Lecture 6 - Science & Metaphysics 2 - Cognition & Perception - NYU PSY - Spring 21 - Ricardo Max

0:00 We will talk about the problem of Realms
0:59 Example of Gravity Correlation vs Gravity Causality
2:26 We observe correlation and assume causality. We can never refute mediation.
3:47 An alien (that is not familiar with children in school) who observes correlation between math and shoe size, cannot know if there is a mediator
6:05 We train concepts within FAMILIAR realms in order to be able to apply these concepts within UNFAMILIAR realms. Example of atomic physics as UNFAMILIAR realm
8: 05 Within FAMILIAR realms we are biased towards answers that we think we already know and thus we are less prone to continue to ask better questions. Recent discoveries of bacterial mediation of digestive processes are an example of a hidden mediation within a FAMILIAR realm.
11:37 Traditional Jewish saying: "Mangia la merda che ti fa bene"
11:43 We train recognizing big metaphysics within obvious realms in order to be able to identify tiny metaphysical nuances hidden within familiar narratives
16:45 Because COGNITION & PERCEPTION FEEL EXTREMELY FAMILIAR and at the same ARE COMPLETELY UNFAMILIAR, we are ESPECIALLY SUSCEPTIBLE TO THE CHALLENGES OF BOTH FAMILIAR AND UNFAMILIAR REALMS. That's why this long introduction is so important for this course.
19:40 Philosophy dwells mostly with familiar realms while science ventures into both familiar and unfamiliar realms.
20:55 Global warming
21:49 Wrapping up the main points about Evolution: We can explain everything by combining Randomness and Passiveness, which releases us from the need to resort to any metaphysics. We are free to only observe and describe HOW things work, without having to explain WHY things work the way they work (which more often than not end up stumbling into metaphysics)
27:24 Wrapping up: Rabbit Hole; Nothing to be understood; Attraction to metaphysics; Metaphysics prevent us from asking better questions; Tradeoff between adopting narratives vs understanding better; No narrative is fundamentally true;
31:45 Wrapping up: Science and metaphysics are not compatible but are neither in essential contradiction.
35:13 I owe you further explanations about (1) my claim that science is a technique dedicated and restricted to finding predictions and that's all! (2) Why the smaller the realm of prediction, the better the scientific technique works. (3) Falsifiability and Replicability (Karl Popper).
36:00 Epilogue: why this long introduction is so important for this course.

[RobHimselfNAC]

8:13 Witness God pushing the leaf down