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 Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 10:33 am |
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Arthur C. Clarke 8/9 ART MATRIX - LIGHTLINK
http://www.lightlink.com/theproof PO 880 Ithaca, NY 14851-0880
(607) 277-0959 Voice
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homer@lightlink.com E-mail
jes@lightlink.com E-mail
03/16/08 12:55am
DIRECT AND INDIRECT PERCEPTION
Direct perception means looking directly at an object under
investigation.
Direct perception means being in direct contact with the object
under investigation.
Indirect perception means looking at some other object causally
related to but different from the object under investigation.
Indirect perception means being in indirect contact with the
object under investigation.
Being in contact with means being in the causal line of fire so
to speak of the object under investigation.
Direct contact means being in contact with the object itself.
Indirect contact means being in contact with some other object
removed in space or time from the original object under investigation.
Direct perception is an oxymoron in the physical universe,
because two different objects, observer and observed, can never be in
direct contact with each other because they are always separated from
each other in space and time.
Always the observer is removed from the observed by some distance
in space and time, and the observer depends on a causal messenger wave
to relay data from the observed to the observer.
Being the recipient of a causal wave from some star a million
light years away does not mean one is in contact WITH THE STAR, but
only with the star's effects many lightyears of spacetime later.
In fact the observer will never even know the star is there,
unless the observer HIMSELF is the effect of that star.
Just as Newton claimed there can be no direct action at a
distance, there can be no direct knowing or learning or perception or
seeing at a distance.
This results in a conundrum.
For example consider a star that emits a photon that comes to
earth and hits a sensor.
The observer on Earth can not see the star directly but can look
at the sensor instead and surmise about the star according to the
state of the sensor.
Use of the sensor to learn about the star is clearly indirect
perception of the star.
Learning about A by looking at B is clearly indirect perception
of A.
We say that A is the referent, and B is the symbol, in this case
B is the symbol of final authority which the observer then uses to
determine the nature of A.
But does the observer have direct perception of even the sensor?
No, the sensor is removed from the observer just as the star is
removed from the sensor.
Just as causal messenger photons must travel through space and
time from the star to the sensor, similar photons must travel through
space and time from the sensor to the observer.
At this point the sensor is merely another way point on the
causal pathway from the star to the observer.
In order for the observer to learn about the star, the observer
must BECOME the symbol of final authority by changing state himself as
a result of the star, the final effect in a long line of effects.
Those changes in himself are then his learning about the star.
Now let's say the observer writes up his conclusions and prints
them in Nature magazine which is then read by another observer many
months later.
The causal pathway is longer now, it goes from star to sensor to
the first observer, to written paper, to published magazine, to
photons off the magazine page over to the second observer's eye as he
reads the page.
From the point of view of the second observer, HE is the symbol
of final authority from which HE learns about the star.
Thus we can conclude a silly but very important theorem:
A symbol is any event that contains a causal imprint of the
original referent.
A symbol of final authority is the last symbol in the chain used
to extract data about the original referent from causal changes in
itself.
Each observer is the symbol of final authority for his own
learning about any referent object under investigation, via indirect
perception.
All symbols of final authority are observers.
All observers are symbols of final authority.
Here in lies the conundrum.
Say we have a learning machine with video cameras and circuitry
leading to a video memory.
Star -> Photons -> Sensor -> Photons -> Video Camera -> Video
Memory.
The machine wishes to learn about the star and thus points its
cameras at the sensor on Earth receiving photons from the star.
The room in which the sensor rests is lighted, so photons coming
from the room lights bounce off the sensor showing its reading and
they hit the video camera connected to the machine.
The video camera focuses the image of the sensor on its CCD
screen (charge coupled device), and the remaining circuity translates
the image on the CCD screen into a bit pattern in the video memory of
the machine.
The sensor, the video camera, and the video memory are all later
and later symbols for the star, because they all change state because
of the star and the photon that it emits, and these changes in state
all contain a causal imprint of the nature of the star from which data
about the star might be gleaned.
But which is the symbol of final authority for the machine to
learn about the star?
