Paul A Howard
@paul108h.bsky.social
A meaning (noun) is the unifying principle for any set of properties (adjectives) and their changes (verbs). Subjectivity comes from our individual choices of which properties and changes each person wants to consider as a set. We choose our preferred arrangements of nouns, verbs, and adjectives.
May 9, 2025 at 6:23 PM
A meaning (noun) is the unifying principle for any set of properties (adjectives) and their changes (verbs). Subjectivity comes from our individual choices of which properties and changes each person wants to consider as a set. We choose our preferred arrangements of nouns, verbs, and adjectives.
Nature speaks Saṃskṛtam. This explains why:
journal.shabda.co/2023/01/10/t...
journal.shabda.co/2023/01/10/t...
journal.shabda.co
May 9, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Nature speaks Saṃskṛtam. This explains why:
journal.shabda.co/2023/01/10/t...
journal.shabda.co/2023/01/10/t...
A person is any agent capable of choosing, not just humans. We each choose how to prioritize our tastes as individuals, but the meanings themselves are fundamental. Generalizing a meaning from some particulars requires already knowing the meaning to identify which particulars should be included.
May 7, 2025 at 7:22 PM
A person is any agent capable of choosing, not just humans. We each choose how to prioritize our tastes as individuals, but the meanings themselves are fundamental. Generalizing a meaning from some particulars requires already knowing the meaning to identify which particulars should be included.
I was a scientist but concluded that the scientific method is built on false assumptions and doesn't lead to truth. For example, replication of experiments depends on isolating the events within experimental boundaries, but nothing in nature prevents interactions coming from outside the experiment.
May 7, 2025 at 7:02 PM
I was a scientist but concluded that the scientific method is built on false assumptions and doesn't lead to truth. For example, replication of experiments depends on isolating the events within experimental boundaries, but nothing in nature prevents interactions coming from outside the experiment.
It's easy to assume everything is human constructions, but there isn't a scientific theory that explains how we get ideas. Numbers are a simple example, but the modem definitions of numbers are circular, not logically sound. Meanings are arguably fundamental, which we discover instead of create.
May 7, 2025 at 6:53 PM
It's easy to assume everything is human constructions, but there isn't a scientific theory that explains how we get ideas. Numbers are a simple example, but the modem definitions of numbers are circular, not logically sound. Meanings are arguably fundamental, which we discover instead of create.
By "person," I mean "an individual characterized by a preference or liking for a specified thing," not necessarily a human. Duty (which choices are ideal) is based on the existence of entities with preferences and the relationships they have. A good stapler wants to push staples neatly into papers.
May 7, 2025 at 6:50 PM
By "person," I mean "an individual characterized by a preference or liking for a specified thing," not necessarily a human. Duty (which choices are ideal) is based on the existence of entities with preferences and the relationships they have. A good stapler wants to push staples neatly into papers.
Nature can actualize possibilities, because nature and everything in it are persons. Which possibilities and the sequencing of states are choices of what should happen and when, determined by time. How and where the events occur are determined by space. The original person determines the purpose.
May 7, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Nature can actualize possibilities, because nature and everything in it are persons. Which possibilities and the sequencing of states are choices of what should happen and when, determined by time. How and where the events occur are determined by space. The original person determines the purpose.
Any purpose implies desire, and desire is an aspect of personality, which is a characteristic of persons. A person is neither woo nor chemicals; it's a meaning capable of choosing. The universe is a person producing the world as a dream in which every noun is a person participating.
May 7, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Any purpose implies desire, and desire is an aspect of personality, which is a characteristic of persons. A person is neither woo nor chemicals; it's a meaning capable of choosing. The universe is a person producing the world as a dream in which every noun is a person participating.
There would be plenty of meaning associated with spilling of coffee. For example, it means losing the opportunity to drink it (karma), implies a duty to clean up the mess (dharma), etc. Coffee doesn't randomly spill.
May 7, 2025 at 6:01 PM
There would be plenty of meaning associated with spilling of coffee. For example, it means losing the opportunity to drink it (karma), implies a duty to clean up the mess (dharma), etc. Coffee doesn't randomly spill.
Possibilities are always existing. A purpose is needed to sequentially instantiate possibilities into reality.
May 7, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Possibilities are always existing. A purpose is needed to sequentially instantiate possibilities into reality.
If nature has no purpose, how does any event occur? Having a purpose enables the selection of one possibility instead of others.
May 7, 2025 at 3:52 PM
If nature has no purpose, how does any event occur? Having a purpose enables the selection of one possibility instead of others.
There's no need to hit yourself. The Sanskrit language of the Vedas works well as a computer programming language, although ordinary spoken languages cannot. How would ancient humans have been able to invent Sanskrit so that modern computers could parse it and humans could speak it?
April 29, 2025 at 9:16 PM
There's no need to hit yourself. The Sanskrit language of the Vedas works well as a computer programming language, although ordinary spoken languages cannot. How would ancient humans have been able to invent Sanskrit so that modern computers could parse it and humans could speak it?
They're reportedly dictated by Vyāsa and recorded by Gaṇeśa.
I don't know what was perpetrated that you have in mind; but doing something in the name of the Vedas doesn't necessarily mean doing what the Vedas recommend.
I don't know what was perpetrated that you have in mind; but doing something in the name of the Vedas doesn't necessarily mean doing what the Vedas recommend.
April 29, 2025 at 9:05 PM
They're reportedly dictated by Vyāsa and recorded by Gaṇeśa.
