"There are no answers. There are only Choices

[Sternenfisch]

There is only The Singularity. All else is Philosophy.
There are no answers. There are only Choices.


Chuck

Stopping proclaiming could eventually be interprated as losing.

[peskanov]

I really should be replying to a heated discussion on The Singularity I am having by e-mail with a mathematician, but since you have been interested enough to visit my web site several times over the past few days, I feel obliged to reply to your posts here.

Thanks, but you are probably confusing me with other person. I have visited your page one time, if I remenber correctly.

I do appreciate your views on what you believe Lem thinks, but I still maintain only Lem can speak for Lem. Thank you anyway.

As many writers, Lems speaks through his books. If you interested in what Lem thinks, you should read them.
The bulk of his opinions on philosophy is found specially in Cyberiad and Diaries from the stars (the second part).

So you don't have to take my word, just read Lem books!

You know you are right. You know this is how it really is, and it just could not work any other way.
 Everyone else believes the vary same thing about their choices.

Not at all, any thinker worth it's salt is aware about the imposibility of obtaining an absolute certitude about anything.
In fact this is one of Lem's recurring themes.
About my own thinking, I am aware that solipsism and idealism are possible, but I don't see that's the case.

[Terminus]

Stopping proclaiming could eventually be interprated as losing.

He just doesn't give up

[Sternenfisch]

He just doesn't give up

Maybe a read something wrong, a word or so.
But it looked like he want to stop posting.
I tried to stop that with this post, you know.
Even if he don't want to.

Discussion about Poly-Solipsism is interesting, still since my german-teacher has signed as one.

[cckeiser]

Maybe a read something wrong, a word or so.
But it looked like he want to stop posting.
I tried to stop that with this post, you know.
Even if he don't want to.

Discussion about Poly-Solipsism is interesting, still since my german-teacher has signed as one.

Hi SoGo

It is not that I really want to stop posting here. It is that I feel almost compelled to stop posting, not only here, but on all my previous discussion boards. With all the e-mail discussions I am now involved in I simply do not have the free time I once did. Besides, I seem to be getting the same questions over and over, and repeating the same answers over and over.
I really do like this board and respect Terminus and all the posters here, but I also feel like I am cheating a bit by posting Poly-Solipsism on a Solaris discussion board. I never really intended to do so. I was only trying to contact Lem to discuss his philosophy in writing Solaris, as I saw a great similarity to my concept of The Singularity.
I have extended an invitation, if he accepts he does, if not, than he doesn't. I am now beyond caring.

The only reason I continue here is because I keep receiving request form this board, and visitors to my web site from this board.
Someone from this forum just visited my web site. That is why I am here now, and frankly the only time I visit here anymore. When someone shows an interest in Poly-Solipsism by visiting my web site I follow the link to oblige them, and show them the courtesy of replying to their requests.

But as long as the board administrator does not mind, and there is still interest in my continuing to post here I will oblige as time allows. But the only time I remember to stop by is when someone from here pays me a visit. I check my web site stats about once a day, otherwise I am concentrating on my e-mail discussions.

And since you have expressed an interest I will try to stop by more often.

Thanks Sogo

Chuck

[manami]

can anybody tell me somthing about how stanislaw lem lives today?
it's really important for me!
thanks

manami

[cckeiser]

You are going to love this!

As it turns out Poly-Solipsism is fundamentally very similar to Buddhism. I did not know that when the concept came to me. Before writing Poly-Solipsism I really did not know anything much about Buddhism or Zen beyond " What is the sound of one hand clapping?"
That was about it, and it didn't mean anything to me back then.
It seems with Poly-Solipsism I accidently rediscovered the fundamentals of Buddhist philosophy.
There are a few differences, but those few differences turn out to be very important. They allow for Individuality in the One Consciousness that Buddhism would deny you.

[Sternenfisch]

that Buddhism would deny you.

What would Buddhism deny for example?
Or on what have thought specially when you wrote this?

