G'day, my name is Bruce Robertson, and this is Pirate Philosophy.
In this series of videos, I will be describing an original philosophy, one that you won't find anywhere else, but it is one that is logical, rigorous and dynamic. Welcome.
In today’s video I want to take a look at how one's pyramid of patterns that we discussed before can be incorporated into one’s life. In order to do this, I will first give a brief recap of how a pyramid of patterns can be created.
In the journey so far, we have looked at how an animal, at the start of evolution of animals, which has a logical processor, can begin to make sense of the world and to create a model of the world. It was realized that the only logical way that this could occur was through a process of pattern identification i.e. examining the sense-data and trying various templates, or possible patterns, that could be used to compress the data and to make sense of it. By a pattern I mean the smallest part of the data that can be used to recreate the data. I am not talking about the whole picture of what you might call a pattern on a curtain. What I refer to as a pattern is the smallest element that can be used to recreate the data.
For creating a pattern from the data is a logical process and it actually gives information about the nature of the source behind the source data; for once a pattern has been identified, it can be extrapolated, perhaps in time or space, beyond the range of the original data. Also it should be noted that the best pattern to fit a set of data is one that compresses the data the most i.e. a simpler pattern is to be preferred to a more complex one and also one wants a pattern that is best able to reproduce the data most accurately i.e. it fits the data most accurately and that is what I will be referring to as the most efficient pattern, or perhaps if you like, the best pattern.
We also looked at how the observation of change of light through day and night, could lead to the pattern that we might today associate with 'time' i.e., the regular cycle of day and night leads to the concept or pattern of 'time'. We also looked at how the observation of the changing apparent size of an object as an animal activates some motor outputs and moves 'towards' or 'away' from a particular object, its visual data will make the object appear bigger or smaller, and in this way this could lead to a pattern that today we might associate with 'space'.
We further noted in the previous video, PP10, that the pattern generation process can be reapplied to the patterns that have been created from pure sense-data i.e., a recursive process by which from the sense-data you go through a pattern identification process, and you end up with patterns and then later on perhaps when you are asleep you put these patterns back into the pattern identification process to gain a higher order set of patterns. And this can be repeated later on to create further and higher orders of patterns. And that was described in the previous video as being suggestive of a pyramid of patterns. In this way a comprehensive model of the world can be generated.
In today’s video I want to talk about how this model of the world can be used in a practical way and how it becomes 'real'. In an earlier video we looked at how the ability to recognize specific sense-data, such as a square shape, could benefit an animal in distinguishing things that might be good to eat from those that are not good to eat. And this ability to interact effectively with the world is boosted by having a comprehensive pyramid of patterns, created by the identification process and which constitutes an accurate model of the world. Using its pyramid of patterns, the animal will be better able to find food, find shelter, evade danger and so on. For not only does the animal have senses it also has motor outputs. And by motor outputs, I am referring to signals that can be sent from the brain to the animal’s muscles to put those in motion such as their arms, legs mouth or whatever. And clearly the animal will have to learn by trial and error which signals activate which muscles and also to create patterns for its arms, legs, wings, mouth etc. in order to integrate them with its overall pyramid of patterns. And once it has achieved this, it can interact with its environment effectively; finding food, evading predators, finding shelter and locating other members of its species with whom to breed. And it is this ability to interact effectively with its environment that reinforces the animal’s confidence in the accuracy of its model of the world.
In this way its model of the world, its pyramid of patterns becomes the reality in which it lives. And while I talked about the animal’s ability to find food and shelter etc. I haven’t yet discussed the logic behind it. The senses that an animal possesses such as sight, sound, taste and so on and which are the foundation for the creation of its pyramid of patterns and model of the world, are only its external senses. For the animal also possesses internal senses that provide information about the status of its physical body. And these senses are linked to the major organs of the body such as skin, stomach, heart, liver and so on. And typically, one might consider these signals from the organs as being pleasure or pain. And these senses provide the direction and motivation for the animal’s interactions with the world. They motivate it to find food, to find shelter, to avoid predators and so on.
For the animal’s stomach will indicate that it needs sustenance and so the animal will look for food and if its skin indicates that it is cold the animal will seek shelter and so on. And it is the fulfillment of the animal’s physical needs that provide the motivation and purpose to the life of the animal.
The actual levels of pleasure and pain felt by the animal from its various organs will be set by trial and error within evolution. Some levels of pleasure and pain within a particular animal will be less effective than they are for others and so the animal’s ability to thrive and reproduce may be less than in others and so that balance is set through hardwired evolution. But for each individual animal, their goal is to maximize their pleasure and minimize their pain.
The goal of any animal is to maximise their pleasure and minimise their pain.
This provides the motivation and purpose to their life.
And it is the combination of external sense-data and internal sense-data together with the decisions that the animal makes and the sending of appropriate signals to its motor outputs that constitutes that animal’s reality. And its ability to interact effectively with the world gives it confirmation that the world it lives in is real. For this is the world in which the animal operates and hopefully thrives.
The combination of an animal's external sense-data, pattern identifications and the decisions that they make constitutes the world in which they live and their reality.
In summary: the basic function of the animal consists of taking its external sense-data, interpreting this data through its pyramid of patterns and making decisions regarding what signals to send to its motor outputs that it considers will maximize its physical well-being as denoted by its internal sense-data of pleasure and pain. This forms the foundation for what we might call 'reality' and 'purpose'.
And in conclusion I would like to note that what I am describing are the bare bones of the logic of thinking. There are many details to fill in, in order to improve its accuracy. I would also like to note here that the notion of pattern identification as a core process for constructing a model of the world is self-consistent. It is self-consistent in that the process of pattern identification itself is the most efficient pattern in terms of accuracy and simplicity to fit the relevant datal and the relevant data would include the fact that we humans have a model of the world and the fact that at the start of animal life our ancestors had no model of the world and the fact that the only portal to the world we have is through our external senses. I also would like to note that very little work has been done by others on the details of the pattern identification process; at least it’s not in the public arena. The available literature is devoid of any discussion or even ideas about it despite it being a strictly logical process.
Well, that is all I have for you today. If you have any interesting comments or questions about today’s video, please leave them in the comment section below. And if you would like to continue this journey with me then please subscribe to the channel, give it a thumbs up and ring the bell.
Thank you.
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