8 Questions to Annoy People at Parties
God exists necessarily, but he was not compelled by logic to create the world. (Leibniz)
But what if God would not, in fact, exist if he did not create “the world?” What if his essence is creation? What if what defines him as God is the ability to create and he cannot possess that ability without exercising it because the potential for creative ability is an impossibility; creative ability must be realized if any meaning is to be attributed to it at all? Without realization, creative ability is not an attribute. You’re not a storyteller without telling a story. You’re not a basketball player without playing a game of basketball. “If you invented Facebook, you would have invented Facebook.”
Our age is one of organization, and its conflicts are between organizations. (Russell discussing Locke)
What if we should no longer expect laws to project individuals beyond the benefit to collective groups of people? What if loss of individual freedom is evolution? What if a laws protecting the solvency of an organization or corporation, even at the cost of loss of individual lives, is good because the existence of those organizations (that have truly become Us) benefits more of Us in a larger way than protecting the comparably few lives lost would? … And what if the opposite? What if the organization of humanity is Us at our most base, our slide into iniquity? What if there’s a limit on size of organization, be it a company or state or family, at which it ceases to be considered “good?” And what if most nations have surpassed that limit?
Color is defined by electromagnetic frequency, which is defined by wave cycles (2π) over time (Hz).
What if we’re thinking about it all wrong? What colors are not seen because of time, but time is experienced because of color? What if a light wave oscillates on a curve such as f(x) = (cos(x) + 1) / 2, where photos jump between existence (1) and nothingness (0)? Meaning here is no gradual change (just like Planck saw). And then what if that fluctuation is necessary for classical, newtonian physics — meaning if it did not oscillate, a photon would remain in the quantum at (0)? Then consider time’s relationship — If we accept time over time is not a constant, what if time is speeding up? If it is, does that mean that the color Socrates saw as “red” would be invisible to us? What if, as time and the universe accelerate, colors shift, blues towards reds? Fewer oscillations per second mean lower frequency, not because of shorter wavelengths but faster time?
In Berkeley’s “Dialogues” the characters agree that human senses make no inferences.
What if the truth is the exact opposite of that statement? What if our realities are composed of nothing but inferences? Can any idea exist out of the mind?
Among ideas, those that retain a considerable degree of vivacity of the original impressions belong to memory; the others, to imagination. (Hume)
What if we can’t tell the difference? What truly separates imagination from memory other than a vague feeling or belief?
Everything that is not Self.
What if Atman/Individual Consciousness/Self is an impossibility without reflection? What if we are defined by the external? What if that which defines me is as that which defines anything -- viz. that which it is not? I am all existence except for that which is beyond my borders. When, then, are We as individual consciousnesses anything other than a sum of our negatives? Would consciousness exist without feedback, without reflection?
I just wanna see what this one feels like.
What if we’re all one person, living out all of these lives? Everyone’s, forever? “This time I want to be poor, be assassinated, be abused, abuse, be rich and dishonest and unscrupulous. This time I want to die young. This time I want a partner.” What if all these lives over all this time have happened and we, together, just need to experience all of them? What if time doesn’t work as a line, but as a multi-dimensional game of “Chutes and Ladders?” What if I am We? What if You are?
No Ways to Many Worlds.
What if the multi-worlds theory does not mean there are multiple, innumerable versions of Me? Both now and in the future? What if the only version of Me is this one, right now, here, typing this because that’s the only version my consciousness is capable of experiencing? In other words, any other version of “me” is not Me because to be Me would mean that I’m aware of it, I can sense it. To equate any “self” to My Self it’s necessary that I am that self. To be a thing, even a state, is to be aware of it if we are to believe the Cartesian adage, “I think, therefore I am.” The adage dictates consciousness, awareness, a necessary measure of self. And then, what if that means there is only one version of Me in the future, unless I’m able to experience multiple futures? No matter what choices I make, they can only lead to one reality at any point. That’s not to say other worlds don’t or can’t exist — only that they have nothing to do with Me, nothing to do with You. Me or You being part of any such world is an impossibility because we stop being ourselves the moment any other path or decision is taken. Does that lead to “determinism,” or does that only mean all is as it must be?