Lessons on Causality

Philosophy Forums Philosophy
101

Definition - “Existence” is that which has affect. If it has affect upon anything, it exists. If it has no affect upon anything, it doesn’t exist.

And “objective” merely means that it has affect whether I am cognizant of it or not. Whether I could prove if something is having affect doesn’t alter whether it is having affect. Whether I believe that something is having affect doesn’t alter whether it is having affect. And whether I even know the concept of it doesn’t alter whether it is having affect.

102

Some questions:

  1. Is there a motivational causation, as Husserls put it.
  2. What is the difference between the Performance (Butler) and the causation; are there myths of the given in causation, which vanishes with Performance?
  3. What are statistical regularities: abbreviations of causation? Or another model of reasoning?
103

That’s not what existence is. “Existence” is quite simply a word we assign to the group of assumptions that we consider to be correct. That’s all it is. For example, there are currently no trees within my field of view. Nonetheless, I think that at this very point in time there is a tree in my garden. In other words, I categorize this tree, which is nothing more than just an imagination in my head, as “existent”. You can say I am placing it in the group that is labelled “existence” instead of placing it in the group that is labelled “non-existence”. And I am doing so by employing induction which itself employs what of my personal experience remains in my memory. The choice to categorize this imagination as “existent” rather than as “non-existent” is not random – in this particular case. And it is certainly not “subjective” i.e. it is not a product of my desires. It is simply a product of induction. And the reason we do such categorizations is in order to determine which ideas will inform our actions and which won’t.

This is important because things can exist without being affected by something else and without affecting something else.

Affectance is just a fancy term for action. And causation.
It is closely related to inter-action which is its complex variant.

What does it mean for A to affect B?
At its core, what it means is that changing A changes B.
In statistics, this is known as correlation.
Affectance, causation, etc is just a specific type of correlation.
You can also say that it is a specific type of relation between objects of experience.
Yes, it is something that is contained within our experience.
So if you say that experience is subjective then you must say that affectance, causation, etc is also subjective.

104

Affectance is just a fancy term for action. And causation.
It is closely related to inter-action which is its complex variant.

What does it mean for A to affect B?
At its core, what it means is that changing A changes B.
In statistics, this is known as correlation.
Affectance, causation, etc is just a specific type of correlation.
You can also say that it is a specific type of relation between objects of experience.
Yes, it is something that is contained within our experience.
So if you say that experience is subjective then you must say that affectance, causation, etc is also subjective.
[/quote]
So affection is a term which states motivational causality. And causality is a Special case of correlation. We are motivated in the case of correlation and causation. For example: I choose this cake which is nearly the same as that from my grandmother. And: I am motivated to eat it,

105

Yes, just as physical forces affect objects and cause action, so too do those same forces cause and affect biology and human behaviors. Gravity acts on both rock and mammal alike. Biological organisms have survival instincts and avoid falls from extreme heights, causing pain or death. Thus the ‘causes’ of organic life are much more complex than how gravity acts upon a rock. A rock does not have a survival instinct. A rock is not an organism.

Life complicates causality because life has evolved intelligence. Life represents a sophistication and specialization of causes, fragmenting causes within biology, beginning with the genetic survival instinct/impulse. Thus a core, or the core motivation of life, is to survive, first and foremost.

Clarify these questions for me, they sound like college classroom questions. What is a “myth of the given in causation” and “statistical regularities”? The former sounds to me like regular human expectation. People assume things, behaviors, reactions, movements, forces, about existence, although people are sometimes wrong. There’s a difference between intuiting causes “knowing a cause” versus hypothetical cause. The latter sounds like mere probability. As mentioned in the thread already, randomness does not necessarily disprove Causality. Randomness and chaos only prove human ignorance, and how intelligence attempts to make sense of existence, and predict outcomes of events.

Prediction is a process of identifying patterns in existence, regular patterns can lead to what humanity determines as the ‘cause’ to distinct events, actions, behaviors, etc.

