Appreciating the Physical Reality ~ Human Mindscape divide

edited November 5, 2021

I believe, consciousness, “mind,” can’t be understood by studying modern people in these modern times.  It requires an evolutionary perspective of the natural, biological forces at work in concert with geologic processes that produced creature that eventually evolved into us.  It me it seems rather self-evident that our current masterpiece body/mind is the result of hundreds of millions of experiments, untold iterations unfolding over an unimaginable expanse of seasons and generations.  

So how can we ponder the human brain and mind without appreciating how it evolved out of the mammalian body plan and life style.

A couple years ago I realized that for all the talk about body-mind, consciousness, perception, reality, or no reality, there’s a most fundamental divide, that I believe, needs to be explicitly enunciated and thought about.  A prerequisite before anything else can really start to make sense. 

Physical Reality is the physical world of atoms, molecules, universal laws of physics and Earth’s laws of nature.  It is Earth’s dance between geology and biology and time and Earth's evolving creatures, (and one in particular that learned to contemplate the universe and its short life), along with everything else around us.

Human Mindscape is all that goes on inside of our minds.  The landscape of your thoughts and desires and impulses and those various voices and personalities who inhabit our thoughts.  The ineffable ideas that our hands can turn into physical creations, that changed our planet.  

Philo+Sophia, Love of Wisdom, A Student Resource

We’ll finish my Hoffman's, Case Against Reality, review project, 'Playing Basketball in Zerogravity' with a look at the serious side of philosophy.  It seems only fair considering some of my wise ass remarks in previous segments.

I’ll admit to having issues with the showboats who demonstrate little respect for honesty, and constructive learning.  As for serious philosophy, that I can relate to on a personal homegrown level.  

That’s why I’m grateful to Lausten over at CFI for sharing a genuinely insightful talk by Richard Carrier, explaining what philosophy was, is and isn’t.  I’ve rerun it a couple times and it keeps improving.  It's a wonderfully fitting closing segment for this review, and I hope Skepticon doesn’t mind me sharing some of Carrier's posters. 

For the complete set see, RichardCarrier.info/philosophy.

HamboneProductions

Skepticon

Earth Centrism = Geocentrism. Seriously ?

Since you still sound confused about what I’m trying to enunciate, allow me to review what the term “Earth Centrism” actually means.

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That video is almost a year old, the following post started over at the Center For Inquiry discussion Forum but since it provides me such a splendid opportunity to try and get through, I'm using it as a seed for the following clarification.  If you’re still confused please leave a question or serious comment, I’ll be happy to respond. 

Quoting me:  

CC-v.3 said; “What’s my problem?  Guess it’s the pompousness of that title that got under my skin: “Physicality” "

{ That is, totally climbing into his mindscape believing he’s a genius mathematician.  His bellybutton gazing irritated me and I lashed out.  Why?  Because it’s long past time to get real and focus on the physicality of this planet that provides our life support systems.  

The physicality that we are destroying just a fast as our little hands will allow.}

Guess that’s what comes from being an ardent Earth Centrist.

W4U responds with:  “You may want to be careful with that analogy.  I’m not certain what you mean by that. And here is the reason why. “Geocentrism - Crackpot Theory?” ”  

{Playing Devil’s Advocate my long time CFI pal offers up this bizarre YouTube video, “Geocentrism - Crackpot Theory?” between a fatima.org guy, Chris Ferrara interviewing Robert Sungenis, whom I had to look up.  He’s known for being into “Catholic apologetics”.  

In others, words a god fearing religious guy - ergo, someone consumed within his Mindscape.  

Considering the most fundamental Cosmic Truth

There is Physical Reality following the Arrow of Time.

We can clearly see that expressed in Evolution’s pageant upon this most unique planet.

Earth's Evolution has, when taken as a whole, been an unrelenting drive towards ever greater cognition and manipulatory abilities, it has crawled back from every setback, adapted, thrived till conditions radically changed again.

This Evolutionary drive created humans during this particularly benign Era in Earth’s ever evolving biosphere.

Emergence is Inherent in Evolution

Four limbs forced the creation of new areas of the brain and new awarenesses.  All the way up to a brain that could observe, learn, remember, reflect and mull over observations combined with memories.  Then communicate those personal thoughts to other brains, then pass those memories onto generations long after it dies and goes away.

In humans, evolution found its most spectacular emergent property yet, the crown jewel of Life’s long striving.  That is, our Mindscape.  

Our mind’s increasing ability to focus on observations: watching, cataloguing, listening to that something inside, that's constantly chattering away to whatever part of our brain is hearing it.  All the while striving to make sense of itself, it’s own inevitable death, its place in the world, and the world in general.

