Materialism is false

[Bahman]

Materialism is a system of belief that claims everything can be reduced to matter. Moreover any state of matter evolves based on laws of nature. In simple word, any state in earlier point, S, evolves to another state in later point, S', by laws of nature, L. This can be written as S'=L(S). There is however an anomaly in this world view which is related to consciousness: We are always aware of S and expect that S' happens. We need to expand this a little more before we can see the anomaly. The conscious state/awareness C is related to S through C=P(S) where P is act of experience. We can define C' as expectation that S' happen given C. This can be formulated as C'=M(C) where M give the expectation that something happen , S', given the conscious state C. Now we are ready to explain the anomaly: We know well that there is a fantastic precision between what we expect to happen C' and what happen S'. C' however could be anything completely unrelated to S'. One can imagine a endless list for C'. There is however no reason to believe that C' should be related to S'. Hence we are dealing with an anomaly which we cannot resolve. Therefore materialism is false.

[LuckyR]

Materialism is a system of belief that claims everything can be reduced to matter. Moreover any state of matter evolves based on laws of nature. In simple word, any state in earlier point, S, evolves to another state in later point, S', by laws of nature, L. This can be written as S'=L(S). There is however an anomaly in this world view which is related to consciousness: We are always aware of S and expect that S' happens. We need to expand this a little more before we can see the anomaly. The conscious state/awareness C is related to S through C=P(S) where P is act of experience. We can define C' as expectation that S' happen given C. This can be formulated as C'=M(C) where M give the expectation that something happen , S', given the conscious state C. Now we are ready to explain the anomaly: We know well that there is a fantastic precision between what we expect to happen C' and what happen S'. C' however could be anything completely unrelated to S'. One can imagine a endless list for C'. There is however no reason to believe that C' should be related to S'. Hence we are dealing with an anomaly which we cannot resolve. Therefore materialism is false.

One statement is true the other false.

[Wirius]

I don't think you need a formula. A materialist would simply say your prediction of future events is due to a material interaction. A better argument against materialism is the idea of thoughts. If I open up your brain, I cannot see your thoughts. Yes, the electricity and neuron firing are the material making you think, but that electricity can not be observed as your experience you are having now.

[Bahman]

Materialism is a system of belief that claims everything can be reduced to matter. Moreover any state of matter evolves based on laws of nature. In simple word, any state in earlier point, S, evolves to another state in later point, S', by laws of nature, L. This can be written as S'=L(S). There is however an anomaly in this world view which is related to consciousness: We are always aware of S and expect that S' happens. We need to expand this a little more before we can see the anomaly. The conscious state/awareness C is related to S through C=P(S) where P is act of experience. We can define C' as expectation that S' happen given C. This can be formulated as C'=M(C) where M give the expectation that something happen , S', given the conscious state C. Now we are ready to explain the anomaly: We know well that there is a fantastic precision between what we expect to happen C' and what happen S'. C' however could be anything completely unrelated to S'. One can imagine a endless list for C'. There is however no reason to believe that C' should be related to S'. Hence we are dealing with an anomaly which we cannot resolve. Therefore materialism is false.

One statement is true the other false.

Actually I think that I just repeat myself.

[Dan_1985]

What does materialism have to do with predictions? If the world is something other than material, could we still not make predictions?

ma·te·ri·al·ism
2.
PHILOSOPHY
the doctrine that nothing exists except matter and its movements and modifications.

As Wirius says, a better argument against materialism is explaining non-material consciousness.

If we look at the definition, materialism states that nothing exists except matter. First of all, who says that matter exists? And whatever it is supposed to be, we could name it whatever we like.

What is so material or physical about the atom, anyway? Isn't the atom just a swirl of indeterminacy, neither wave nor particle until acted upon or perceived? [reference double-slit and quantum eraser experiments done with atoms]

And isn't physical contact an illusion? When we sit on a chair, the atoms of our bodies don't actually 'touch' the atoms of the chair, do they?

But what about sound? How is the vibration of energy a physical or material phenomenon?

From the perspective of scale, you could stop at the atom and say, "OK, this is it," and you could establish the world as being material. But why do that when the notion of a physical, 3-dimension reality is contingent upon building blocks. How logical is it that the building blocks just stop at a certain point? How logical, really, is the irreducible particle? An irreducible particle would have no sides and thus occupy no space.

I think materialism is a great world-view on the gross scale of things - it helps us live and get things done and make predictions - but in no way is it the ultimate nature of reality. Just because we can build buildings of brick doesn't mean that this is the way things are "all the way down".