106

You are claiming that assumptions > Existence, which is wrong. Existence does not bend and move according to what a person assumes. Rather what a person assumes, depends on existence.

Existence is the predicate, not the conclusion. Existence > assumptions. Existence exists before assumptions. Whatever a person can possibly presume, depends on existence first.

It is only ever the things that humans claim “does not exist” that demonstrate the basis for such assumptions.

In other words, put simply for you, whatever exists or does not exist (nothing), does not require your perception, your “permission” to exist.

107

Humans have evolved a distinct ‘direction’ and “motion” of time, based on abrahamic (christian, jew, muslim) indoctrination. There is the “past, present, and future”. The past is set in stone. You “cannot change the past”. Thus the past is immutable. The present is changing now. And the future is even more chaotic and unpredictable, representing the highest amount of change and fluctuation. So to put it simply, this ‘linear’ notion of time is as follows: past is least changing (absolutely still) versus future which is most changing (absolutely random).

Thus humanity has imaginations of causes. The causes of the past cannot be changed, thus they are easier to know and accept. Knowledge depends on the past, on past experiences, on memories, etc. Furthermore with abrahamic indoctrination, humans tend to believe that there is some “absolute cause, absolute beginning” of the universe and everything. Modern liberal-leftists call it the “Big Bang Theory” which is a copy, a secularized form (Newspeak) of Catholicism. Catholicism is built on universalism, the ideal that “all begins from one thing”, or “All begins from God”, or simply “God caused all to exist”, Creationism.

Creationism and “The Big Bang Theory” are the same thing.

Humans are simple animals and require simplifications of complex phenomenon, even if it’s false, or especially if it’s false. Therefore it doesn’t really matter, to anybody, that the universe has a beginning or First Cause. Instead people have an instinct to feel safe and secure. And because of this instinct (to cling to safety), people cling to the premise of an absolute cause and order. Thus average people cling to Big Bang Theory or Creationism (same premise). They believe that “the universe must have a cause” otherwise nothing would make sense. This is only half-true. Yes nothing can be made sense of without “first causes”.

But the largest logical and intellectual error is that “all causes lead to a shared beginning”. Or that there must be “One Cause” for everything, the universe, existence.

To some, to most, the fact that much of the past remains ‘unknown’ is deeply unsettling, and they would rather cling to a lie than to explore the aspects of the past (or even the present or future), which are disturbing.

Thus the point I’m making here, is that much of Causality and Causation does revolve around human emotions, and what people would prefer to believe, what is emotionally soothing, rather than premises which directly admit that “we don’t know shit about anything”. Again, it’s deeply unsettling to admit that “we simply don’t know” about primary causes. And because we don’t know much about the past, logically, we won’t know much about the future either.

Any knowledge and predictability of the future directly corresponds with knowledge and memorization of the past. Humanity, or any evolved biology, uses knowledge gained from experience, of the past, to adapt to the present environment, and gamble on future changes to that environment, and other environments.

108

You were doing okay up to there.

“A” affecting “B” means that A changes B through time. It doesn’t mean that when A changes, B also changes nor that when B changes, A also changes (“correlation”). So from there on out, you argument is void.

Close enough.

A very specific case, that of a 100% time related correlation.

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But I agree with you there insofar as the infinite goes. This is what I was trying to say. Urwrong seems to think that you can draw a circle around a hexagon (I think it was a hexagon) and come up with a circle.

But can we actually say that a circle has infinite sides since being infinite means that it IS limitless and non-ending?
You cannot say the same of a rectangle or hexagon or square, can you? You can see where one begins and one ends, even though each beginning point is also an ending point.

Everything is about perception.

How many different causes might come up about an automobile accident? We all look through different lens and interpret things differently.

110

Nope, it isn’t void.
You are not paying enough attention.

