Friday, October 27, 2017

Fear of knowledge,Evasive language and Zen Koans



Image Credits - M.C. Escher(from wiki)

Douglass R. Hofstadter famously finds an analogy between the feedeback in M.C. Escher's drawings(one shown above), Johannes Bach's fugal music, and Godel's inconsistency and incompleteness theorems.  He tries to argue in his --link here>" Godel, Escher, and Bach " that Godels' theorems show the way towards understanding the Human brain and consequently Artificial Intelligence.

Here's --link here> Bach's musical offering,



Douglass doesn't think Godel's theorem is such an show-stopper to mathematics and science.  For him(and yes, me), Godel's theorems just prove that the mathematical adventure is forever - infinite. Godel's theorems can be stated simply as "a consistent finite set of axioms cannot prove an infinity of truths."  But, an inconsistent finite set of axioms can prove an infinity of truths; but, at that point, the set of axioms are a bit dubious.

I've pointed out vague thought that people use to not allow consistent but uncomfortable to them knowledge from entering their mind in my Sophie and Silas post, and then, now, many posts since - lots of stuff in movies that are about fear and irrationality - movies like Planet of the Apes/Invasion of the Body Snatchers and so forth.  Douglass, in his Godel, Escher, and Bach finds much of these types of evasive thinking against constructive and insightful mathematical thought in Buddhist Koans.

Douglass's first Koan is called Ganto's Axe,

One day Tokusan told his student Ganto, "I have two monks who have been here for many years. Go and examine them." Ganto picked up an ax and went to the hut where the two monks were meditating. He raised the ax, saying, "If you say a word I will cut off your heads;  and if you do not say a word, I will  also cut off your heads."

People are always using these unreasanable double stances.  Here, Ganto and Tokusan are taking a double stance against uttering a word.  A word cannot take in the infinit truth of the universe, therefore, we should not think!  They take such an extreme stance on this, that they make up a Koan saying they'll chop off the heads of an Monk who hasn't come to this understanding. The Monks are just to clear the mind of all thoughts and not think,

Here's a great Buddhist temple/statue(religion makes for great art!)


The Ganto koan finishes, "Both monks continued their meditation as if he had not spoken. Ganto dropped his ax and said, "You are true Zen students."

Chapter IX - Mumon and Godel is Douglass's main chapter on Buddhists Koans and logical thought comparison.

A famous collection of Koans is from the twelve hundreds A.D.(1200) by a monk Mumon - the Mumonkan (note, Douglass creates a logical axiom game called Mu in the first few chapters)

The first Koan mentioned here is about a teacher who tells students to roll up a blind.  Two students roll up the blind.  A third person comments, which student was right?  The first one was right, and the second was wrong.  How do we know?  We don't!  If you designate one or the other as right, and the other wrong, the teacher is wrong, which can't happen!  Then there's a poem about this,

"When the screen is rolled up the great sky opens
  Yet the sky is not attuned to Zen
  It is best  to forget the great sky
  And to retire from every wind."

Compare my favorite quote that I've mentioned everywhere from my Gospel of Truth to my Sophie and Silas post,

"People swarm everywhere, talking of incomprehensible matters, in hovels, streets and square, marketplaces, and crossroads. When I ask how many oboloi I have to pay, they answer with hairsplitting arguments about the born and the unborn. If I inquire the price of bread, I am told that the father is greater than the son. I call a servant to tell me whether my bath is ready; he rejoins that the son was created out of nothing."

- Another cute Koan,

"Goso said, "When a buffalo goes out of his enclosure to the ende of the abyss, his horns and his head all pass through, but why cna't the tail also pass?"

The associated poem,

"If the buffalo runs, he will fall  into the trench;
  If he returns, he will be butchered.
  That little tail
  Is a very strange thing."

- Here's one Koan a bit more explicitly against learning nature and thinking,

"A monk asked Nansen: "Is there a teaching no master ever taught bewfore?"
      Nansen said: "Yes, there is."
      "What is is?" asked the monk.
 Nansen replied: "It is not mind, it is not Buddha, it is not things."

The associated Poem,

"Nansen was too kind and lost his treasure.
 Truly, words have no power.
  Even though the mountain becomes the sea,
  Words cannot open another's mind."

- a Koan explicitly against words,

"Shuzan held out his short staff and said: "If you call this a short staff, you oppose its reality. If you do not call it a short staff, you ignore the fact. Now what do you wish to call this?"