This emergent something in our brain created a self-aware mind, or more accurately, Our Mindscape.  The home of all our thoughts and feelings, fears and convictions.  Something unique in Earth’s Evolution.

Ergo, we can break down human reality to two fundamentals:

The realm of "Physical Reality", and the realm of our "Human Mindscape."

I also believe, none of us can really understand the rest of our world without first coming to terms with and absorbing that simple fundamental “Truth” in one way or other.

      

Reaching back to my essay:

…  Science was so successful that today all too many people believe we are the masters of our world and too many have fallen into the hubristic trap of believing our ever fertile mindscape is reality itself.  Thus the endless reams of fruitless dialogue, where learning is the last thing too many care about.

Which brings me back to Gould’s missing key.

Citizenschallenge, why are you an Earth Centrist?

First there was a lifetime of living and absorbing lessons, then there was an essay, then there was an invitation to give a talk, then the challenge to inject some relevant bio and double the essay into 20 minutes that hold the audience's attention, okay can do, at least I’ll try.   

Then the skeptics’ group that invited me imploded.   

So it goes. 

Life is busy and now the script sits here, I like it, though I keep tinkering with it. Guess foremost it’s a continuing education project for me.  Still now with spring loading me up with chores and distractions I want to do something with it. So, I’m putting it out here and I invite thoughtful responses.

{For a fun distraction, any Bluegrass fans out there? }

Rational comments, pro, con, observational, are all welcome, nonsense will be ignored.  Thoughtful will be respected and posted no matter what it says.   

Hello, my name is Peter Miesler and I am an Earth Centrist,

… and I admit, I’m hoping you’re wondering what in the world is that and why on Earth should you care.

I even spent a couple weeks last year writing an essay describing this particular perspective.  It turned out pretty good, it was tight, flowed well, told a good story that held attention and people liked reading it.

I sent it around, even received a couple attaboys from some genuine science Who’s Who, who are usually silent, which did me a bit of good.  I’m not the crazy one after all.  :-)  I have enunciated something valuable.  But that was about it, then a return to the good 'ol sound of one hand clapping.

© Steven Orfield 

https://www.orfieldlabs.com/sorfield.html

When reading it to friends, though they listened with interest, it left them a bit perplexed rather than enlightened.  Okay? Fun interesting read, now what am I supposed to do with it?  What is it actually about?  And so on.  In responding I was down to, ‘it’s about perspectives and how we process the information that’s flowing through our senses.’  

Thinking on it some more I know that it's about much more than that.  It's about grasping for an appreciation of DeepTime, Evolution, and the dance of life and geology that created this world we were born out of and will die back into.  Something that offers individuals a path to understanding their own place in time and the universe within a sane reality based over-arching perspective.

Something that offers peace in the face of our individual mortality and that eternal question of “Why?”.

Something that offers spiritual fulfillment through a visceral appreciation for how time and life on this Pale Blue Dot created us and this world we inhabit today and will return to upon finishing our short dance across life’s stage.  Why isn't that cosmic gift enough?

Something that can offer rationalists and atheists a sense of our own spiritual fulfillment - in contrast to the faith-shackled's nonstop trumpeting about praising EGO and being intolerant towards others.  

Something that offers us Children of the Intellectual Enlightenment the inner moral foundation and spiritual fortitude to step up and lovingly, constructively, challenge and confront those sad brainwashed souls eye to eye.  

All of us have them in our lives, why not discover ways to ask them how they live with the cognitive dissonance inherent within their “my way only” religions? 

Maybe slow down those self-certain ME FIRST Trumpkins from steamrolling rationalists into oblivion.  Listen to them, lordie knows it's what they’re dreaming of doing.  We had better stop ignoring that or a genuine horrendous civil war will unfold in parts of our country.  They haven’t been stocking piling those straw men and contrived angry passions and weapons and ammo for nothing! (4/3/19)  But I digress.

Before I get to the Earth Centrism, I think I need to look at some of the origins of my own individual perspective.  After all, give the same book to a dozen readers of diverse backgrounds, …  

f) Considering the Missing Key to Gould’s “Nonoverlapping Magisteria”

... and this one was the climax of my journey.  Doesn't matter much that few seem to get it or care, this one is my gem.  The culmination of my heroic introspective journey.  See, I was a genuine dharma bum, as a young man I threw myself to experiencing life and the road, the wind and my own wits.  Been able to walk in many shoes for a distance, known many beautiful people and have enjoyed many wonderful discussions, seen many ups and downs.  Back in those 70s, 80s our country wasn't so scared and angry.  Being of poor but healthy honest stock people hired me, so I had opportunities to work many diverse jobs and live many experiences over the succeeding decades.    Considering the odds I've had a great ride.  

