Language

Preface

The fundamental question in life. What is the purpose of life? Is life worth living? Anyone with knowledge and education will think about these questions at least once. However, it is rare for us to thoroughly explore this question. In order to examine this question, it is important to understand how the universe is structured and where we are positioned in it.
  From this question, the author found a source of value in the brain. He believed that the brain is the interface between the humanistic world and the scientific world. In this paper, the author examines how to connect the brain with value and elucidate it scientifically. For this reason, the talk spans both the humanities and the sciences. It should provide suggestions for research directions for strategists seeking to integrate the humanities and science.
  The methods of pursuing the value of life will be examined in terms of the reliability of the methods, and the methods of elucidating brain memory linked to the value of life will be described. This paper is not a religious theory, nor is it intended to be a culturally enriching one. It does not aim to save people, but the idea is similar to science. It is the trajectory of a sincere confrontation with the meaning of life.
  The first issue is the need to pin down value. Whether or not it is necessary from a metaphysical point of view, as a practical matter, it may be the most important issue for those who have awakened, or for those who have sunk to the depths of despair in their lives. Or, it may be an unavoidable path in considering what to aim for in the future, when artificial intelligence will do everything for us. This essay does not offer a helping hand to those who despair. However, there is a world that comes into view only when we abandon our desire to find the value of our own lives and face reality. Instead of being swept away like floating weeds in a pond, we can become a solid reed that puts down roots at the bottom of the pond.

Tolstoy in distress and the angel

The Importance of Materialistic Value Criteria

People are busy living. People living on remote islands are busy getting food. People working in urban offices are busy with documents and meetings. Rarely do they think about what their lives mean. This is a reasonable way to live. People who learn common sense and work hard to follow the right path in a worldly sense are rewarded. In order to lead a social life and be held in high esteem within the organization to which one belongs, it is necessary to acquire the common sense of that organization.
  Common sense differs from country to country, era to era, religion to religion, or corporate organization to corporate organization. It is not necessarily correctness or truth. Common sense is secular, which is different from truth or ideals. There may be a reason that a person who follows truth and ideals is given a different position as a Buddhist priest, a Christian minister, or a Hindu priest. Buddhism has the aspect of the pursuit of truth as well as the belief in God. In Japanese Buddhism, for ordinary people, becoming a priest has meant living in a world that is a world away from the pursuit of worldly success. It is the job of the priest to consider the meaning of human life.
  However, what one lives for is one of the key issues that determines how one lives[1-10] . This is what kind of value standard to live by [11]. The length of life is limited, and having the right value standards as early in life as possible increases the likelihood of fulfilling one's life in a meaningful way. One can learn from the great men of the past. However, when one considers how one can ensure that what one has learned is correct, one ultimately realizes that one must verify it for oneself. Although people are surrounded by a lot of information, they can only reach the correct point within their own ability.
  The importance of religion is that it gives us a value system. It gives us a norm to live by and a purpose. Without it, we have to think for ourselves and construct our own norms. This is a daunting task for people who are busy living day to day. Not everyone can do it. It is a wise saying: "If God does not exist, he must invent it."
  Value standards vary widely from person to person. One of the fundamental reasons for this is that the same thing is perceived in different ways. For example, the same color is perceived in different ways. When one sees a red piece of paper, some people think of the red of an apple, while others think of the wavelength range. The definition of that wavelength range may also say slightly different things to different people. Some people do not recognize red in the first place. If correctness were unique, there would be few differences among people. This suggests that value standards are relative. This results in different standards. A simple example is religion. Many people believe in different gods. In this world of discourse, like a house of cards, it would be helpful to establish as reliable a guideline as possible in order to build a logic for examining issues. For example, if the definition of red is given in terms of a distribution of wavelengths, the differences between people in terms of the definition can be greatly minimized.
  People have many values implanted in them through the process of their upbringing. In order to pursue the truth, I want to reset everything once and think from a zero base[13]. For this purpose, I would like to consider a means to construct a value system from a materialistic standpoint, discarding the value system built up by discourse.
  However, materialistic value systems also depend on language. The use of a method that is considered more certain does not mean that it is absolutely correct. In materialistic thinking, one is not given absolute values by God; one simply searches by trial and error for the direction one thinks is more correct [13]. It cannot be determined that this is absolute. Materialistic values are necessarily relative. In the first place, there may be no such thing as value in reality. It may only be something that each person spontaneously creates in the course of his or her life.
  From the outside of the galaxy, the human species is an organism that continues to regenerate itself over many generations, maintaining homeostasis on the surface of the solar system's planet Earth. In addition to individual physical regeneration, the regeneration of the human race has become important, giving rise to the appendage of culture. Culture has a great influence on physical rebirth. Within that culture, one of the key elements for continued rebirth would be value. Even if one concludes that value was not a given in materialism, in reality one cannot live without being based on value. One knows this empirically.
  Considering that one person's life is a moment in the history of the universe, it is important to consider what one can leave behind for future generations, and the key to considering the implications of this is the structure of the universe and human society. It is said that there are a vast number of universes, and that only in a very specific universe can humans with advanced civilizations exist [14]. Furthermore, in the 10 billion years of history of this universe alone, the history of humanity is only 2 million years old, writing began to be used 5,000 years ago, Western science with Socrates and Aristotle as one of its origins began 2,400 years ago, and Mahlon Loomis proposed wireless communication only 150 years ago [15]. As yet, no other civilizations other than humans on Earth have been found. We are living in a rare moment in a special space.
  The continuity of life, which is continuous for generations, is undoubtedly of paramount importance. For without it, there is no source from which to even think about anything. If life is not regenerated, there is no one to carry the value system, and its value will disappear. The author believes that the leading candidate for the center of the materialistic value system is the gene. It is a value system centered on DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) [16]. Even if there were no value in life, as soon as the value of life is denied, the individual with the idea would have no chance of survival, and such a culture would disappear. Even if the idea is scientifically wrong, the culture suitable for survival will remain. Even if we have reached the truth of the value of life, what we should ultimately consider is the art of survival. From this perspective, if there is any meaning to exploring the value of life, it is the possibility of obtaining hints about the art of survival.
  Even if there is no answer to the question of what to live for from a scientific standpoint, the question of what to live for as a practical matter remains. In literature, for example, it is expressed in terms of love and human connection within the family. It would be worthwhile to explore what it means when we look at it in scientific detail.
  Here, the author provides guidelines for reconstructing the value system through materialistic considerations. In addition, the author describes the scientific method necessary for the reconstruction. To this end, specific examples will be given.
  These studies are being examined in a field of study called philosophy of science. For example, one of the most important theories that science has brought to bear on the value criterion is quantum theory. It holds that all events are not predetermined destinies, like machines turning on gears, but rather probabilistic events. Strictly speaking, it is impossible to predict the future definitively. It can be said that various possibilities are open to us.
  In the search for value in science, one of the most advanced research areas is the study of the brain using optics. This is because the brain is the source of value, and optics is a suitable method for elucidating the high-speed signal exchange that occurs in the brain. I believe that capturing the faint signals of neurons in the brain at high speed in a way that does not affect the signals will be useful in elucidating the brain.
  After a discussion of language-based values in this chapter on "Materialism," the chapter on "Philosophy of Science" will discuss the scientific method of verifying such values from a materialistic standpoint.

Nietzsche and Buddah