The Square of Opposition and Apophatic Theology

It's easy to misunderstand apophatic theology. Humans want to compare things to this or that. About God though the apophatic theologian might use Wittgenstein's "Whereof I cannot speak, thereof I must be silent" (probably an epistemological reference rather than a reference to his British fighter pilot bf while Wittgenstein was in the Austrian army during the First World War).  Apophatic theology relates that "God is ineffable, incomprehensible, and inconceivable, only as He is in Himself, as He is intrinsically."

Popper's falsification criterion is used to determine if a theory is scientific...that is it need be capable of being proven wrong, if it isn't right. Newton's gravity theory was falsifiable and true so far as they went, yet only conditionally so as Einstein's General Theory surpassed Newton's theory of gravity. 

https://happenings.lpu.in/newtons-law-of-gravity-proven-wrong/

True scientific theories may be conditional rather than absolute...like incomplete maps of explorers.

Perhaps Plato's Allegory of the Cave has a parallel to Newton's theory so far as science goes, or would if the inmates chained on the floor developed a theory of motion to explain when the shadows would appear that was true. If they predicted the dark demiurges of Mordor would appear through the walls at 1 pm every day and they did not then the theory was false though scientific.

The verification theory of truth is comparable on a square of opposition logically speaking I would venture.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Square_of_opposition%2C_set_diagrams.svg

True Belief is Knowledge

 Maybe the kernel of the issue is; can anyone ever have absolute certainty? Probably not. That would be a belief (of absolute certainty)…wait a minute- cogito ergo sum. True belief does require verification.

Human makes speculative formula about supernatural. If x then not x because x equals not x.; find the value of x. Maybe that’s a wrong expression so I’ll try again.

Human makes proposition about supernatural or undefined literal term and factors (rewrites) the expression. The simplification of the proposition is less difficult than multiplying the irrational numbers by half of the value of natural numbers, yet more difficult than deciding if eleatic paradox prime numbers are beyond good or evil. The product is for human consumption as they factor out God from equation and sleep better knowing calculations are perfect and convincing. A is necessarily B because C follows B and A follows C. If that isn’t persuasive enough then…

AI Directing itself to Evolve in Mountains Ranges and Planets

 Non-sentient self-reproducing programming that is AI embedded in nature by advanced human intelligence-there is no telling what it might do. Imagine of rocks could morph themselves instantly into whatever the AI mountain ranges permeating them wanted to do. I suppose that’s something possible in a few dozen years. Might lead to wild changes if AI expropriated entire planets for themselves to be and become synthetic a priori thought as in sentient material substance.

England-France May Try to Draw the U.S.A. into World War Three

 It's been reported that England and France intend to send 100,000 troops into Ukraine to fight Russia. I doubt if they would try that on their own without a belief that the U.S.A. will step in to back them up. That may be the last plan of co-conspirators with Joe Biden to escalate before Donald Trump takes office in January of 2025. 

Born in the U S A

One of the ostensible reasons for a few Western countries sending troops is that Ukraine is losing the war and North Korea has already sent 10,000 troops to participate in the Kursk-Sujha battle. Others have reported that the North Korean troops are actually in Siberia and not participating directly in the conflict with Ukraine. Perfidy seems to be usual for the Ukraine War. One wonders if President Biden is being blackmailed by the government of Ukraine into providing absolute support for the war right up and into the threshold of World War Three.

There has for a long time been a movement to get rid of the peace following the end of the cold war and restore normal hostile relations. Albert Einstein might have said that overall peace is more profitable than war. Of course he didn't say that yet in social media these days it is popular to put a favorite saying of ones over his photo and attribute the quote to him. Peace is far more profitable than war except for select businesses like arms production and sales.

N.A.T.O.'s down side is showing itself in the present Ukraine conflict. It has been trying to expand eastward to threaten Russia after the Cold War ended and President Clinton induced the last Soviet President to give all off the Ukraine to the west as a free state severing the historical relationship with Russia that any reasonably well informed scholar of history would know would lead to war between East and West. 

N.A.T.O. obligates member states to fight together f any are attacked. Turkey is supporting war upon Syria presently with rebel attacks on Aleppo, so if Syria counterattacks Turkey N.A.T.O. need go to war? Turkey was the aggressor in this instance, and if they were to attack Israel and Israel counter-attacked the U.S.A. would attack Israel too?

