Subj : Possible Worlds 1 To : LEE LOFASO From : DAVE OLDRIDGE Date : Sat Nov 03 2001 11:34 am On 11/01/2001 Lee Lofaso wrote to Dave Oldridge: LL> Hello Dave, LL> >LL>True or False: Any logically possible world that one can think of LL> > >actually exists. LL> >DO>Why should this be true? Might there not be a finite number of such LL> >DO>worlds that DO exist and an infinite number that don't? Short of LL> >DO>examining all actually existing worlds, there is no way to know this. LL> >LL>Lewis suggested that if something is logically true then it must be LL> >LL>true. Is that a finite set? Maybe. But doubtful, given that there is LL> DO>Lewis was wrong. Something can be logically correct yet false. LL> One can have two valid premises and a wrong conclusion. LL> An example of a valid syllogism with a correct conclusion would be: LL> Premise 1: All squares are rectangles LL> Premise 2: All rectangles are quadrilaterals LL> Conclusion: All squares are quadrilaterals LL> An example of a syllogism with two valid premises with a wrong LL> conclusion would be: LL> Premise 1: All squares are rectangles LL> Premise 2: All rectangles are quadrilaterals LL> Conclusion: All quadrilaterals are squares This latter one is not a proper syllogism. The conclusion is malformed. Neither premise provides any information about ALL quadrilaterals. LL> DO>Logic is only truth if its structure is correct and its axioms and LL> DO>premises are true. LL> The argument must be both valid and sound to be true. Even if the LL> structure is correct and its axioms and premises are true, the argument LL> must also be sound to be true. If the structure is correct, the argument will be sound and the truth of the conclusion will then depend on the truth of the axioms and premises. LL> >LL>no way to verify all that can be logically true. Anything that is not LL> >LL>logically possible would be non-existent, since only something that is LL> >LL>logically possible can exist. But then, man's understanding of logic is LL> >LL>quite limited... LL> DO>Usually when nature presents a paradox, it is one (or more) of our LL> DO>assumptions that are wrong. LL> Suppose the majority of the world's population was autistic. How would LL> the views of the small minority of folks who are not autistic be seen by LL> the rest of the world's population? Would the world of non-autistic LL> folks be seen as a logically possible world by those who are autistic? LL> Would the views of non-autistic folks even be understood by those who LL> are autistic? And this is relevant how? LL> >DO>(Or maybe it's only all possible entropically connected worlds, focus LL> >DO>on a primordial beginning) . LL> >LL>If there is a beginning, there must be an end. And if there is an end, LL> >LL>such a world would no longer exist. LL> DO>Why should a beginning imply an end? LL> There is a difference between immortality and eternity. For something LL> to be immortal, it must have a definite beginning but no end. For LL> something to be eternal, there can be no beginning and no end. But man LL> lives in a linear universe, his whole understanding of nature being that LL> everything has a definite beginning and a definite end. Nope.... when it comes to the universe as a whole there is no end in sight! LL> DO>If entropy starts at zero it can still increase indefinitely. LL> Still, it would be finite. The universe itself is a finite universe, LL> having a definite beginning (The Big Bang) with a definite end (The Big LL> Collapse). IOW, it started with something and it ends with something, LL> everything remaining the same. No energy is lost, but all energy is LL> expended. How that something got there to begin with is an open LL> question, since if there was nothing then there would have been no LL> Big Bang. Finite in only three dimensions, but infinite along a fourth. LL> Does the universe begin again once it has collapsed, only to collapse LL> again and start all over again and again and again et al infinitum? LL> If so, was there a beginning and will there be an end? It still begs LL> the question, since the original Big Bang would have had to have ú [ Continued In Next Message... ] --- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5 * Origin: FONiX Info Systems * Berkshire UK * www.fonix.org (2:252/171) .