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Yes. Explanation = Tautology

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Posted by Paul R. Martin on May 7, 2002 15:12:05 UTC

Hi Alan,

***So I ask: did he not then show the tautological structural framework of communicable (linkable) digital explanation (linking, networking) itself?***

My answer would be, Yes. That's exactly what he showed.

In my imagined scheme of how reality as we know it got started in the first place, we have this one-and-only consciousness (and that's all we have) which imagines things and then explains those imagined things to him/her/itself. If the explanations are correct, they must be a tautology since they are nothing more than a restatement of the original imagination.

The interesting thing, though, is that this consciousness may be surprised at some of the secondary effects of the imagined structures. Your example of Moire patterns is a good one.

Just as Benoit Mandelbrot could not possibly have imagined the details and intricacy of the Mandelbrot Set when he first imagined and tried out the generating function, I think that the fact that an explanation is a tautology in no way reduces it to simplicity or predictability.

Just some quick thoughts. Gotta run and head for the mountains.

Warm regards,

Paul

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