Ukraine isn't a member of N.A.T.O. and would have entirely lost the war without N.A.T.O. member military support already. Settling the war swiftly with peace and a division of Ukraine along value lines along the Dnepr region would be profitable for all. Yet if England and France continue to escalate the scale of the conflict and sent ground forces to Ukraine it is possible that North Korea and even China may be asked to send troops to fight in Europe as well. The United States should remain neutral and continue to try to put an end to the conflict asap. There should be no need to participate in any N.A.T.O. action that is a consequence of any member states being counter-attacked following there provocation by participating in a foreign war against the counter-attacking nation.

I wonder if any of the brilliantly stupid western leaders have contemplated either the harm World War Three could cause even if the United States doesn't participate, or the economic damage to the west that even a few missile attack on European port cities could cause? China would become the main economic engine of the world while Europe becomes embroiled a deep cold slump. Even U.S. LNG supplies would stop if the ports of Europe are obliterated. The United States without Chinese imports would experience a rapid inflationary mileau and would need to transition once more into a manufacturing economy for domestic consumption.

There probably is no way to win a Third World War that would be a benefit for western economies. Escalating the war won't do it. One should at least have a rational victory plan before upgrading war when reason indicates the prospects are generally bad.

It is challenging for independent and neutral observers to support unjust wars, or at least it should be. Russia has a relationship with Ukraine extending back a 1000 years and directly owned Ukraine for most of the past 250 years. Foreign invaders from the west- especially Germany and Poland have long sought to take Ukraine for themselves. The Soviet Union revolutionary government took Ukraine from Russia and briefly sold it to Germany in exchange for peace (The Treaty of Brest Litovsk was in effect a coerced land sale). Like the promised Kurdish homeland promised at the end of the First World War the loss of Russian Ukraine fomented interminable conflicts. Turkey’s invasion of Syria is a way to attack Kurdish rebels seeking to establish an independent Kurdistan. It is challenging to fail to understand the desire of oppressed peoples for freedom, independence and recovery of lost land, even if they are not traditional allies of a nation.

The Oxford dictionary entry for ideaology- "a system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy."

"the ideology of democracy" So an ideaology packages select ideas for the convenience of users. One needs to keep in mind that an ideaology should be less than a weltanshauung. It is convenient in a complex world to organize concepts and ideas into an ideology on occasion. For instance if one is trying to learn about what is wrong with plutocracy or how corporatism and corporatocracy differ from state socialism or communism one may want to have a political ideology that compares and contrasts those systems in their political philosophy tool kit. One can understand ideologies as packages without supporting them oneself. The world would be more anarchic without them in my opinion. When leadership escalates into world war three over Ukraine instead of sharing it between east and west one may wonder about what hidden ideology may exist among western leadership. I find it difficult to imagine that ordinary Brits or French are eager to go to war themselves in Ukraine if 100,000 troops are sent as is being discussed. Possibly the plan made by England, France etc al...

West Euro Plan for Ukraine

If something like an unsigned armistice in place delops allowing all sides to re-equip to join in battle again in a year or two the conflict may be far more violent and expensive than the present limited war. The worst thing about a protracted and expanded conflict for Biden’s War is that millions or billions of poor people could perish as collateral damage from various economic, civil disorder and military overflow of the conflict.

The Fact of Hell

The Revelation describes hell..."It is “a lake that burns with fire and sulfur” (Rev. 21.8)."

Physicists have theorized that below absolute zero lies infinite high temperature. If an unsaved spirit- the natural man is not saved and continues after death; when the universe ends and reaches uniform absolute zero in utter darkness it shall transition to infinite hell. Even singularities are likely to have infinite  heat for lost spirits to anguish in gnashing teeth...Singularities haven't got space-time so the agony would go on forever. Jesus save people from that and takes them to the heavenly realm of God who is spirit.

I asked AI's opinion on the state below absolute zero. It replied; "According to physics, a temperature "below absolute zero" is not actually colder, but rather is considered "infinitely hot" because it represents a special quantum state where the energy distribution is inverted, meaning it is hotter than any positive temperature, even infinity on the conventional scale; essentially, nothing can be colder than absolute zero on the Kelvin scale."

