Today, August 31st, is the best holiday everrrr! Semantic Shift Day is the day that you redefine all things that do not exist in a way that makes it so you can say they do exist!
This holiday started last year, you can read the first post here:
Semantic Shift Day – August 31st
This year let’s spread the word and make this new holiday big.
What can you do?
Post this or something like it on your social media sites or website:
Happy Semantic Shift Day – August 31st
On Semantic Shift Day we re-define the non-existent into existence for one day. This means everything now exists under your new definitions and you should attempt to use some of these newly defined words that normally represent non-existent things like fairies, leprechauns, Santa, free will, and so on …throughout the day. See here for more info on what this holiday is about and the point it makes: https://breakingthefreewillillusion.com/semantic-shift-day/
The point of this holiday is to demonstrate the absurdity and confusions that arise when people shift words or terms around to mean something uncommon, or when they neglect a key concept implied in the word which the majority of people hold.
So make sure you celebrate today!..and set a calendar reminder:
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'Trick Slattery
Latest posts by 'Trick Slattery (see all)
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2 Responses to “Happy Semantic Shift Day – Define the Non-Existent into Existence!”
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Hi
I am about a third of the way through your book and an easy read.
Generally agree with what is there so far.
One semantic shift I do have to get past is “consciousness being an illusion” [Not]. Yes we experience stuff, pain, colour, free will, etc. But that does not mean these experiences are as they seem. So these experiences are illusory in this sense. The experiences are real but they might not be as they seem. For example a stage magician, his attractive assistant, tiger and cage are all, but the disappearance of the attractive assistant and appearance are real and illusory at the same time.
Not quite comfortable with how you handled emergence, but that for later.
Anyway, I am enjoying the book
rom
Thanks Rom. Always good to meet another free will skeptic. If you mean that the experiences might not be as we later interpret them to be (and in that sense an illusion), I would agree with that. In fact, I think a number of psychological states such as optimism bias can cloud our future assessments or memory of what was actually experienced at the time. And I certainly do not think the experiences necessarily represent reality, as the free will illusion shows. If I hallucinate a unicorn, that hallucination exists as a specific experience, but it does not equate to an actual unicorn existing (of course). 😉
In regards to emergence, I didn’t really get too deep into that (or consciousness for that matter – just some real basics) as I wanted the focus on free will, but if pushed – I am a proponent of physicalism, meaning consciousness emerges as a “property” of very specific brain states…or this is what I think all evidence currently points to. But this is a minor point for the free will topic, and not a requirement.
I’m glad you are enjoying the book, and hope some parts give you something new to think about.
I also checked out your page, some good thoughts on the topic! 🙂
Have a great day!
‘Trick