Change is a difference between two adjacent points in time. Thus, it is redundant to say that A changes B through time. It’s enough to say that A changes B. But what does this mean? It means that B changes. It is easy to understand what it means for B to change. It means that when you compare an earlier state of B with a later state of B that there is a difference between the two states. That’s what it means for B to change. However, A changes B means more than that. It means that + something else. And this something else is that B changes in response to, or due to, A. And what this “in response to” or “due to” means? It means that B changes when A changes. So yes, A changes B is a form of correlation. This does not mean it is ANY kind of correlation. It simply means that, at its base, it is correlation. So you’re wrong.

Let me give you an example. We’re going to use strings composed of characters A, B and - to represent a configuration of space at a point in time. The size of the space will be 4 i.e. there will be exactly 4 positions in space. A and B will represent matter and - will represent void.

Consider the following information:

A - - B

  • A - B
    • A B
    • A B

Each row represents one point in time. The first row represents the first point in time and the last row represents the last point in time. Each row also represents space of size 4.

A and B have only one property that can change and this property is their position in space. Thus, the only kind of change they can exhibit is that of motion since motion is change in position in space.

We can notice that A is moving (i.e. its position is changing with every subsequent point in time) and that it is moving towards B, which is resting in place, and that it stops once it reaches the position that is adjacent to B. At this point in time, with the information that we have, we cannot determine whether A decides “on its own” to stop moving once it gets near B or whether it is “forced” or “caused” to stop by B. We need more information.

Consider the following information:

A - - B

  • A - B
    • A B
    • A B

A - B -

  • A B -
  • A B -
  • A B -

A B - -
A B - -
A B - -
A B - -

This sort of information suggests that B “forces” or “causes” or “affects” A to stop. In other words, B acts upon A by halting its movement. We can conclude this because changing B (its position) changes A (the position at which it stops moving.) In other words, because the position at which A stops is a function of position of B.

We can call it “halt” pattern. I can also demonstrate “push” pattern (A displacing B by moving into it) and “pull” pattern (A attracting B i.e. making it move towards itself.) I can also demonstrate inter-action in the form of “collision” pattern. But are these really necessary?

The point is that these are higher level concepts. They are extracted from experience. They do no underlie experience. Experience is not dependent on any of these patterns. It can live perfectly without them. And as experience changes, and as it changes according to the will of nature, which does not have to obey any structure, we would do well to be prepared to adapt accordingly.

111

I suspect the reverse, but…

It is obviously not enough when the person has conflated correlation with causation.

Yes, I think that we all knew that.

Well congratulations, you just confirmed what I had said.

And now you screwed up.

The Sun affects the growth of the flower - “A affects B”.

So does that mean the flower’s growth changes the Sun? Obviously not.
Does it mean that the Sun changes and thus affects the flower? No, it doesn’t. Whether the Sun changes has nothing to do with the claim.

Since what I said was:

… obviously your accusation is wrong.

Your example was irrelevant to the issue. You seem to be arguing on my side rather than against me.

But then again, you are seriously in error about that. Without causation, the brain itself could not function, much less any mental talent.

I had asked you a related question, twice. You haven’t answered.
Do you believe that something can come from nothing?

112

A circle has NO “straight sides”.

An integral is used in calculus to calculate the circumference by assuming that there are sides and then calculating as if there are an infinity of infinitely small sides. The problem is that infinitely small sides was just a tool to use in the calculation process. It works only because infinitely small is close enough to zero to allow the integral to produce a precise answer.

But the real question is resolved only by the definitions involved, not the tools that mathematicians use to calculate measurements. And the definition of a circle forbids any straightness at all, as in zero straight sides.

113

Yes, you suspect that. But you’re wrong.

I am not conflating them. And yes, it’s enough.

I didn’t confirm what you said.

And I didn’t screw up.

No, it does not. It was never implied.

Yes, it does mean that the Sun changes. But not in the way that you think. You are the one who is confused here. If you want, I can explain it to you all. But given how little patience you have, I don’t think that you want it. In fact, I don’t think it’s realistic to expect that you would understand anything.

The degree to which plants grow changes in response to a change in one of the parameters of the Sun – its position in space. If you change the position of the Sun by placing it far away from the Earth, you can be sure that plants will stop growing. And if you revert it back to the original position, you can be sure that plants will start growing once again.

