Movement, an illusion?

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

The definition of life

I have shown in my books the absence of a boundary between non-living and living for the upward look, that of processes. The notion of ‘life’ only makes sense for the downward look. But then this belvedere really does exist! And it needs a way to define itself. Pitfall: how can it define itself alone … Read more

Temporium, the mille-feuille of subjective time

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

The older we get, the more time accelerate

Abstract: 3 biological clocks and a perceptual theory to explain the acceleration of the passage of time experienced with age. Enough to satisfy both the materialist and phenomenological viewpoints. But these two approaches still need to be coordinated for a complete explanation. The mind begins on a tricycle, ends on a high-speed train We all … Read more

Understanding Surimposium, the integral theory of reality

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

How do you know if an AI is conscious?

Abstract: Critical review of a reference article on consciousness in AIs, published by Patrick Butlin and Robert Long’s team on 22/08/23. Part 1 analyzes the pitfalls and resulting breaches in the study: sacralized definition of consciousness, exclusions in the chosen method, transposition of human theories to the digital, occultation of the qualitative phenomenon. Part 2: … Read more

How can we restore substance to matter?

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

Around a universal philosophy

Abstract: I assume here that you have read the UniPhiM, a philosophical method with universal claims, and that you have reservations about it. I use a classic rhetoric, the prolepsis, to smash your criticisms before you’ve even said them, bad guy! Which are covered? The method’s lack of celebrity, in the first place. I modestly … Read more

The return of animism in science

Abstract: Do things own their image? They were at the beginning of knowledge, with animism, lost this spirit with monotheism and then naturalism, its ontological equivalent. They are now regaining their autonomous image with the pragmatic scientist, who attributes specific models to them, after having abandoned transcendental theories. From animism to monotheism then to naturalism … Read more