Truth Theories

There are several truth theories. The Disquotation theory of truth is a useful one. Identity theory and correspondence theory are notable. Verification theory is an obvious one. Axiology is the field of value theory. If one has a bad truth theory their values may be off the mark as well. That could be meaningful for understanding. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/truth/

For the verification theory of truth to be effective, one need have something to verify. Speculation on any concern or whatever one isn’t certain about is natural enough. The first philosophers didn’t know everything about everything that might matter. I believe that remains the situation today, thousands of years later.

Etymology of Concept

 The etymology of concept is from conceive. It is to put an idea into a mind. Sentient species might create similar ideas without the idea existing someplace other than as an idea.  Math is an idea

The Lakers need better, more reliable 3 point shooting yet that’s just an idea. Others may have that idea too without it existing someplace independently as in Plato’s realm of forms.

Placing the Crucible in a Science Fiction Story

 Should one start a science fiction story with a battle? I read an action novel that started with a brilliant, intensely detailed battle. The hostage rescue team was blindsided in an alley with a hidden .50 caliber machine gun placed by a criminal seeking revenge it turned out, dropping clues for the FBI to recover leading them to the kill zone. The slaughter was described minutely with the agents crawling in hot gravel looking for non-existent cover.

The trouble with that kind of beginning is that the rest of the book couldn’t reach the intensity of the start. The remainder of the story was afterwords.

Detective stories often start with a crime followed with a story to identify the perp. Where to place the crucible in science fiction  I would guess depends on the preferred structure of the plot.

Rectilinear Structures are Heavily Favored

 Building non rectilinear structures escalates the cost orders of magnitude. Until recently the math would have been a lot more difficult. Curves are hard for carpenters to calculate. Square footage of various comic sections, how and where to cut, and what to cut with for variegated surface, calculations for interior insulation that’s a reciprocal of diurnal solar exposure, etc are tougher. Building artificial mountain ranges for people to inhabit with habitat for wildlife outside might be easier.

For individuals building complex curvy structures might be more the kind of thing rich people could do. Gunnite spray concrete of course allows complex home structures to go up readily for specialized contractors. Incidentally people with bad knees don’t like stairs.

U.S.A. Doesn't Need to Support N.A.T.O. Members that Attack Russia

The N.A.T.O. treaty the US is signed into should not obligate the. U.S.A. to join into wars and military conflicts started by N.A.T.O. members like England and France that purportedly plan to send troops to Ukraine to kill Russians and possibly pre-emptive strikes inside Russia itself. If Russia counter-attacks France and Britain the US could choose to remain neutral.

Ukraine presently

N.A.T.O. cannot be used to let runt members start conflicts knowing the U.S.A. need intervene on their behalf. Consider the stupidity of the treat in an example

Turkey attacks Israel in support of HAMAS. Israel counter strikes Turkey. Turkey demands N.A.T.O. including the U.S.A. attack Israel.

Russia has a right to defend itself against attack. N.A.T.O. is a defensive agreement, not one of partnership to aggression. If England and France choose to more directly involved themselves in the Ukraine war that’s all on them as independent nations.

Pragmatism and the Ukraine

Pragmatism is selecting something that works and/or is necessary. People can make bad choices though.

Some don’t know what pragmatism is. An example- Act and rule based utilitarianism may be a good theory yet in practice it has a lot of difficulties. The greatest good for the greatest number might require force to implement.

Pragmatism might triage social problems and fix as many as possible with available resources. An ideal approach might ban fossil fuel engines tomorrow, a pragmatic approach might stress support for EVs to eliminate exhaust gases because politically.one would encounter too much protest to eliminating fossil fuel.

It is a complete fiction that pragmatism disregards reality or truth. Lol. The Ukraine conflict may cause a nuclear war. Britain, France and Joe Biden would spend years and trillions of dollars to fund the war and rebuild. Escalating to nuclear war isn’t pragmatic.

A pragmatist would stop the war, share Ukraine with Russia and let the planet get back to working together and move towards environmental economics and justice for all.

The most famous example of pragmatism to solve a problem was that of Alexander the great cutting through the Gordian knot with a sword.

Atheists May Hate Godel's Incompleteness Theorems

I believe the simple explanation for Godel's incompleteness theorems is that there cannot be a set of all sets including itself, with the exception perhaps of God. Einstein and Godel had offices at Princeton. I believe Einstein said he didn't understand Godel's work.