[cckeiser]

What would Buddhism deny for example?
Or on what have thought specially when you wrote this?

http://hjem.get2net.dk/civet-cat/zen-writings/huang-po.htm

Worldly people grasp worldliness; Dharma students grasp Mind.  If they let go of both worldliness and Mind, they can encounter real Dharma.  Dwelling without worldliness is easy; dwelling without mind is difficult.  People fear dwelling without mind and fear failure in their attempts to do so because they think that they would have nothing to hold onto.  However, Original Emptiness is not emptiness but genuine Dharmadhatu.

Since time without beginning, the nature of Awakened Mind and Emptiness has consisted of the same, absolute non-duality of no birth or death, no existence or non-existence, no purity or impurity, no movement or stillness, no young or old, no inside or outside, no shape and form, no sound and color.  Neither striving nor searching, one should not use intellect to understand nor words to express Awakened Mind.  One should not think that it is a place or things, name or form.  One should not think that it is a place or things, name or form.  Only then is it realized that all Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and sentient beings possess the same natural state of great Nirvana.

[cckeiser]

I just found this. I thought others here would also find it interesting. Much of Dr. Fred Alan Wolf's writings fit very nicely with Poly-Solipsism.

http://www.fredalanwolf.com/page5.htm

Question:   Do we project reality?

Answer:   The evidence of physiology seems to indicate so. It tells us that our memories alter our perceptions and hence color our senses of the putative objective world. Hence the world we see appears according to our expectations. A change in expectations leads to a different view of the world. Since we can't get beyond our subjective views, we can never really determine what is absolutely "out there." Classical neurophysiology would say that our minds play tricks on us and in some sense distort the "true" objectivity of the world. The quantum neurophysiology returns to the shamanic or magical view that there is no "out there" until it's perceived. Both views suggest we must project in order to perceive.

Dr Fred Alan Wolf.

[wetal]

Rich theory and what about practice? Theory`s nothing without practical field.
Like V.Lenin said ART SERVES PEOPLE.So our task is to work for needs of society and of course our own.

[cckeiser]

Rich theory and what about practice? Theory`s nothing without practical field.
 Like V.Lenin said ART SERVES PEOPLE.So our task is to work for needs of society and of course our own.

Practical Quantum Magick!

We do practice it all the time. The point is, we are not aware that we do so. Think of everything you know and believe. Where did this information come from. Now think of everything everyone else believes. How many of those beliefs of others do you share? Where did their information come from?
There are so many different points of view on every subject it is nearly impossible to count yet alone list them all. Everyone holds a different truth to be true. Everyone perceives a different Reality.
"We must project in order to perceive."
The wave function of quantum theory behaves as a nebulous field of potential information. For any of us to extract information from that wave function we must interact by observing. That interaction causes an exchange of information between the wave function and the Observer. The Observer and the wave function become entangled. The wave function will then surrender the information that is anticipated by the observer. We project into the wave function our own expectations of what is true and what is Reality and the wave function behaves accordingly by reflecting those expectations back to us. We chose our own Reality.

What practical purpose does this have for society? It tells us why we all believe so many different  and sometimes contradictory things. It tells us why everyone believes the other guy is insane for perceiving a truth so different than the one we know to be true.
Since time before memory we have been killing each other over differences in ideology. We fear those who do not believe the same as we do, and attempt to exterminate anyone who challenges our perceptions of truth. We did, and continue to do so, because we did not understand how our Reality functions and why others perceive differently.
What would happen to the tensions in the world if everyone understood we each create our own reality by choosing what we wish to be true?
For all intent and purposes Reality is an observer generated illusion, and all truths have the very same potential to be manifested into Reality for any individual observer.
We error because we each believe the Reality and the truth we personally perceive and believe is the one and only Reality, and the one and only Truth.
Poly-Solipsism and the Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Theory both tell us there are infinite truths and infinite Realities, and none is any more or less true than any other. We each perceive our own, and our Shared Reality is generated because we are mostly selecting pretty much the same information from the wave function to extract, and therefore we create a similar Reality.
We are all pretty much perceiving a similar reality, but that reality isn't "out there," it's in our own minds. We are not really Observers separated from the Universe by some invisible magick glass. We are all imbedded in the reality we each perceive and continually interact with our own perceptions of the Grand Illusion.
I have read our brains continually process 400 billion bps of information, but we are only consciously aware of a few thousands at any one time. It takes a lot of processing to turn an illusion into Reality!