I don't know what was perpetrated that you have in mind; but doing something in the name of the Vedas doesn't necessarily mean doing what the Vedas recommend.
I don't know what was perpetrated that you have in mind; but doing something in the name of the Vedas doesn't necessarily mean doing what the Vedas recommend.
That would be ideal, but it's not the reality.
April 29, 2025 at 6:50 PM
That would be ideal, but it's not the reality.
Apparently NDT is only familiar with the Abrahamic religions, which have a perverse conception of God. The Vedas indicate the Supreme Person (Kṛṣṇa) does what He wants to do, knows what He wants to know, and loves those He wants to love.
April 29, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Apparently NDT is only familiar with the Abrahamic religions, which have a perverse conception of God. The Vedas indicate the Supreme Person (Kṛṣṇa) does what He wants to do, knows what He wants to know, and loves those He wants to love.
Have you studied all religions? I'm specifically thinking of the Vedas. Why say they are man-made?
For example, Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā 3.15,
"Regulated activities are prescribed in the Vedas, and the Vedas are directly manifested from the Supreme Personality of Godhead."
For example, Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā 3.15,
"Regulated activities are prescribed in the Vedas, and the Vedas are directly manifested from the Supreme Personality of Godhead."
April 29, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Have you studied all religions? I'm specifically thinking of the Vedas. Why say they are man-made?
For example, Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā 3.15,
"Regulated activities are prescribed in the Vedas, and the Vedas are directly manifested from the Supreme Personality of Godhead."
For example, Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā 3.15,
"Regulated activities are prescribed in the Vedas, and the Vedas are directly manifested from the Supreme Personality of Godhead."
"If a 'religion' is defined to be a system of ideas that contains unprovable statements, then Gödel taught us that mathematics is not only a religion, it is the only religion that can prove itself to be one." - John D. Barrow, The Artful Universe (1995).
April 29, 2025 at 3:37 AM
"If a 'religion' is defined to be a system of ideas that contains unprovable statements, then Gödel taught us that mathematics is not only a religion, it is the only religion that can prove itself to be one." - John D. Barrow, The Artful Universe (1995).
The supposed laws of physics are merely pattern recognition. Causality is semantic. Physics proposes events are ontologically probabilistic, contradicting the principle of causality. Reducing concepts to things discards meanings, leading to indeterministic, incomplete, and inconsistent theories.
April 29, 2025 at 3:34 AM
The supposed laws of physics are merely pattern recognition. Causality is semantic. Physics proposes events are ontologically probabilistic, contradicting the principle of causality. Reducing concepts to things discards meanings, leading to indeterministic, incomplete, and inconsistent theories.
It's not a relevant question. Is a correct understanding of combustion needed for humans to be able to light fire? No. People could accurately throw stones without true theories of gravity, aerodynamics, etc. Scientists are still unsure how airplanes fly.
www.scientificamerican.com/video/no-one...
www.scientificamerican.com/video/no-one...
No One Can Explain Why Planes Stay in the Air
Do recent explanations solve the mysteries of aerodynamic lift?
www.scientificamerican.com
April 29, 2025 at 2:37 AM
It's not a relevant question. Is a correct understanding of combustion needed for humans to be able to light fire? No. People could accurately throw stones without true theories of gravity, aerodynamics, etc. Scientists are still unsure how airplanes fly.
www.scientificamerican.com/video/no-one...
www.scientificamerican.com/video/no-one...
None of that is true. Physical theories depend on a semantic reality. Meanings are the real discoveries. Mathematical laws are merely pattern recognition from a human perspective, essentially imaginary, a coping mechanism. Physical laws are neither necessary nor sufficient to describe our world.
April 29, 2025 at 1:08 AM
None of that is true. Physical theories depend on a semantic reality. Meanings are the real discoveries. Mathematical laws are merely pattern recognition from a human perspective, essentially imaginary, a coping mechanism. Physical laws are neither necessary nor sufficient to describe our world.
The "God of the gaps" argument assumes scientists have some true theories, but the inability to unify physical theories suggests scientists are actually clueless. Reality is arguably semantic rather than physical, and a semantic understanding points to a supreme person as the original foundation.
April 28, 2025 at 11:00 PM
The "God of the gaps" argument assumes scientists have some true theories, but the inability to unify physical theories suggests scientists are actually clueless. Reality is arguably semantic rather than physical, and a semantic understanding points to a supreme person as the original foundation.
The cosmos is a person who produces matter as a dream, and we have chosen to participate.
April 28, 2025 at 8:32 PM
The cosmos is a person who produces matter as a dream, and we have chosen to participate.
Every material body is imperfect in various ways, but we are not these bodies. The Vedas explain that we are have any number of lifetimes to realize our innate perfection as pure spiritual persons. One's spiritual form (svarūpa) is not necessarily the same gender as the material body.
April 5, 2025 at 2:20 AM
Every material body is imperfect in various ways, but we are not these bodies. The Vedas explain that we are have any number of lifetimes to realize our innate perfection as pure spiritual persons. One's spiritual form (svarūpa) is not necessarily the same gender as the material body.
Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, said, "I envy no one, nor am I partial to anyone. I am equal to all. But whoever renders service unto Me in devotion is a friend, is in Me, and I am also a friend to him." (Bhagavad-gītā 9.29)
April 5, 2025 at 2:02 AM
Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, said, "I envy no one, nor am I partial to anyone. I am equal to all. But whoever renders service unto Me in devotion is a friend, is in Me, and I am also a friend to him." (Bhagavad-gītā 9.29)