What EXACTLY is your problem?
You enjoy pretending that you have no problems.
And you enjoy projecting them onto others.
Your job description.

Very relevant.
It is an imagination in your head that argues on your side.

That’s not true.

You ask IRRELEVANT questions.
When someone asks me an irrelevant question, I ignore them.

114

My “problem” is that you seem to not be able to read.

… not to mention avoiding answering direct questions.

115

I think Performance with Butler in Wikipedia:

The myth of the given is the experience, that new structures and concepts in science Comes to us like an unconscious process. An alternative model of this is to deduce natural relation as in Schelling or Hegels philosophy of nature. My questions didn’t arise from an academic Situation like a Seminar. It is my way of thinking. Performance of gender is in opposite to the myth of the given in biological gender. The last is a category of causality.

116

James,

Precisely - and doing the reverse of what Unwrong did - he drew a circle around the hexagon, showing how it could then become a circle, does not quite cut it. Yes, in Kindergarten it might. lol

This is what we humans do with belief and assumption - we draw our own little lines in order to create what we feel to be reality - yet isn’t very often.

I’m no mathematician but I do understand this.

Well, it is a good thing to be able to stretch our minds by seeing a thing in more than one way.
I tend to be a stubborn literalist at times.

“All things are subject to interpretation. Whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche

That too. Freddie

There are all kinds of personal lessons to be learned on how we tend to view things to the exclusion of other ways in which to view things.

117

Clarification:

I did NOT draw a circle around the DECAGON. I found images of many sided shapes and that one of the decagon was the best one available.

If I find a shape with 24 sides then it only serves my point better that a many-sided shape becomes ‘circular’ as it increases in sides.

118

Something can be infinite within a finite space. For example there are an infinite number of numbers between I and 2 as many real numbers have decimal
places extending to infinity. And so a circle has an infinite number of sides even though it is a finite shape of finite dimension. If it did not have an infinite
number of sides then it would not be a circle as not every point on the circumference would be equidistant from the centre. Since that is how it is defined

119

“All things are subject to interpretation.”

You’re wrong. Arc, like Magnus, you cannot hide behind petty quotes of philosophers, without context, and then falsely believe you’re making some kind of grand point or counter-argument. You’re not. First of all, all things are NOT subject to interpretation, as if, interpreting something differently changes the thing. It does not. If you “interpret” a rock as a piece of fruit, and try to bite it, then that’s your prerogative and error. Your interpretation, does not change the rock into a piece of fruit.

How you FEEL does not change reality. Rather it merely identifies emotions and the causes which triggered them, in your environment. How you FEEL is relatively powerless. Unless you have strength, conviction, willpower, your feelings are “equal” to the feelings of an infant or child. Feelings do almost nothing, within reality. Instead, it is action and cause that affects and interacts with reality.

How you BEHAVE is the interpretation. What you ACTUALLY DO is the point. Not words, not imagination, not pretense, not feeling. None of that matters, really. It’s light, like air, weightless, no force or power behind it.

The point about interpretation is that intelligent people, who are rarer, interpret reality more correctly and accurately than others. But accurate interpretation of reality requires COURAGE. It requires opening up to the possibility of being wrong, being mistaken, and being humiliated, publicly too. Like how Magnus can be publicly humiliated for claiming there are “uncaused” events, without then immediately providing examples of what he’s talking about. Like how you Arcturus can be publicly humiliated for not knowing the definition of a circle, or that a shape with 1000 sides is equivalent to what people perceive as a “circle” although it technically has many sides, edges, ridges, and is imperfect.

Reality is imperfect. The human mind, and other brains of mammals, has a cognitive program that “fills in the gaps” of imperfections. It’s a mental, cognitive blind-spot, no different than blind-spots in vision.

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This is a 1000-sided shape by the way:

Is it a “circle” yet or do I need to show you a 1,000,000 sided shape to end your rebellion of errors?