An understanding of the function of time in human evolution is a necessary factor in teleology.  If you are traveling to a city, you are more likely to arrive at your aim if you are aware of the possible roads you take.

seskis - 26 May 2009 06:04 PM

An understanding of the function of time in human evolution is a necessary factor in teleology.  If you are traveling to a city, you are more likely to arrive at your aim if you are aware of the possible roads you take.

Seskis

Time as such does not exist, not in a physical form such as the flow of water, or the flow of gasoline, or in any other physical form. The universe is such that all events don’t occur together, simultaneously, but that’s all there is to it. The ‘flow of time’ is a human invention, and as such could not possibly have played an active role in teleological evolution of species leading to ours.

I thought I would think the subject over when on vacation, but could not arrive at a simpler explanation - simpler than I have already set out in my other thread, headed ‘The temporal structure of consciousness’ (at http://latviansonline.com/viewthread/33629/ ).

Still, there is a flow of a kind which, so to speak, stands behind the concept ‘flow of time’, and that is our cinematographically discontinuous consciousness. Should you be interested in what is mistakenly termed ‘The Philosolphy of Time’, then I would be happy to draw your attention(‘chapter and verse’) to work by the Lithuanian-born philisopher Emanuelis Levinas, who seems to have got closest to the idea of cinematographically discontinuous consciousness, although still, mistakenly, writing in terms of ‘discontinuous time’.

Gunārs

Does it matter whether a picture or a movie is continuous (analog) or discontinuous (digital)?  It is the contents of the picture that we are after, we want to see it!

spectator - 22 July 2009 01:47 PM

Does it matter whether a picture or a movie is continuous (analog) or discontinuous (digital)?  It is the contents of the picture that we are after, we want to see it!

Spectator

I have used the term ‘cinematography’ to convey the idea that our conscious awareness need not be continuous, that in principle it could be cyclically/cinematographically discontinuous. But in such an application the term has a significant limitation, so best to clarify what that limitations is.

In cinematography, the individual ‘stills’ are separated by periods when there is nothing on the screen, the screen is blank, but because of persistence of vision we have the illusion of continuity. In the ‘cinematographically discontinuous consciousness’ proposition, on the contrary, the gaps are not blank, instead being occupied by something like a ‘complementary consciousness’, or “Being’s Other”, or ‘a nothingness that is not the same as the nothing in an empty purse (Hegel)’, etc. This is because in cinematography the blank spaces in between ‘stills’ are created by a relatively complex mechanism, which could not exist in the very simple, elementary, case of conscious awareness.

Come to think of it, the central concept in the ‘cinematographically discontinuous consciousness’ scheme is not the rapid alternation between the sways of two consciousnesses, but rather the existence of the ‘complementary consciousness’. Given that proposition, it might lead to the idea of the ‘cinematographic mode’ in which the consciousnesses interact, rather than starting from the observation that in ancient cultures, and in the world-views of individual thinkers, there has been the idea of an ongoing alternation, expressed in the form of the belief that time is discontinuous. And so, in the final analysis, it would indeed be the content that intrigues us most, as you, Spectator, suggested,  but it would take the form of the recognition of ‘The Other’,  and not a view of something specific from the external, tangible, world.

Gunārs

Our idea of life, its purpose and meaning is nothing fixed, it is an ever changing processs.  Every day we encounter information, either from the outside world, or from the depths of our minds, that change our conceptions, so neither we nor our outlook on the world is the same as it was last year, last month, or even yesterday.

Hello Spectator

I tried to find a simpler way of explaining my ‘imperfect birth’ account of the origin of our species, but concluded that there is only way - by studying the psychoanalytic theories, particularly the concepts ‘unconscious’ and ‘repression’. And that’s all I can say in reponse to your message. If you are happy with your present world-view, then that’s that.

Gunārs

Awareness of Time Sets Humans apart from Animals.  Imperfect Birth in just a figment of imagination.

As the following argument shows, awareness of time as a dimension can explain all diferences between humans and animals.  The knowledge that there is a future in addition to the present and the past, sets man apart from the beast.  The knowledge that there will be another day after the night gave rise to creativity, the desire to work today to make tomorrow better than yesterday.

Animals communicate only present information.  They want to eat, satisfy exual desires and defend their territory.  They don’t hatch future conspiracies.  Humans, with their awareness of the presence of a future, see future possibilities, and many of these possibilities require the cooperation of their fellows.  To get this cooperation, they have to explain not only what to do now, but also what can be accomplished in the future, and what has been done in the past.  Thus the need for a complicated language arises.

In evolution, form follows function.  Early human vocal apparastus was limited, similar that of the higher apes.  To express more complicated information, they supplemented vocalization with tongue clicks and other sounds, until a more elaborate vocal apparatus evolved.  This explains the presence of click languages, still spoken in South Africa.

Deliberate investment is another development that requires an awareness of the reality of a future.  No animal will prepare weapons the day before the hunt. or tools before the gathering expedition No animal will suffer hunger in difficult times to save seed corn for spring planting.  Without a vision of a bountiful harvest in the fall, burying the seed in the ground is a senseless act.

Art can also be connected to the awareness of time.  Amulet figurines may have been invented to bring blessings and ward off evils in the days to come.  Cave paintings may have been executed to tell future generations about present day exploits

Becker’s idea that all human cultural progress is due to an awarenes of human mortality doen’t hold much water.  Young men think that death is something that happens to others, not to them..  Some old men may have prepared mementos to remind their descendants of their exploits, but that also falls under the more general idea of an awareness of time.  The fear of death.is just one small aspect of that awareness.

Spectator,

Should it be the case that our awareness of time has played a major role in human evolution, the question would arise as to how the first humans acquired such an awareness. And one answer would be that it is our collective complex that imparted to us our sense of time.

Gunārs

Spectator et al.,

“Deliberate investment is another development that requires an awareness of the reality of a future. “

Why do bees make honey during summertime ?

Philosophers, apes, cats, chickens, etc., all have their own perception of time.  However “perception” of time is not the same as a ” common denominator”  time.

Visu labu,

Bees make honey during summertime because nectar is available only then.  Humans import it, or make artificial honey even during the winter, and grow or make many other out-of-season foods because they know how to utilize past experience for productive action in the future.

Spectator et el.,

“No animal will suffer hunger in difficult times to save seed corn for spring planting.”

Survival comes first.  One of the problems in famine areas is that to stay alive people often do eat the seed corn. Spring planting does not do much good if by then you are dead.

Right now I have a squirrel hopping around carrying wallnuts from who knows where. I guess he is getting ready for his idea of “spring planting” or perhaps getting ready for survival in the coming winter.

Visu labu,

If the times are really bad, eating seed corn will not help survival.  The family will die after eating it.  However, if there is some alternate, if inferior, source of nourishment, humans will favor it to preserve the seed corn.  No animal will do that.