Theory of Reality - Introduction

It's the dawn of a new year and we're feeling pretty ambitious, so we're going to embark on a series of articles that should provide a foundation for all other explorations or dialogs we may cover in this blog - we're going to define or perhaps redefine - reality.

First things first, it's important to note that we consider the Theory of Reality to be quantitatively different than the current crop of Theories of Everything floating around out there. Our goal with this attempt to define reality is not solve a particular challenge associated with current scientific theories - our goal rather is to challenge some basic assumptions and potentially influence the collective conceptual framework which may then lead more concrete proofs or applications. This is not meant to be scientific or perhaps even a Philosophy of Science related exercise - it is Philosophy at the macro level - we are in essence trying to "stir the pot" and act as a catalyst for something new and more interesting...

Reality is the starting point for all philosophy - so it naturally needs to be the starting point for Philosophy 2.0. As we progress though this exploration we will acknowledge our influences as well as some key concepts and thinkers who we don't agree with - we'll let you decide who makes more sense.

We'll mention also where we're coming from briefly - part of our inspiration for this approach or definition comes from our experience developing systems as well as complex systems of systems environments. Information Technology while borrowing from core scientific advances also represents an interesting playground for philosophical musings given the parallels between virtual or digital environments and physical ones.

So let's start at the highest level definition - Reality is that which defines you and that you define. It is both the medium and message. It is both particle and wave, both perception and physical response. Reality is duality but it is more. Reality is a universal interconnected, system but it is more. Reality is conscious realization and it is the potential of universal imagination, but it is more...

So we've established some interesting parameters here already:

• Reality is multidimensional.
• Reality is relative in perspective.
• Reality is pertinent in different ways at different levels of perception.
• Reality is both a conceptual and physical construct and both of those are interdependent on one another.
• Reality is flexible, fluid and in our case - expanding.
• Reality is collective, interactive and dynamic.

The most important thing that we haven't mentioned yet is this - reality is pattern-based and it is pattern-based out of necessity. The reason that this is the case makes sense once you think about it - the deliberate or even indirect engineering of anything at a discrete or individual level would be infinitely complex and ultimately chaotic. For compelx systems to develop, evolve and self-replicate they must be based entirely on patterns as well as the information needed to for those patterns to interface with one another. Both Quantum theory and Chaos theory tried to celebrate or institutionalize the notion that certain complex systems couldn't quantified - they were and are both wrong. What those theories represent are transitional states of understanding on our part - not incomprehensible systems in nature - but we'll discuss this contention in much greater depth later.

The key take-away here is this - any coherent and self sustainable system (of reality) that can function without collapse requires patterns and pattern generation capabilities. The deeper and perhaps meta-physical question here is where do all of those patterns come from? We will tackle that one also later on.

In Conclusion, our contention is that Reality represents an infinite collection of patterns within patterns (the collection is infinite, not the number of patterns which are relatively simple and limited) and is manifested real whenever any of those patterns becomes self-aware. We realize that part of this statement is fairly controversial and challenges of number of classical questions or assumptions in philosophy and we intend to address those - and yes - each of us is a self-aware collection of patterns.

The following articles will explore a number of the key issues brought up here and will include the following topics:

• A re-examination of Relativity.
• Gravity & Dark Matter.
  
• The Theory of Everything Conundrum.
• The Problem with Unified Field Theories.
• What About String Theory?
• What is wrong with the Scientific Method? (exposing its single and most obvious flaw)
  
• Why Quantum Theory has missed the mark.
• Why science can be only partially right and still function (to a point).
• Duality / Mind Body Questions.
• Chaos or Ignorance?
  
• The Jedi Way. (the inter-connected universe, shared reality)
  
• An Expanding Universe or Not.
  
• A New Framework for Philosophy & Science.
  
• A Fractal Reality.
• Collective Reality.
• Dynamic Reality.
• Reality Engineering.
  
• Practical Applications.
• Practical Proofs.
• System of System Theory.
  
• Thought Patterns and a New Information Theory.
  
• The Implications of our Theory of Reality?
  
• Where do the patterns come from?
  

We hope that you enjoy these articles and that they at least provoke some thoughts that you may not have otherwise considered. This is context writ large - the context within which all else can be fit and associated - as we will see context makes all the difference when dealing with reality. The other important aspect of reality, perhaps even the most important one is this - it is cannot ever be considered complete - because it evolves and will continue to evolve along with us. At any given instant - reality represents the sum of influences and understanding that we apply to it. This is why we say we define it as much as it defines us. Reality isn't so much changing in this view as it is literally expanding as our understanding of it grows and matures.

Thought, like the rest of nature or reality, is also comprised of patterns...



