Through the lens of humanity

[2PhiloVoid]

Pardon me, I just would hate anyone to slide off the edge into "...trying to deny God's promise in the Bible of punishment for their wicked lifestyles" which we hear so much of in these forums.

Anything is possible, especially if "sliding off the edge" is defined by what's on someone else's dinner plate rather than our own.

 

[AV1611VET]

I think it may have been Mortimer Wheeler who suggested that when we look at the universe it is the universe which is looking at itself through our eyes.

I'm wondering:

If that's the case, then when we talk to the universe, is it the universe talking to itself?

 

[sjastro]

John Archibald Wheeler did not believe in pantheism or panpsychism but was a cosmologist addressing the philosophical question of the role of the observer in Quantum Mechanics.

According to Quantum Mechanics the observer can be my telescope/CCD combination which took this image of the Hydra Galaxy Cluster.

Wheeler came up with the “It from Bit” idea where all physical things ultimately emerge from information where in this case the observer (the human) makes sense of the information in the image by producing a software program that is able to annotate the image and identify all the galaxies in the image by their NGC, IC and PGC numbers. Stars are identified by their TYC numbers.

This raises an interesting question what happens if the observer happens to be AI?
I asked ChatGPT to annotate the image giving it zero prior information.

​

It is impressive ChatGPT correctly identified the image from nothing despite the annotation being hopelessly wrong including objects that do not appear in the original image, one would expect this deficiency to disappear with advancements in supervised and unsupervised machine learning.
It reinforces the issue the observer doesn't have to be a conscious being.

​

 

[Meowzltov]

I think it may have been Mortimer Wheeler who suggested that when we look at the universe it is the universe which is looking at itself through our eyes.

Is this just a whimsical observation with no testable consequenses as to its veracity?

Can anything more be said around that observation or is it just a "take it or leave it" statement ?

This reminds me of a quote of Delenn from Babylon 5 (my fav sci fi tv show). "We are starstuff, we are the universe made manifest, trying to figure itself out. "

 

[AV1611VET]

This reminds me of a quote of Delenn from Babylon 5 (my fav sci fi tv show). "We are starstuff, we are the universe made manifest, trying to figure itself out. "

Appropriate name for that show.

 

[essentialsaltes]

This reminds me of a quote of Delenn from Babylon 5 (my fav sci fi tv show). "We are starstuff, we are the universe made manifest, trying to figure itself out. "

'Starstuff' is one of Carl Sagan's phrases.

“The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.”​

 

[AV1611VET]

'Starstuff' is one of Carl Sagan's phrases.

“The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.”​

According to the Bible, the universe is anxiously awaiting the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

Paraphrased as:

Romans 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the [universe] waiteth for the [return of Jesus Christ].
20 For the [universe] was [cursed with entropy, not by design], but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
21 Because the [universe] also shall be delivered from [entropy] into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation [groans under the state of decay] together until now.

QV please:

 

[2PhiloVoid]

I think it may have been Mortimer Wheeler who suggested that when we look at the universe it is the universe which is looking at itself through our eyes.

Is this just a whimsical observation with no testable consequenses as to its veracity?

Can anything more be said around that observation or is it just a "take it or leave it" statement ?

It's just a whimsical take it or leave it statement. I choose to leave it.