yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

Supervenience


2m read
·Nov 8, 2024

One of the questions was, "Um, how is it that logic supervenes on our brains?"

And I think it's a good question.

Um, I think it's a question that we're not currently in a position to give a full answer to.

Um, for that, our understanding of how the brain and the mind are interrelated needs to be, uh, much more advanced than it currently is.

Um, but I think by way of analogy, I can give you an idea of how, uh, a materialist conception of the mind—how it, how it can, how it approaches this question.

Anyway, so to take the example of a computer, um, we know exactly, uh, the parts that make up a computer, and we know exactly what happens in those parts in order for the computer to do the things it's expected to do.

Ultimately, what happens inside a computer is electrons move around.

That's all it is at a basic level, and yet we're happy to say things like the computer calculates, uh, a sum, an equation, or the computer displays a web page.

And yet we don't feel the need to posit some kind of immaterial entity or immaterial knowledge or symbol or something from another realm that somehow is injected into the computer that enables it to do these things.

We know exactly what's in a computer, what happens in a computer, and we also know that in a manner of speaking, the result is greater than the sum of its parts.

The ability to calculate or to display a web page supervenes on the fundamental activity of electrons in a computer.

And what the materialist worldview says, or at least the version that I'm familiar with, is that in a similar way, the electrical and chemical activity inside the brain gives rise to Consciousness, thought, abstract Concepts, etc.

So logic, as in our internal representation of the most general features of the reality in which we find ourselves, logic in that sense supervenes on the physical.

I hope that makes it a bit clearer.

More Articles

View All
Hunting Porcupine | Life Below Zero
Look, the porcupine tracker went right up here. It’s not too far ahead. This is a fresh track. Hey, look! There he is, right there, right in that tree. Porcupines, when they’re getting chased, they like to take to the trees. I can’t shoot him with this r…
My Tips for Dealing with Uncertainty Like What the U.S. is Facing Today
But what can the individual do? And just to summarize, what can the collective do to stop or slow the decline that clearly, you know, you can measure has occurred? First, be financially strong. Have a good income and balance sheet. Think about how many m…
Mars Season 2 – Trailer | National Geographic
There are other human beings on Mars now. Coexistence may prove just as challenging as it does on Earth. ELON MUSK: Mars civilization ultimately looks like an advanced version of Earth. SUSAN WISE BAUER: Industry is going to be absolutely vital to that …
Addition and subtraction with number lines | 2nd grade | Khan Academy
[Voiceover] Which number line shows 47 plus 22? Let’s see, in this first number line we’re starting at 47, then we add 20 to get to 67. And then we add two to get to 69. So if you add 20, and then you’re adding two, you’re adding 22. So this one seems r…
Sun Tzu | How to Fight Smart (The Art of War)
This video doesn’t condone violence or war of any kind, but simply explores the tactics from an ancient text, and how these might work in everyday (non-military) settings in the modern world. Nevertheless, some information and graphics in this video could…
Michael Burry Just SHORTED Tesla Stock!
[Music] Hey guys, welcome back to the channel! Got an exciting bit of news to talk about today. Um, controversial, definitely controversial. Michael Burry is shorting Tesla stock. So, Michael Burry, you guys probably know him from “The Big Short.” He’s …