I'm a bonafide student of the University of Life you could say.  Among my early professors were a parade of enthusiastic research librarians before the days of personal computers.   Next to living, there was keeping up on science news and proactively researching things that interested me and since understanding myself and the entire Earth and her story interested me, it's been a busy life.  I dare say I've been attentive to every day, good and bad.  These days I'd label myself an Earth Centrist and I've accumulated some deep understanding.  Here I was finally able to summarize it in a way that feels complete and that opens whole new vistas for me.  I fancy this my U of L Master's Thesis.    ;- )

(Evening Jan 1, 2019:  Spent many hours today reviewing this 6 post collection and making final changes, then more final adjustments, plus adding some closing observations at the end of this piece.  I do believe this annotated collection is now finished.   

Happy New Year to you and best wishes, cc.)

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The Missing Key to Stephen Gould’s

“Nonoverlapping Magisteria”

“… missing was a much more fundamental division crying out for recognition.  Specifically,                                        

the magisteria of Physical Reality vs the magisteria of our Human Mindscape. …”

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The increasingly shrill and disconnected from physical reality attacks on science by faith-based organizations and individuals has me thinking about an essay evolutionary biologist and historian of science Stephen J. Gould wrote some twenty years ago in an attempt to address the tension between scientific truths and religious truths.

His solution was the notion of “Non-overlapping Magisteria” which delineated two teaching “authorities” (magisterium), the “magisteria of science” and the “magisteria of religion.” It wasn’t his original idea, rather a continuation of a centuries old dialogue between scientists and the Catholic Church that I don’t have the space to get into.

In any event, Gould concluded there should be no conflict because each realm has its’ own domain of “teaching authority.” Since these “magisteria” do not overlap, they cannot contradict each other and should be able to exist in mutual respect.

When it first came out

Considering critique of "Missing Key to Gould’s “Nonoverlapping Magisteria” "

I received an interesting critique on my column - The Missing Key to Stephen Gould’s “Nonoverlapping Magisteria” - I appreciated the questions and enjoyed the opportunity to correct the writer's misunderstanding regarding what I wrote.  I invited the writer over here to share, but alas, it never happened.  So, I'm going to share his critique anyways. 

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Critique:  It appears to me that the author is considering every product of the human mind just as imaginary as every other. 

For instance the completely subjective religious experience, and the striving to be objective science are both: "products of the human mindscape, generations of imaginings built upon previous generations of imaginings, all the way down." 

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Citizenschallenge:  That’s an incorrect assumption.  

"Imaginings" is more akin to “inventions of the mind” or products of our mindscape.  

The critique misses out on the evolutionary aspect.  Religion was amongst the mindscape’s earliest inventions, probably a couple hundred thousand years ago.  

It took humanity tens of thousands of years and even civilized humans took many more millennia before the human mindscape developed the understanding and discipline that enabled it to invent science, barely 500 years ago.

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Now, it is true that every single recorded phenomena, experience and so on must have either begun as some sort of sensory input influencing our mindscape, or came as a product of the workings of said mindscape (something commonly known as imagination). 

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Precisely my point.

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Of course just because something is relayed through a human mind, this doesn't automatically make it imaginary. 

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I never implied it did!

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In a sense the author is trying to put a divide between the real world and the way we perceive and interpret the real world, equating the latter to imagination. 

Confronting Republican Deception - Science, Activism, Networking, Engaging in debate.

Selections from the previous list of key blog posts.

The Situation:  The disconnected-from-physical-reality GOP attacks on climate science (a.i.) have reached horrifying levels with the Trump Administration.  Yet science loving rationalists, pluralists, progressives, liberals, Democrats still haven’t developed effective messaging for directly confronting the most childish of Republican arguments.  

Why?  Seems to me, mainly because rationalists rather sidestep that Me First driven willful ignorance.  This acquiescence to malicious nonsense has been a fatal error for the national dialogue.

Engaging and arguing with contrarians should not be seen as an exercise in futility, since those are teaching opportunity for explaining the simple logical geophysical reasons behind some of the disingenuous arguments to onlookers from our own side, who probably don’t understand the science very well themselves.  Making teaching opportunities out of false claims.

Even on this fateful US election eve, little effort seems expended to help geographically dispersed individual activists, of diverse talents, network with like-minded for sharing information, developing ideas, raising enthusiasm for debate.  Such efforts would facilitate better appreciation for what we are all about, while encouraging a sense of community and pro-active cooperation.

Why write that essay:

I’m hoping it might resonate with some of you and that you’ll be in a position to do more with it than I ever can here in my Colorado hinterlands.  It has my copyright, but that’s about establishing my authorship, I invite its copying and sharing. 

