Why Do Things Exist?
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that case, cannot be definite. If an object is definite, the identifying information
is provided by an observer able to deploy computational power in order to
produce the information. In order to select a particular object, an observer
must have an underlying purpose: It must have intentionality. What is true
for objects is likewise true of facts. If a certain fact holds true, one may ask,
“What fact is that?” A fact exists if it can be uniquely situated and its outlines
detailed.
Behind every shape or structure there must be purpose, and likewise, behind
every fact there must be purpose. In Chapter 6, I said: “A fact must be expressed
in a language, and it shares the scheme of segmentation which is built into the
language. The external world is a seething cauldron of activity where every
molecule is in continual random motion. What we take to be a fact is deeply
embedded in this maelstrom, and must be painstakingly and precisely cut
out by a living mind. In order for a fact to exist, it must be preceded by a
segmentation of the world into separate things, and requires a brain able to
extract it from the background in which it is immersed. Moreover, this brain
must have the power to conceive in Gestalts.”
In these words, then, it is asserted that actual facts do not exist contingently
or randomly in the universe, because a fact must be defined, cut out of the
ambient chaos with great precision, and this precise act is carried out by an
agent having a specific reason to do so.
The Mind in Physics : Quantum Bayesianism
The theory of quanta is in an existential crisis. It has been known for almost a
century that when a fundamental particle such as an electron is not observed,
it does not exist in the form of a material particle but as an abstract wave
of probabilities. Yet, the instant the same electron is observed, it springs into
reality as a material particle having a position, speed and direction of motion.
In physics this mystery is known as the measurement problem, or the problem
of the observer. This fact presents a huge dilemma not only for physics, but for
our very concept of how the world works—for it suggests that the conscious
mind has causal power over material phenomena.
For a hundred years physicist have brooded over this problem, and invented
all kinds of implausible solutions that might do away with the influence of
mind on subatomic events. But no matter how you cut it, the observer with a
mind is always present and cannot be abolished. All of these attempts were built
upon one reigning presupposition. It was assumed that there is an independent
141
that case, cannot be definite. If an object is definite, the identifying information
is provided by an observer able to deploy computational power in order to
produce the information. In order to select a particular object, an observer
must have an underlying purpose: It must have intentionality. What is true
for objects is likewise true of facts. If a certain fact holds true, one may ask,
“What fact is that?” A fact exists if it can be uniquely situated and its outlines
detailed.
Behind every shape or structure there must be purpose, and likewise, behind
every fact there must be purpose. In Chapter 6, I said: “A fact must be expressed
in a language, and it shares the scheme of segmentation which is built into the
language. The external world is a seething cauldron of activity where every
molecule is in continual random motion. What we take to be a fact is deeply
embedded in this maelstrom, and must be painstakingly and precisely cut
out by a living mind. In order for a fact to exist, it must be preceded by a
segmentation of the world into separate things, and requires a brain able to
extract it from the background in which it is immersed. Moreover, this brain
must have the power to conceive in Gestalts.”
In these words, then, it is asserted that actual facts do not exist contingently
or randomly in the universe, because a fact must be defined, cut out of the
ambient chaos with great precision, and this precise act is carried out by an
agent having a specific reason to do so.
The Mind in Physics : Quantum Bayesianism
The theory of quanta is in an existential crisis. It has been known for almost a
century that when a fundamental particle such as an electron is not observed,
it does not exist in the form of a material particle but as an abstract wave
of probabilities. Yet, the instant the same electron is observed, it springs into
reality as a material particle having a position, speed and direction of motion.
In physics this mystery is known as the measurement problem, or the problem
of the observer. This fact presents a huge dilemma not only for physics, but for
our very concept of how the world works—for it suggests that the conscious
mind has causal power over material phenomena.
For a hundred years physicist have brooded over this problem, and invented
all kinds of implausible solutions that might do away with the influence of
mind on subatomic events. But no matter how you cut it, the observer with a
mind is always present and cannot be abolished. All of these attempts were built
upon one reigning presupposition. It was assumed that there is an independent