At what point is the star 'seen' by the machine?
The machine certainly can't see the star at all, because its
looking at the sensor!
But in fact the machine can't see the sensor either, because its
really looking at its own video memory.
Does the sensor 'see' the star by virtue of it's reception of the
photons from the star?
Does the video camera 'see' the star by virtue of it's image of
the star on the CCD screen?
Does the machine 'see' the star by virtue of the bit pattern on
its video memory?
What does it mean to 'see'?
Does seeing mean to merely change state as a result of?
One can BE an effect, but is that the same as KNOWING one was an
effect?
Doesn't conscious seeing imply conscious knowing that one sees?
Isn't conscious seeing self knowing?
Are being and knowing that one is being the same thing?
In other words is there more to conscious seeing than merely
changing state?
Now for the machine to learn anything about the star from the bit
pattern in its video memory it has to process that data in some way,
perhaps to determine the reading on the scale of the sensor showing
how bright the star is.
This circuitry which reads the video memory then produces a final
result which is printed on paper for permanent record.
Does the video memory 'see' the star?
Does the circuity which scans the video memory 'see' the star in
any sense of the word?
Does the paper with the printed result 'see' the star?
Each of these events are simply further symbols along the pathway
from star to final printed result.
Just dominoes falling.
Each event can not see anything, it can only BE itself.
The end paper certainly can't see anything, it can only BE paper.
The video memory can't see anything, it can only be in various
states of on or off.
The sensor can't see anything, it can only be in a state where
it's needle is somewhere on a scale.
None of these states have any DIRECT contact with the star, so
how can any of them claim to be 'seeing the star?'
Does 'being an effect' of the star mean the same thing as
'seeing' the star?
In a universe where everything is just dominoes falling, can any
single dominoe claim to be able to 'see' the original dominoe that
started the chain just because it is the effect of that dominoe many
such falls later?
We already know that all learning results in a change in state,
and without that change in state no learning has occured.
However indirect perception works by learning FROM that change in
state, learning from the effect.
Direct perception works by learning directly from the cause
itself.
How can something learn by being in direct contact with something
else?
Only if the two are one and the same object. Then cause and
effect are one and the same event, not separated by space or time or
dimension of any kind.
Separation creates mandatory indirection.
Thus direct perception is limited to learning about one's self,
but results in being able to see what one is learning about, because
one is in direct contact with it.
Now what we are really talking about here is how the conscious
unit can learn if it is seeing two different colors or not, say red
and green.
So we do a thought experiment, say some guy is sound asleep and
having a dream. In the dream there is a table, and on the table are
two beach balls, one red and one green.
Notice we aren't talking about photons here, photons are not red
or green in the first place, and there are no photons in a dream
anyhow. The balls are self luminous.
First we must notice that the red and green really and truely
LOOK like they are out there, at a distance from us.
But we know that if there WERE distance between the the looker
and the looked at, the looker could never see the looked at for that
would be direct perception across a distance.
Thus the fact that we can see the red and green, means we are
seeing them directly, not indirectly via something else,
But the fact that we are seeing them directly means the looked
through is an illusion, that the sense that they are out there and we
are here is holographic.
If both the looker and the looked at have no separation between
them in space or time, then the looker and the looked at must be one
event, one and the same object.
Thus by learning with certainty about the red and the green and
that they are indeed two different colors, we can only be learning
about OURSELVES!
Consciousness is like a mirror, everything we see in the mirror
looks like it is OUT THERE on the other side of the mirror, but
everything we see in the mirror is really only ourselves in
reflection.
Just as you can see yourself in a mirror, just so you can only
see yourself in your conscious experiences of the world.
That's YOU 'out there' glowing in the dark of the void.
Looker and looked at are one, and the looked through is an
illusion of separation.
Homer
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homer Wilson Smith The Paths of Lovers Art Matrix - Lightlink
(607) 277-0959 KC2ITF Cross Internet Access, Ithaca NY
homer@lightlink.com In the Line of Duty http://www.lightlink.com
Fri Aug 17 01:13:23 EDT 2007 |
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