# Beginning of Infinity Pdf: [The Beginning of Infinity](The%20Beginning%20of%20Infinity.pdf) ### Table of Contents 1. Chapter 1 1. Induction 2. Inductivism 3. [Knowledge](Knowledge.md) 4. [Explanations](Explanations.md) 2. Chapter 2 1. 3. Chapter 3 1. a 4. Chapter 4 1. [Spontaneous Generation](Spontaneous%20Generation.md) 2. [Creationism](Creationism.md) 3. [Lamarckism](Lamarckism.md) 5. Chapter 5 1. [Criterion for Reality](Criterion%20for%20Reality.md) 2. [Dr Johnsons Criteria](Dr%20Johnsons%20Criteria.md) 6. [3 - The Spark](3%20-%20The%20Spark.md) [5 - Reality of Abstractions](5%20-%20Reality%20of%20Abstractions.md) [8 - A Window on Infinity](8%20-%20A%20Window%20on%20Infinity.md) [12 - A Physicists History of Bad Philosophy](12%20-%20A%20Physicists%20History%20of%20Bad%20Philosophy.md) [All Observations are Theory Laden](All%20Observations%20are%20Theory%20Laden.md) ### Favorite Thought experiments - spaceship earth - Domino ### Ideas to fill out as you review the book - [Reach and Constraints](Reach%20and%20Constraints.md) - can creationism be attacked on its own terms? Or simply that it’s a bad explanation? Or is it a philosophical argument (if you believe in creationism, you follow a different epistemology, and hence we can’t even argue) - Pg 56, all regularities in nature have explanations - how do we know this? ### Chapter 5 - The Reality of Abstraction Abstract entities are *real*, and can play a role in causing physical phenomena. Causation itself is such an abstract entity. #### Notes Deutsch claims that something *abstract* - something non-physical, such as the knowledge in a gene or theory - is affecting something physical. Explanation at any level of emergence can be real an fundamental. ### A New Way to Explain Explanation A bad explanation is easy to vary. A good explanation is hard to vary. > The truth consists of hard to vary explanations of reality. This is the most important fact about the physical world. ### On Explanation * Scientific explanations can be *falsified*. This is known as the *principle of falsification* * [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explanatory_power#:~:text=To%20Deutsch%2C%20the%20aspects%20of,avoid%20ever%20being%20truly%20falsified.) gives some great bullets. Specifically it states that a particular hypothesis, theory, or explanation can be said to have more explanatory power if: * It accounts for more facts or observations * It changes more surprising facts into "a matter of course" * It offers greater predictive power * It depends less on authorities * It makes fewer assumptions (Occam's Razor) * It is falsifiable (testable via observation or experiment) * It is *hard to vary*