in
variables of content and extent, with the discovery of gimmel and its algebraic
equivalence with mass and energy in TRUE units. (See prior posts on TRUE analysis
and gimmel.)
In the representation of real phenomena in the simplest
possible way, it is reasonable to assume that the most logical basic unit of observation
and measurement might be determined by starting with the smallest naturally occurring
elementary particle. The stable structures of physical reality under the
conditions prevalent on the surface of this planet are composed primarily of three
particles: electrons, protons and neutrons. The electron has by far the
smallest mass of the three, as determined very accurately from many years of
experimentation including many terabytes of particle collider data. [A terabyte
is 1,000,000,000,000 bytes, a byte is eight bits of information, and a bit is
one quantifiable distinction described in binary digit code consisting of zeros
and ones for electronic computer calculations.] Starting with the mass of the
electron as the quantum unit of mass, and applying the principles of relativity
and quantum mechanics, we determined the number of triadic rotational units of
equivalence (TRUE units) making up the quarks, protons, neutrons, atoms, and
molecules of normal matter. This led to the discovery of gimmel, the third form
of reality existing along with mass and energy to make up the stable structure
of the universe. The details of this derivation and discovery have been
published in several journals and in the book “Reality Begins with
Consciousness” by Close and Neppe.
Existence
While it is putatively an application of Brown’s calculus of
indications, the calculus of distinctions departs from, and differs from Brown’s
calculus in a few specific, and very significant ways: it extends Brown’s
calculus of indications to include consciousness as both the initiator of intent
and originator of objective distinctions. Also, in the application of the calculus
of distinctions to phenomena of the observable universe, existence is central, in contradistinction to some applications of Brown’s
calculus of indications, where existence is often peripheral and unimportant in
the processes of logical calculation.
The difference between existential and conceptual distinctions
is clearly defined in applications of the calculus of distinctions to phenomena
experienced by human observers in the following way: To exist, i.e. to be real, a distinction must possess extent,
and content. The elementary particle
with the smallest mass, the electron, upon which the TRUE quantum is based, has
three dimensions when at rest. If it is moving, it has at least four known
dimensions, three of space, and one of time, or four of space-time, if you
like. This means that existential distinctions made up of TRUE units of mass,
energy and gimmel, are at least three dimensional. Why? Think of it this way: In
a quantized reality, in terms of dimensions, a point has zero dimensions, so it
cannot contain anything. This makes a point, also known as a mathematical
singularity, conceptual, not existential. In quantized reality, a line has
length, but no height or depth, thus a line also has no capacity for even one TRUE
unit of content. A plane is two-dimensional, but with no thickness, and therefore
no capacity for TRUE unit content. Conclusion: In a quantized reality, points,
lines and plans are conceptual.
It should be obvious at this point, that a quantized reality
is very different from a continuous reality, and the mathematics will be very
different than conventional Newtonian calculus, which assumes continuity. To be
existential, a point must consist of one TRUE unit, a line must be a string of
TRUE units, and a plane must have a thickness of one TRUE unit. You might argue
that perhaps space and time are continuous even if mass and energy are not. The
demonstration is beyond the scope of this post, but it turns out that, as
Einstein suggested, space-time without mass and energy is meaningless. And it
may not be too surprising to you at this point to hear that it also turns out,
with the discovery of gimmel, that space-time-mass-energy is meaningless
without consciousness.
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