Purpose of the Contingent Universe
July 12, 2009 6:50 AM   Subscribe

Searching for an article, probably pre-2004, which involves a 'new' philosophical approach to the, ahem, 'meaning of life' ..

Basically, I wanted to come back and re-read the article, follow it up, do a bit of reading and research on the thinking behind it, but never did, and now it's gone. Can't remember the name of the writer/philosopher/theorist. I think he is relatively young, although that could be wrong.

The idea was along the lines that the purpose of the contingent universe is for intelligent life to arise and for that life to attempt to understand the purpose of the contingent universe... that's a bit woo-woo but I think it was a deal more serious than that.

I do not believe it was the anthropic cosmological principal or such like. I have an idea that the same theorist proposed that it is impossible to measure the location of any object in motion - not just sub atomic particles - and this was some how part of his theory. It was some kind of 'ground breaking' new theory or philosophical treatise, which at the time, due probably to laziness, alcoholism and general stupidity, I glanced over, bookmarked, and promptly forgot about. Current interests revived the memory..

As you can see, I'm totally vague on the details, and my google fu has failed me. It was a metaphysical type argument, and I believe it was largely new, not based on older philosophical lines of thought, and it probably crossed into QM.

Or did I dream it?
posted by Henry C. Mabuse to Religion & Philosophy (3 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
I think you may be thinking about The Emporer's New Mind by Roger Penrose.

Penrose is a rightfully lauded mathematician, but those critical of his book and its thesis (self included) are consider it so misguided that he had to dispense with much of established mathematics and physics in order to make his point.

The consensus view amongst practitioners in the relevant fields seems to be that there is little of merit in that work. I suggest you read reviews prior to reading the book; if nothing else Mind is a steep climb.
posted by fydfyd at 8:27 AM on July 12, 2009




Response by poster: not seeming familiar..
posted by Henry C. Mabuse at 11:18 PM on July 12, 2009


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