Philosophical musings on Quanta & Qualia;  Materialism & Spiritualism; Science & Religion; Pragmatism & Idealism, etc.

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 Post 57. November 15, 2018

    The Human Dilemma

    Entropy, Extropy or Enformy?

 In his recent book, Heavens on Earth, Michael Shermer said, "the Second Law of Thermodynamics leads to the First Law of Life, which is to get your life in order". For that purpose, he proposed the philosophy of Extropianism1, which is a key concept from the ideology of Transhumanism. In a Skeptic Magazine article, Shermer offered the technological optimism of Extropy as an alternative to Jordan Peterson's more tragic heroic stance in 12 Rules For Life, An Antidote to Chaos. The human dilemma ackowledged by both authors is the same : if humanity were to passively acquiesce to Fate, the world would soon revert to a state of nature, "red in tooth and claw". Some people think that would be preferable to the mess that human intervention has gotten us into. But when God created his earthly Paradise, he made a man from clay "and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it." [Gen. 2:9,10,15] That's because the pastoral environment that humans find pleasant tends to revert to tangled jungle or thorny wilderness in the absence of human husbandry.

So, both Peterson and Shermer seem to agree that "If you do nothing, entropy will take its course and you will move toward a higher state of disorder (ultimately causing your demise). So your most basic purpose in life is to combat entropy by doing something extropic . . ." [Heavens on Earth] What Shermer optimistically calls "Extropy", as a positive alternative to Entropy, is similar to my own coinage of "Enformy"2. But the GOOGLE Dictionary defines Extropy as : "the pseudoscientific principle that life will expand indefinitely and in an orderly, progressive way throughout the entire universe by the means of human intelligence and technology." Which implies that Entropy is a pragmatic scientific law, while Extropy is an idealistic religious fantasy.

Any optimistic interpretation of Evolution's disregard for human needs and desires is dismissed by Atheists as wishful nonsense. They may agree that humanity has somehow evolved the pragmatic power to impose human intentions on Nature's aimless ways. But, the notion that evolution has any design or purpose is deemed to be religious propaganda, projecting human desires onto a mindless mechanism. Never-theless, as an open-minded Agnostic, Shermer goes on to say, "in this sense, evolution granted us a purpose-driven life by dint of the laws of nature". That may sound suspiciously like attributing intention to nature's blind meanderings. Yet, I agree with Shermer that Enformy is essentially a law of nature that has been overlooked until recently, when the Information Age turned the focus of Science onto the essential patterns and immaterial codes that make nature, and culture, meaningful. How a trend toward order came to be embodied in Nature's mechanics is a mystery that has heretofore been left to unscientific theological and philosophical speculation.

The article about "Rules for Life" raised the perennial dilemma that humanity has faced since the beginning of civilization, with its inherent compartmentalization of functions. As deep thinkers have rediscovered in each generation, there is no single simple solution to the problems caused by our binary human nature3. Usually, it’s best to be both Reasonable & Emotional, both Rational & Intuitive, both Optimistic & Pessimistic. In other words, any set of rules for guiding your life should aim for the Goldilocks “just right” warmth instead of the 3 Bears’ excesses of “Too Hot” and “Too Cold”.

Post 57 continued . . . click Next

1. Extropianism :
   an "evolving framework of values and standards for continuously improving the human condition".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extropianism

2. Enformy :
   A minor trend in evolution that works counter to Entropy, allowing order & organisms to emerge despite the dominant tendency to revert to chaos.
http://blog-glossary.enformationism.info/page8.html

Entropy = Nature; thermodynamics

Extropy = Culture; technology

Enformy = Nature is the mother of Culture; they work together toward teleology

Enformy is the “Ghost in the Machine”

3. BothAnd Dilemma :
   Binary human nature – animal motives & rational choices – allows us to navigate a course between the Sirens of Good and the rocky shoals of  Evil. But long experience indicates that the least bad solution and the safest good option is usually in the middle range of moderation between extremes.
  Fixed Rules for Life can never fit all situations. But Wise Character adapts to changing conditions.
   There is no perfect answer to these common dilemmas :

When to be . . .
• General vs Specific
• Figurative vs Literal
• Typical vs Targeted
• Synthetical vs Analytical
• Holistic vs Particular

When to prefer . . .
• Ideal vs Real
• Left vs Right
• Liberal vs Conservative
• Individualism vs Tribalism
• Reasons vs Feelings
• Self vs Others

   The BothAnd principle endorses general Wisdom instead of specific Rules.

Have Archetype — Will Travel
The Jordan Peterson Phenomenon
By Michael Shermer

https://www.skeptic.com/reading_room/have-archetype-will-travel-jordan-peterson-phenomenon/