"There is no reality except the one contained within us. That is why so many people live such an unreal life. They take the images outside them for reality and never allow the world within to assert itself."
Herman Hesse (1877-1962)

You may like to ask Dr Wolf this same question. It would be interesting to compare answers.

[awariat]

I'm going to write for poly-solipsism, great work cckeiser!
The fun part about this is that you can believe that poly-solipsism is not true but poly-solipsism accepts that as truth too.
It was mentioned that poly-solipsism is similar to buddhism, well it is also similar to christianity. It says on your poly-solipsism page that if you believe in heaven you will finally get there. That is exactly how it is in christianity (maybe even in other "old testament religions"), you can only enter heaven if you want to get there. Even if you were a serious sinner, if you finally regret that and state that you want to be in heaven you will enter it.
Poly-solipsism gives many answers and is a part of many concepts and religious trends. That's why I find it intriguing.

[cckeiser]

I'm going to write for poly-solipsism, great work cckeiser!
The fun part about this is that you can believe that poly-solipsism is not true but poly-solipsism accepts that as truth too.
It was mentioned that poly-solipsism is similar to buddhism, well it is also similar to christianity. It says on your poly-solipsism page that if you believe in heaven you will finally get there. That is exactly how it is in christianity (maybe even in other "old testament religions"), you can only enter heaven if you want to get there. Even if you were a serious sinner, if you finally regret that and state that you want to be in heaven you will enter it.
Poly-solipsism gives many answers and is a part of many concepts and religious trends. That's why I find it intriguing.

Yes!! Thank you awariat, thank you for your post. It is evident you comprehend the fundamentals of Poly-Solipsism.
We each believe the truth we perceive, but we only perceive the truth we believe. Our continued error is to presume the Reality and the Truth we each perceive is the one and only Truth and the one and only Reality. We each create our own Reality, and choose our own truth, and any one of them is just a valid as any other.
The fact that we constantly disagree with each other just proves we are each existing in a different universe and perceiving a different truth and a different Reality.

Poly-Solipsism is similar to Buddhism, but Buddhism does not recognize the ultimate necessity of individuality in the continued evolution of The Singularity. It does not recognize the separation by perspective of the individual mind. It is that separation by "state of mind" that gives The Singularity its infinite degrees of freedom. If all minds were one mind, there would be no separation, and there really would be only the one mind of pure Solipsism. There would be no "we," there would only be "I." Buddhism maintains there is only Buddha, and all minds are Buddha.
I was raised Christian, and that is what the middle c stands for in my name, but I morphed into Atheism by the time I graduated highschool. We create our own Gods and we create our own Heaven and our own Hell, and then our minds judge ourselves. It is not our victories, but our failures we take to our graves.

[wetal]

You`ve mentioned the religion, did you happen to think about it`s origins? Long ago people had too many things unexplained, and lived too far from each other.
 Here I should mention that human is a social being that means that a man is a man within a society, without it he`s a beast.
This what is called a singularity is a constituent part of a social unity.Like a diode in a TV-set that replaces automatically when fails.
 The society is a self maintaining system that works in accord with the internal principles. The components of one system will never fit to another.  It is like as if Russians rush to USA  there`ll be no more states but Russia .
 Religion doesn`t learn it doesn`t take scientific explanations, same happens to philosophy in some way,
it doesn`t learn and can not be a tool of learning, it`s still on the same level as it was hundreds of years ago.
 I think that we make a pitfall for ourselves.