Leon on Everything

A stunning conclusion of 20 th -century philosophy is that there are properties in the world that are not amenable to scientific exploration. This conclusion sprang from the study of consciousness. We are all conscious, or so we believe. But this consciousness, this experience of being each one of us has so far escaped science. In fact, from a scientific perspective, it is just easy to imagine a functional human being without consciousness. The latter notion of a nonconscious functional human being is known as a Philosophical Zombie or P-Zombie. Such a P-Zombie as the thought experiment goes, acts just like a functional human being but doesn’t have consciousness. And from the perspective of science, it is impossible to tell the difference with a conscious human being. But what is consciousness? Frank Jackson, a 20 th -century philosopher, in one of his seminal papers, introduces this notion of Qualia. Qualia is the feeling that we humans (and probably animals) have of...

In Philosophy and Logic, the Problem of Evil is a challenge to the existence of God. Or rather it challenges the existence of a kind of God who is: Omniscient, Omnibenevolent, and Omnipotent. Let us begin by defining these three properties. Firstly, a being is omniscient when she knows all there is to know. She knows every fact. Hence, she can know all states of reality and everything that has happened and will happen. Secondly, Omnibenevolence is when said being is all Good. She is Good, and her Goodness is opposed to Evil. Such a being will seek to destroy Evil whenever it appears. Thirdly, an Omnipotent being is one who can do anything. There is no way for such a being to will something and not be able to do it. Many religions claim that God is all knowing, all Good and all Powerful so with the triple-O properties. Now we present the problem of Evil: (1)     There is evil in the world. (2)     If a Triple-O propertied God were to exist, ...

I have recently used my ten year USA visa to visit New York City. I spent four days in Manhattan going to fancy restaurants and seeing various sites. And what struck me most was how dirty and how unimpressive the city was. I was happy to see my sister who was visiting there, but I aside from moderately better weather I couldn't see why it might make sense to leave a much cleaner and cheaper (in terms of living expenses) Montreal to go live there. Over a decade ago I would have given anything to go live in New York City. As many Lebanese and third world citizens, I have grown up with this fantasy image of America. This shining city on the hill where everything was possible. Growing up during in war thorn Lebanon in the 1980s I would look through my Television screen to see those skyscrapers and those cities where everyone was happy, where things were happening, where life was interesting. Even today, despite Donald Trump, millions around the world line up i...

The white billiard ball hits the red ball. The red ball hits the green ball. The green ball hits the blue ball which falls in the hole. Such is the stroke of a master pool player. Everything was planned, and money was exchanged. Our intrepid billiard player won the match. Let us consider a thought experiment. What you may ask? A Gedankenexperiment in German or thought experiment is a way to examine a hypothesis or theory to think through its consequences. One of the most famous Gedankenexperiments is Schrodinger’s cat. In this experiment of indeterminism, we consider a random quantum process – such as the decay of a uranium atom – that controls a gun. The gun is in a box aimed at a cat. Because of the indeterminism of the process, we think that while we haven’t opened the box and made our measurement the cat is in a state of being dead and alive at the same time. Which of course is impossible and gives us more insight into quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics and physics is k...

A few nights ago, I finally got around to watching something on Netflix. It was a show called “Altered Carbon”. You might have heard of it, it is Big. The basic premise of the show is that in some distant future people have a device inserted into the connection between the spinal cord and the brain called the “Stack”. This “Stack” stores all the electric signals that happen in the brain. When someone dies, his “Stack” gets inserted into another body and animates the brain. As such the other body will have the consciousness of the previous person and so, they claim, people end up living forever. Of course, with sci-fi scenery, sex, drugs and violence you suspend disbelief and get on with the story, which is entertaining. But this post is not about entertainment, it is about a branch of philosophy long seen as a form of mental masturbation: Metaphysics. So, let us step in the world of the consciousness metaphysicist armed with his favorite tool: A thought experiment. Let us imagin...

The single thing that has characterized the Israeli Palestinian conflict is how intractable it has been to solve. People on the different sides have ascribed this intractability to “The Other Side” not willing to compromise. Other parties from the West have taken a higher ground and blamed both sides equally for their problems. I think assigning blame is a good exercise for historians to ponder when there aren’t such political or national interests at stake. Where the people are concerned, however, what really matters is an expedient solution that allows both sides to live and enjoy the maximal amount of well being. This might not be a “two State Solution”. Maybe to end the conflict, it should be done so on one party’s terms. Maybe that means a one-state solution, but only for one party. And a “No State” solution for the other. Is that possible? As the saying goes to the victor goes the spoils. The Jews being the consistent victors in the various wars waged against them (or by th...

I was reading an article in The Economist Magazine about India's Middle Class. It says that Big companies are disappointed at the size and consumption habits of this Indian middle class. It seems over there, inequality is on the rise, and therefore most of the gains are going to the top so-called one percenters. Hence not much is trickling down to the middle class which in turn can't afford to consume as much as the world's large companies expect of them. Inequality has been a significant topic in recent years. It has been given more impetus with Economists like Thomas Piketty, Paul Krugman, Joseph Stiglitz and Robert Gordon.  And the statistics seem to prove them right. When we look at the world's  global Gross Domestic Product, this figure is about 78 trillion US dollars. If divided equally among people this translates to 10,000 USD per person. However, nearly a half of the global population lives on 2.5 dollars a day. These people living on less than a thousand do...