Copyright 2010, Stephen Lahanas

Thought Multipliers

There is a term used often in military circles these days, kind of a buzzword really, referred to as "Force Multipliers." The definition generally reads something like this:

"A capability that, when added to and employed by a combat force, significantly increases the combat potential of that force and thus enhances the probability of successful mission accomplishment." The Free Dictionary

I've always felt that this particular term has been a bit misdirected, I like the premise behind it but the military focus seems to have lessened its potential. What the term is trying to address of course is the synergistic effect through combinations of various factors or elements to produce a greater effect or impact than could have been achieved otherwise. Information Technology as an enabling infrastructure framework is often considered to be a Force Multiplier for the Department of Defense.

Force, or armed force is a relatively destructive activity though in this context. There is another way to view synergistic multiplication and that path is inherent within the construct of Philosophy 2.0. One of the interesting aspects of philosophy for me has been the more or less overwhelming focus on Philosophical output as opposed to Philosophical processes. For me at least, the road we take is often as interesting as the final destination if we can even assume there is a such a place. While there are many thinkers over the ages who've felt the same way, the tendency of most educational institutions is to contemplate their works rather than the journeys that led them to their insights.

And then there is the question, whose insights were they anyway? How we can we fairly disentangle the inspirations, influences and relationships that led to any one given revelation - did any one man alone achieve any one insight without the reliance on the works of others?

There is and always has been a good deal of ego associated with Philosophical achievement. Philosophers, at least in Western culture, tend to be viewed as singular intellects - the ultimate individualists, thinking thoughts apart from the crowd - leading them to enlightenment. One reason that we have depended so entirely on personalities over the ages has been the role that key individuals play in conducting and extending dialogs that stretched across many lifetimes. Even today, we can still dialog with Plato or Aristotle if we wish, for there is a community continuum inherent within our management of thoughts and ideas. The difference of course now is the phenomenal level of Democratization that has occurred, knowledge that was once reserved for a precious few has now been made available to all and more importantly than that - the mechanism to respond interactively with that knowledge has been made nearly universially accessible.

Thought Multiplication has always occurred, it's how we built the more complex from the less complex, it's how we collectively expand our cultural knowledgebase, but until this century its velocity was limited by a number of barriers and constraints. The first speed bump was removed when writing was invented, another dropped away with the invention of the printing press - each major technological advance led to further increases in velocity until - the barrier was broken. That barrier was the "Real-Time Collective Thought Barrier." Even though most of the dialog doesn't actually occur in real time (it's still mostly asynchronous) the ability to merge thought and data real time in collaboration has changed the landscape and led us into new territory. A dialog that before took centuries, years or weeks to conduct now can happen instantly with participants across the globe. This is Thought Multiplication empowered - the promise of spontaneously evolving cradles of creativity - the ability to leverage brainpower on scales never before attempted.

Like all things new - we are still stumbling around trying to find our "legs." The major remaining speed bumps are internal. We are still conditioned to absorb and reflect the knowledge of great thinkers rather than express thoughts through our own lens. Education as we know it will need to change in order to fully exploit Thought Multiplication, but when it does what might we expect from the creative force that could be unleashed:

• The ability for humans to solve a series of problems that have seemed impossible on an increasing / exponential scale.

• The ability to redefine our collective self image. Put simply, this refers to us finally escaping the patterns of previous cultural expression (or history).

• The ability to understand the nature of thought and its relationship with reality (the ultimate, oldest philosophical question of them all).
  

Much of what will result may be hard to predict, as it is likely that this application of collective potential will produce many results that we simply can't see from our current perspective.

Copyright 2008, Stephen Lahanas

Welcome to Philosophy 2.0

Welcome to the Philosophy 2.0 Blog. Just when you thought they had run out of things to add a 2.0 to, we're throwing the most venerable topic of all into the Cyberspace continuum. By that we don't mean that the Internet is merely making Philosophy more accessible than it's ever been before - that we are already knew. What Philosophy 2.0 connotes is the rather startling fact that the nature of Philosophy is poised for its most fascinating excursion since the Ancient Greeks questioned the universe and remade it.

The Internet is more than a knowledge explosion, more than a research cornucopia, more than a place to chat and message one another - it is indeed the world's largest most diverse and most vibrant collective community ever created. Philosophy 2.0 is the realization of global potential, the ability to merge real-time with eternity, the marriage of creativity with all foundations simultaneously. We didn't make it here all at once and we're not nearly as far as we think we are - but the journey has passed a crossroads and we have arrived in a new heretofore undiscovered country.

As we survey this new world of opportunity, we must remember that it is and will remain the single greatest tool for good and positive deeds the human race has ever seen and we must endeavor to keep focused always on that path.

In the Philosophy 2.0 Blog we will explore the full range of traditional Philosophical questions - those great and small, we will then track the our global thought process as it accelerates exponentially over the next few years. We will watch as collective problem solving communities emerge and begin to tackle the greatest challenges the planet has yet faced - Philosophy 2.0 is here and it came just in the nick of time, never had we needed this potential more.

I hope you enjoy this Blog and I for one look forward to a future where ideas become mankind's most valued currency...

Copyright 2008, Stephen Lahanas