What Book Are You Currently Reading?

[The Lawspeaker]

Apocalypse 1945: The Destruction of Dresden (by David Irving).

[Don]

Believe it or not.

[Groenewolf]

Leven, ach! Wat zijt gij toch?

[Electronic God-Man]

For Love of Matter: A Contemporary Panpsychism by Freya Mathews

Really good stuff so far.

[Psychonaut]

For Love of Matter: A Contemporary Panpsychism by Freya Mathews

Really good stuff so far.

Is it a systematic survey like Skrbina's or more of one focusing on Mathews' specific panpsychism?

[Electronic God-Man]

Is it a systematic survey like Skrbina's or more of one focusing on Mathews' specific panpsychism?

Her own type of panpsychism.

We should talk about it then. She basically enminds the entire universe as a whole and then picks out certain systems within that larger system which can be said to be subjects. So in this view the universe is a subject, people are subjects, but our little fingers are not subjects even though they are part of the human subject which is part of the universal subject. I'm waiting to see just what counts and doesn't count as subjects for her.

[Psychonaut]

Her own type of panpsychism.

We should talk about it then. She basically enminds the entire universe as a whole and then picks out certain systems within that larger system which can be said to be subjects. So in this view the universe is a subject, people are subjects, but our little fingers are not subjects even though they are part of the human subject which is part of the universal subject. I'm waiting to see just what counts and doesn't count as subjects for her.

Depending on how she defines subjects, I could see that making sense. I'm wondering now if she would posit individual subjects within the whole as being ontologically distinct either from each other or from the whole, and, if not, whether she's going with some kind of Peircean synechism.

[Electronic God-Man]

Depending on how she defines subjects, I could see that making sense.

I think she is defining anything as a subject that maintains homeostasis, and has self-regulation, goal-directedness, and equifinality (not sure what that last one really means here). She also seems to put importance on "self-realization".

I'm wondering now if she would posit individual subjects within the whole as being ontologically distinct either from each other or from the whole, and, if not, whether she's going with some kind of Peircean synechism.

I do think that that she conceives of them as being distinct....however she does call them "secondary subjects, or centers of subjectivity". I assume the primary subject is the entirety of the universe.

[Psychonaut]

I think she is defining anything as a subject that maintains homeostasis, and has self-regulation, goal-directedness, and equifinality (not sure what that last one really means here). She also seems to put importance on "self-realization".

I think that makes sense then. Because there is, even in panpsychic terms, something very different about the way a cell is and the way a thumb is. Both are obviously parts of a whole, but the cell has an autonomy that clearly lets us see it as a subject unto itself.

I do think that that she conceives of them as being distinct....however she does call them "secondary subjects, or centers of subjectivity". I assume the primary subject is the entirety of the universe.

I think I see what you mean here.

[Radojica]

The great adventure by Viktor Lazic

After 421 days of traveling, having breakfasts with Mongol tribes, lunches with pirates and dinners on the ancient Khmer ruins, Viktor Lazić has returned home to Serbia to share his adventures and achievements in a book that will soon be published.

VIKTOR LAZIĆ’S GREAT ADVENTURE
- 65 nights sleeping in beds, 308 in old Russian car, Lada
- 3 continents, 32 states, 4 problematic areas
- More than 20 different means of transport
- Over 140,000 kilometers traversed (80,000 personally driven through forests by his Lada Niva car, deserts, steppes, snow, and mud)
- Stopped by 102 police controls, checked on 78 border crossings
- Lost to thieves: 7 digital cameras, 3 mobile phones and many other personal belongings
- Traveled without GPS, using only compass and old paper maps
- Longest period without bath: 16 days
- Lost 22 kilograms
- Sent to Belgrade one ton of books and artifacts for museum and a travel library
- Collected materials for two scientific works, one doctoral thesis, many lectures and exhibitions held around the world

How… I befriended pirates in Malacca straits, hid in Pol Pot's bunker in Cambodia, talked to Santa Claus in Finland, realized why communism collapsed in Uljanovsk, birthplace of Lenin, was blessed by fake Jesus in Russia, toured with a Pro-American tourist guide in Vietnam and, incredibly, was beaten up in a peaceful Australia…


What an awesome dude and is only 25 years old