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
How technology has impacted the private jet business 👀
Technology for us is a big piece of our presentation model. We have our huge video wall with an app, so we actually can take people through this whole process by educating people on how you select the airplane that best meets your needs, your requirements…
The Hole Where King Tut’s Heart Used to Be | Overheard at National Geographic
Foreign [Music] When I heard the news of this year’s big show with the National Geographic Museum, which is on the first floor of headquarters, I couldn’t wait to see it. It was going to focus on the world’s most famous Pharaoh, King Tut, in honor of the …
URGENT: Federal Reserve Cancels Recession, Prices Fall, Massive Pivot Ahead
What’s up you guys, it’s Graham here, and you absolutely have to pay attention to what just happened. As of a few hours ago, the Federal Reserve has decided to once again pause any rate cuts for the foreseeable future. Except this time, investors are pric…
Americans Are Spending Like There's No Tomorrow..
What’s up you guys, it’s Graham here, and this is getting out of hand. According to the Wall Street Journal, Americans are still spending like there’s no tomorrow, with the average consumer splurging on events, concerts, vacations, and experiences, all wh…
Smokehouse - Thaw Project | Life Below Zero
I’m gonna build the smokehouse. So starting there, I’m gonna have to go find some nice post and get the bark peeled off of them and some poles. Start getting all my material, so I’m gonna head downriver and look for a really good spot to cut post and pole…
Analyzing graphs of exponential functions: negative initial value | High School Math | Khan Academy
So we have a graph here of the function ( f(x) ) and I’m telling you right now that ( f(x) ) is going to be an exponential function. It looks like one, but it’s even nicer. When someone tells you that, and our goal in this video is to figure out at what (…