The double look on complex dimension
Abstract: The Dichotomy is an aporia that Zeno of Elea illustrated with the paradoxes of Achilles, the Arrow and the Stadium. Twenty-five centuries later, the dichotomy seems to be resolved, and in several different ways. This is precisely a problem. These solutions are contradictory to each other, keeping the paradox all its relevance. Zeno wanted … Read more
Abstract: ‘Time’ is an amalgamation of two independent concepts, dimension and passage of time. Within ‘dimension’ exist two sub-concepts, course and arrow of time; the course is the sequence of states and the arrow the idea that the sequence has a preferential direction. The passage is the very different idea that the sequence is animated, … Read more
Abstract: The introduction sets the scene for a Theory of Everything (ToE): the observable, the provable, the root concepts, the limits, the author. Part 1 presents the transcendental thread, the TD principle (soliTary vs soliDary, whole vs part). From this principle is deduced the fundamental framework of reality, the complex variety, endowed with two dimensions, … Read more
Abstract: As Surimposium is a theory of everything presented on this site, I examine Ken Wilber’s earlier theory, which he expanded throughout his life. I separate the excellent start on Arthur Koestler’s holons, likely to win broad support, and the mystical veneer added by Wilber, which ends up erasing the initial coherence. I highlight Wilber’s … Read more
Abstract: Given the difficulty in demonstrating the ontological reality of emergence, some authors propose to make a non-substantialist conception of it. But classical reductionist ontology is already failing to say whether there is a fundamental substance of things. It simply associates an information structure with each observable phenomenon, without justifying or contradicting the existence of … Read more
Abstract: The double look offers an astonishing perspective on the living, capable of overturning our usual concepts about it, but above all of recognizing the origin of these two sets of concepts, the classic and the revolutionary, which are not contradictory but complementary. I describe an application to medical therapy and in particular to cancer. … Read more
Abstract: A tree falls in a forest, casting doubt on its existence despite the noise produced. Inseparable and unadjustable halves The double look, what is it exactly? Let’s start with a classic riddle: “If a tree falls in an uninhabited forest, does it make a sound?” The answer “Yes, of course!” is not suitable. The … Read more
Abstract: Many of our motivations are wrongly considered natural. I take 3 examples: staying healthy, protecting nature, upholding equal rights. Behind them lie artificial ideals: Eternal Life, the Natural History Museum, Democratic Equality. Confused with principles truly constitutive of human nature, these ideals crush with their weight many aspects of our lives. They flatten our … Read more
Abstract: The etymology of ‘hierarchy’, the sacred order, remains relevant: there are always laws to which one must submit, if only the natural, new sacraments. I show that the collapse of hierarchies is natural, too, but that this disappearance is disastrous. It is not the hierarchical principle that poses the problem but its dysfunctions, its … Read more
Abstract: Is the ideal an engine of social change or only a symptom? The double look shows that it is both, in a metastable cycle, allowing for example to understand that the abolition of slavery or the death penalty can be imposed on a population that appears to be unfavorable but which implicitly accepts the … Read more