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Exploring the Map v Territory Problem - via the Brown Ocean Effect and Dr. Trenberth

https://confrontingsciencecontrarians.blogspot.com/2017/12/exploring-map-territory-problem.html

“… During the Q&A I had a chance to ask Dr.Trenberth, (58:00 video 3/3) 

Science communicators, I ask for a moment of your time and consideration, please.

As a follow up to The Missing Key to Stephen Gould’s “Nonoverlapping Magisteria” I want to share a selection of blog posts that focus on various other aspects (keys) to better understanding of the Republicans blind-faith driven mass deception and self-inflicted self-stupification regarding matters of extreme importance to our future health and wellbeing.

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I’m looking for help to network with others who understand what I’m trying to say with these essays, virtual debates and blog posts.  I’ve added a selection of excerpts from these blog posts and FCFP columns in the next post.   

Exploring the Map v Territory Problem - via the Brown Ocean Effect and Dr. Trenberth

https://confrontingsciencecontrarians.blogspot.com/2017/12/exploring-map-territory-problem.html

Colorado Floods - statistical certainty vs geophysical realities - 2013

http://whatsupwiththatwatts.blogspot.com/2013/10/colorado-floods-statistical-certainty.html

2018, now what? Considering the Republican Dialogue Problem in 14 VERSES.

https://confrontingsciencecontrarians.blogspot.com/2018/01/2018-pruitt-now-what.html

CO2 Science - Blue team: "Pruitt, it's certain as certain gets! It's the physics! Don't you know?

https://confrontingsciencecontrarians.blogspot.com/2018/01/pruitt-agw-certain-as-certain-gets.html

CO2 Science - Pruitt, proof is in the pudding! Impossible Modern Marvels

https://confrontingsciencecontrarians.blogspot.com/2018/01/pruitt-proof-isin-modernmarvels.html

Schooling Pruitt's Red Team about our planet and its climate engine (FCFP)

https://confrontingsciencecontrarians.blogspot.com/2018/01/schooling-pruitt-on-earths-climate.html

(Sd7) Abuse of Our Free Speech Rights (LandscapesAndCycles - Jim Steele) (FCFP)

https://confrontingsciencecontrarians.blogspot.com/2018/08/abuse-free-speech-rights-steele.html

(Sd3) Mr.GOP don't buy Jim Steele's Fraud - LandscapesAndCycles

https://confrontingsciencecontrarians.blogspot.com/2018/07/mrgop-dont-buy-jim-steele-fraud.html

(Sd1) Revisiting Jim Steele's LandscapesAndCycles Fraud 

            An index of past research - Steele debate #1

https://confrontingsciencecontrarians.blogspot.com/2018/07/revisiting-steele-landscapesandcycles.html

Fruits of Ignoring Deliberate Deception.

https://confrontingsciencecontrarians.blogspot.com/2018/06/fruits-of-ignoring-deliberate-deception.html

I am an Earth Centrist.

https://confrontingsciencecontrarians.blogspot.com/2018/07/i-am-earth-centrist.html

Earth Centrist ponders, polite or honest?

https://confrontingsciencecontrarians.blogspot.com/2018/07/earth-centrist-ponders-polite-or-honest.html

Saying No To Reality (Four Corners Free Press column)

https://confrontingsciencecontrarians.blogspot.com/2018/07/explaining-geologic-column-to-psalm1tree.html

Citizenschallenge’s  “Hall of Shame”

ConfrontingScienceContrarians.blogspot.com/p/HALL-OF-SHAME.html

Missing Key to Stephen Gould’s “Nonoverlapping Magisteria”

   _______________________________________________________________________________________________________

    

The Missing Key to Stephen Gould’s

“Nonoverlapping Magisteria”

“… missing was a much more fundamental division crying out for recognition.  Specifically,                                        

the magisteria of Physical Reality vs the magisteria of our Human Mindscape. …”

© Peter Miesler, August 21, 2018

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

    

The increasingly shrill and disconnected from physical reality attacks on science by faith-based organizations and individuals has me thinking about an essay evolutionary biologist and historian of science Stephen J. Gould wrote some twenty years ago in an attempt to address the tension between scientific truths and religious truths.

His solution was the notion of “Non-overlapping Magisteria” which delineated two teaching “authorities” (magisterium), the “magisteria of science” and the “magisteria of religion.” It wasn’t his original idea, rather a continuation of a centuries old dialogue between scientists and the Catholic Church that I don’t have the space to get into.

In any event, Gould concluded there should be no conflict because each realm has its’ own domain of “teaching authority.” Since these “magisteria” do not overlap, they cannot contradict each other and should be able to exist in mutual respect.

When it first came out