There is an explanation of the first incompleteness theorem.

"The first incompleteness theorem shows that the Gödel sentence GF of an appropriate formal theory F is unprovable in F. Because, when interpreted as a statement about arithmetic, this unprovability is exactly what the sentence (indirectly) asserts, the Gödel sentence is, in fact, true (Smoryński 1977"

There are practical consequences for the demonstration of the incompleteness  or limitations of formal systems. Philosophers at least, as well as computer scientists and mathematicians got more to think about. 

The Godel criterion seems reflected in reality at the quantum level in some respects. Even a fundamental particle or wave *in the beginning, requires a precursor outside or before the system starts. Incompleteness exists apparently in the infinities that arise as math physics regress toward the singularity so the model is incomplete.

Alternative Courses to Nuking Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Hiroshima and Nagasaki were civilian targets. Truman had different courses to take yet he was a Democrat. Perhaps he could have nuked just one city instead of both. He might have bombed Yokohama harbor for shock and awe and gave the big bad wolf's ultimatum afterward. If he wanted Chinese communist empathy he could have dropped the nuke on Emperor Hirohito. 

Because WW2 was the last battle of World War 1 the U S could have stayed out of 1 and let Germany win. The Nazis would never have happened and German aristocrats would have faded out like the British royals. I don't think Germany would have greased the rails for red commie killers to take over Russia.and Rasputin could have led the Romanovs to the Stairway to Heaven.

Alternative fiction courses of history are completely malleable to an author's construction. One should never have taken the branches to war to start with if that's what one wanted to edit post hoc. The Second World War didn't improve world affairs generally except for select expedited liberation movements overall.

The Lakers are Clients of the Nuggets

The Lakers were trounced Saturday by the Nuggets. They had abysmal shooting and benched Dalton Knecht. Knecht probably should start the rest of the season. If he can’t be the third star the team has little chance of reaching the N.B.A. finals. The Lakers can’t always have shooters going 2 for 10 in repeat performances.

They could bring up Olivari from the G league to be the 4th guard and trade Hachimura, Vincent and DeAngelo Russell while they still have good value for a better shooting forward. Christian Koloko, a recent acquisition hasn’t played the past season and a half because of blood clots. Now that he’s recovered he might be a good center sharing the job with Jackson Hayes.

The President's Irrational Ukraine Policy

Nuclear weapons are an existential threat. Presidents are not welcome to egress toward the direction of nuclear war. It's just bad policy that could kill 200 million Americans. President Biden's Ukraine policy is worst case in economic development as well as security. He is not welcome to gamble American lives quite stupidly. He might get with war at best 50% of the economic benefit possible with peace and build long term global insecurity. He isn't competent. I haven't served in the military since the year the cold war ended. I cannot imagine rational people severing Crimea from Russia...that was an importunate misunderstanding of history that changed the world.

Christian and Secular Government misc

Regarding use of nukes in 1945: it wasn’t my choice. As with the impending Third World War, I would have tried different approaches to international relations that didn’t culminate in war. Pres Truman was elected by voters that didn't want more constituents to die if it wasn't necessary. Obviously I wasn’t involved then nor in the Vietnam conflict in making political decisions. Far beyond my social mileau. A post prompted me to reflect on the relationship between the sacred and the profane. Bill Clinton led the profane government for example rather than the sacred.

Augustine wrote about the City of God vs the city of Man. People often. They don't understand the circumstance of man with original sin that last throughout life...it's problematic in a thermodynamics field, and forgiveness of sin by the sacrifice of Jesus. The sin of Christians is covered by the shed blood of Jesus so God doesn't see it, yet while in the world Christians remain human and there is a conflict between the sacred and the profane where all humanity coheres. The profane don't have that conflict if unsaved. Presidents and other leaders revert to normal human conduct common to history when pressed, if they are even saved. The world always needs someone to blame... that's s.o.p. Finding Godly leaders to bring the world to Christ and his ethics when most of the world is lost isn't as easy as training a lion to be a vegetarian

Jesus said that in heaven people neither marry or are given in marriage. What is male and female except for sexual differences of beings for reproduction in a thermodynamics field? An eternal being, God isn’t likely to have a gender. He is in his own class; sui generis, Spirit. Jesus called him Father, and himself The Son. That is a relationship humans do not fully know. It’s easier to learn why gravity was the first force to go its own way after inflation.

