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Parts of the paper made me think about how we model reality mathematically according to the basic laws of chemistry and physics. I've often wondered how we figured out how to model the world this way and why it works. The idea that rules and properties could be just one way of viewing the world instead of the ultimate one is something that I've been confused over for most of my life. I would read as much as I could about mathematical and engineering concepts at an age when I really couldn't understand what was going on and I would try to make sense out of how we came to have these laws. I couldn't figure out why they worked.

Like Descartes said, some things are what they are and we can't imagine them in another way, i.e. mathematics is sound and it is the only thing we can be certain of. But could there be another way? The question of whether properties and rules are actually characteristic of things external to us or if they are merely made up by our brains in order to make sense of the world is one that may never be answered satisfactorily and that bothers me. Math and physics obviously have some basis in reality because otherwise technology and engineering wouldn't exist and I wouldn't be on this computer right now typing. But how much do we know? How much of our understanding can be applied to the universe at large with predictable results? I'm reading a book right now by Fritoj Capra and he starts off by talking about how the emergence (and yes, he uses that word) of prebiotic cells was governed by the basic laws of chemistry and physics. He makes it clear that there was no mysterious jump from the primordial soup to the first living cell; it is within the realm of our understanding. But what does that mean if laws aren't necessarily the ultimate reality? Why does the world work the way that it does; why do these laws exist? Do they exist everywhere?

And finally, how did the inquirer arise according to these laws? Our brains are hybrid systems, but how did the conscious parts come from the unconscious ones? It doesn't make very much sense to me but it can't make perfect sense to anyone or else we would be done with the question after millennia of debate and finally move on.