The associated poem,

"Holding out the short staff,
  He gave an oder of life or death.
  Positive and negative interwoven,
  Even Buddhas and patriarchs  cannot escape this attack."

- A big part of what Kurt Godel does is derive the equivalent of the Cretans liar paradox - or the Epimenides paradox starts with "All Cretans are liars."  If this is true, then Epimenides is a liar, since he's a Cretan.  But, if it's false, then Epimenides is making a true statement that "All Cretans are liars." But, we've already established the falsity of the statement.  Round and round it goes!

The Buddhist Monk Koans are always playing this twisted dualities game. Their Koans are this huge elaboration on all this, and as I've shown from my Sophie and Silas post on, a major insight on human behaviors. 

Jacob Bronowski explains in his --link here> Origins of Knowledge and Imagination , and I've explained the major points plus my own --link here> James Burke Connections generalisations, both the meaning of Godel's theorems for the nature of mathematics, and human behavior. 

Thursday, October 12, 2017

L.A. Confidential scene - beware when people ask why are you trying to question!


I remember, when posting my Gospel of Truth to some New Testament apologists movie, there was some guy who asked me why I'm posting my Gospel of Truth?  He refused to click the link and explore . . . he refused to chance an exposure to something that would challenge his beliefs; so, he'd ask what's this going to say?(what do you think it's going to say?)

I found it; it was a reply to my posting in the replies section of a review of "Risen" at Amazon

Ted1 year agoIn reply toan earlier post
?????????????????????????????????????????? are you talking about??????????????????????????
-  This "beware when people ask why are you trying to question!" is a generalization of the fear and evasive thinking i started with my Sophie and Silas post.

Monday, October 9, 2017

astro picture for the day - Aegean Apocalypse solved?


Credit

NASA/JPL-Caltech/CNES/CNRS/LANL/IRAP/IAS/LPGN



Luwian hieroglyphic inscription explains the end of the Bronze Age  < -- link to article

In studying Biblical archaeology, a major archaeology mystery is uncovered - the Bronze Age civilizations collapse. The article above says some Luwian hieroglyphic inscription has been made available (one wonders what else is out there in private collections!), and it solves this mystery.

The inscription apparently says some small city state, Mira, conquered the Hittites, and then went on a rampage to go ahead and conquer everyone else, while they're at it.

People have proposed lots of theories for the Bronze Age collapse - earthquakes, climate change, the system got too complex, plague, and my favorite - the Iron age.  Iron age weaponry can go through Bronze weaponry with ease.

There's still no definitive proof of this iron age weaponry.  But, assuming this Luwian insription isn't some relic forgery, then the iron age hypothesis is suggestive. How else does some small city state conquer the Hittites?  And, then, they decided that was so easy and fun, to go ahead and try to bring down all of Bronze Age civilization!  I can only think this Mira city state made iron age weaponry practical.

The original iron age weaponry would have rusted away a long time ago.


I had posted this video above long ago in this blog; but, I decided to re-post it here, so that anybody interested doesn't have to dive deep into the blog.  Also, I want to say a few more things about the Aegean apocalypse.

My favorite theory and interest in this Aegean apocalypse is the possibility that some group invented iron age weaponry and used that against the Bronze age cultures. The above still supports that no matter what; but, I've found some interesting facts that others have used against the theory.

The Bronze age Kings and Queens used iron weapons, and they kept them to themselves. I've pointed out some Biblical passages suggesting that iron making was kept a secret amongst those who knew how to make it. In terms of this fact, the Luwian inscription evidence above suggests that maybe the commoners got their hands on this knowledge. And so, the people doing all the manual labor, long kept at arms length by iron age weapons, now had equal weapons.

- The video above shows there is evidence of climate change.  One should also note that the materials to make either bronze or iron is strategically located. The bronze mostly came from Crete, while tin to mix in and make for Bronze came from Babylonians.  So, if there's disruption amongst those trade lines (perhaps due to climate change), then the commoners for one are looking elsewhere for metals. It's possible that the iron age could have been a slight indirect consequence of the lack of making Bronze.

Here, perhaps the data is not good enought to tell which way this went. For sure, the manual labor people got their hands on iron age weaponry knowledge; but, did they start with that knowledge and sack the temples and the Kings/Queens?  Or, was it a consequence of climate change disrupting the trade lines between Babylon and Crete?

- in the questions time of the Eric Cline video above, about 59:30, they note that the food crops are burned as well.  So, if this invaders were from climate change, why would they burn the grain? This would argue against climate change as responsible for the sea peoples.