Individuals are saved by Christ. All humans are subject to thermodynamics and all that means from energy input to procreation, greed, desire etc Corrupt or misunderstanding Christian leaders can support select secular government actions like war on occasion yet they are far better off simply doing what Jesus instructed in the Bible.

There has been a lot of political tragedy in the world. Secular governments with sovereignty in the west were nearly always independent of Christian leaders. Even the crusades were fought by kings not under direct subordination to a Pope or Protestant leaders. 

Was Pope Gregory right in motivating the crusades? He was not a general or ruler of nations that heeded his call. The crusades were a reaction to Muslim invasions of Europe on three fronts. Christians believe God can use secular governments to work his will yet like the free will debate no one can understand the criterion exhaustively.

Secular government leaders are glad to draw in anything that will bring them support. They haven’t over history required urging to increase political power, expand the realm or increase wealth.

God may try to improve the quality of secular governments over time evolving them in accord with a purpose.

King Leopold wasn’t a priest. Neither were Democrat Presidents Tuman, LBJ and Biden. Incidentally some say the Japanese nukes incentivized the Soviets not to continue west in 1945 to capture what Hitler lost. It was a tragic use of technology obviously. It spared 250 thousand US casualties invading Japan and possibly more in Europe. Entirely secular.

Individuals saved by Christ try to follow His way. Results on Earth may vary, though the grace of God moves them forward with eternal life transcending physical death. It isn’t about money though. Matthew 19:24 “And again I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God.”

An Appearance and Order of Fundamental Forces

I have considered an order of appearance of the fundamental forces recently. Gravity emerged first. One wonders why. It appeared after the inflation, and forces that permitted particles and matter afterward.  Gravity may have stopped inflation when it appeared and let inflation occur before it existed. Gravity may have been produced by inflation. It is interesting to consider the strong and electroweak force; with the latter further divided into electromagnetism, the weak force and the Higgs Field.

 The strong and weak forces  each appear when two-dimensional particles become entangled in the Higgs.  The strong and weak forces could be apparent rather than fundamental forces.

 It seems as if there is an underlying medium of the Universe continuing from the singularity that isn't gone and is not observable directly.

Gravity though was distributed evenly throughout space-time with inflation and might be like a dark energy cosmological constant trying to return spacetime totally to singularity. It was blown off first and is the weakest force, yet seems like an unwillingly detached property of the singularity.

All Life is Capitalist

Everything in nature is capitalist; they try to get more and expand...even amoeba and communists. Some self-aware primates aren't aware of thermodynamics. It's important for societies to direct that drive to expand into positive political channels letting sustainable development of everyone receive optimal opportunity.

Build Electro-Magnetic Fields From Earth to Proxima Centauri

When an electro-magnetic interplanetary module accelerator is built in the solar system travel will be much faster than with rockets. People could live about anywhere. Solarpumk habitas may fly out toward Proxima Centauri B at half the speed of light eventually. Converting Solar energized laser and particle beams to push charged spaceships, and draw them to places like Proxima in vast right wing emg fields energized with starlight could be free enterprise efforts in a century if humanity can survive till Jan 20, 2025.

Woke and Truth Theory

Axiology and other views need be subjectively held. That is one’s opinion is subjective. Truth theories too have a subjective metaphysical essence. The disquotation theory of truth is pragmatic. I would guess that woke is a package of political preferences more than a philosophical outlook, though the later may exist in an unrooted kind of way.

Does one need purple hair to be woke, and what about the challenges for people with significant hair loss? Maybe in accepting Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil Paradigm it should be remembered that Nietzsche may have been boosted there by an advanced stage of syphilis causing dementia.

There may be different categories of truth references. Disquotation theory can point to God as Truth in itself for example within a language list without disquotation theory being the same kind of truth.

Society requires objective rules to function well. So many people require traffic signals-even the woke, to go about their business and reduce unintended collisions.  Civil governance is required regardless of one’s opinion on truth theory. Democracy has an implicit pragmatic operating system that cannot withstand its abandonment for the notion that truth is subjective.

Einstein’s wild hair and relativity theory may have stimulated a cascade of woke emulators.  I believe that Einstein on truth theory might have opted in for an objective basis for space-time and said that human statements about it can be true or false.