DAVID BIRNBAUM PHILOSOPHY

DAVID BIRNBAUM PHILOSOPHY

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♦♦ DAVID BIRNBAUM PHILOSOPHY ♦♦

Does the Universe Self-Iterate?
focus: Summa Metaphysica’s Potentialism Theory

Published by guestposting
February 18, 2014, Category: Physics

MIT Quantum Physicist Seth Lloyd proposes in his book Programming the Universe (First Vintage Books, 2006) that the entire universe is like one all-encompassing quantum computer. According to Lloyd this evolving and computing quantum enterprise continuously self-iterates (builds upon itself) as it advances forever forward unto greater and greater complexity:
“All interactions between particles in the universe….convey not only energy but also information; in other words, particles not only collide, they compute. What is the entire universe computing ultimately? Its own dynamic evolution…As the computation proceeds [and iterates], reality unfolds.”

According to Lloyd the history of the universe is the history of one ongoing quantum computation and iteration: “At first, the patterns it [the universe as quantum computer] produced were simple, comprising elementary particles and establishing the fundamental laws of physics. In time, as it processed more and more information, the universe spun out ever more intricate and complex patterns, including galaxies, stars, and planets. Life, language, human beings, society, culture—all owe their existence to the intrinsic ability of matter and energy to process information… (p. 3)… “Each revolution has laid the ground-work for the next….” (p. 5)

But what dynamic is driving this quantum computation enterprise forward? And is complexification, as per Lloyd and several other contemporary scientists, truly its key goal? Or is Lloyd perhaps correct vis à vis his daring proposal concerning the mechanism (quantum programming), but not quite on-the-mark with his hypothesis (complexification) as to the key cosmic goal?

Interestingly enough, Lloyd’s (2006) concept of a self-iterating universe dovetails with the original metaphysics proposed by conceptual theorist David Birnbaum in his 1988 (Summa Metaphysica I). According to Birnbaum’s theory, an eternal cosmic dynamic exists – Infinite Quest for Potential – and this dynamic marshals the equations of Physics-Math (parallel to subsequent Lloyd) to ignite and then drive the universe forward. This (Infinite Quest for Potential) dynamic is the catalyst for the Big Bang, life, evolution, language and consciousness.  According to Birnbaum, his Infinite Quest for Potential is continuously self-iterating. It continuously builds-upon its ever more extraordinary ‘platform’ as it seeks to leap-onto a still more exceptional ‘platform’ and onward and onward.

If we wrap Birnbaum’s conceptual Infinite Quest for Potential theory around Lloyd’s ‘mechanism’, the universal quantum computer, we end up with a seamless and fully-integrated schema. (Birnbaum’s) Quest for Potential drives (Lloyd’s) the universal quantum enterprise, and the direction/purpose of the self-iterating quantum computations is (Birnbaum’s) penultimate potential.

Birnbaum  identifies/defines this penultimate potential as extraordinariation  – the cosmic teleology (the cosmic purpose): Quest for Potential∞ is probing and searching for (elusive) ultimate – grandeur…elegance…beauty…symmetry…fulfillment….harmony…artistry…symphony…
spirituality…perfection…humanitarianism…altruism…mercy…romancing… love….parenting…meaning
…..and ever-higher and higher  consciousness…the elusive  extraordinariation.

Andrei Alyokhin,  Professor of Biology and Ecology at University of Maine wrote November 2012, “…Summa represents a bold attempt to formulate a unifying concept of the Universe…it is reasonable to propose the Quest for Potential∞ as a working hypothesis for explaining the impetus behind the cosmic dynamic….” Echoing the iconic Claude Levi-Strauss (2006), British journalist Oliver Burkeman called Summa “remarkable and profound.”

Wrapping Birnbaum’s (self-iterating) Infinite Quest for Potential around and through Seth Lloyd’s (self-iterating) quantum programming enterprise strengthens both theories and provides both the conceptual and the mechanical for understanding the cosmic order. The integrated (self-iterating) Birnbaum-Lloyd metaphysics emerges as a uniquely elegant and powerful schema.  Indeed, on the global intellectual chessboard, there is no paradigm to seriously challenge it.

 


DAVID BIRNBAUM PHILOSOPHY

DAVID BIRNBAUM PHILOSOPHY

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♣♣ DAVID BIRNBAUM PHILOSOPHY ♣♣

New Paradigm Designer

By JastinBailey

Tue Feb 11, 2014 7:52 PM

 

A paradigm is a model: It can be real or theoretical and it conveys the core architecture proposed. David Birnbaum of NY is a new paradigm designer. He has a 4-decade-long habit of designing and then implementing new paradigms. Yeshiva-educated (13 years) and Harvard-educated (2 years), he is at the helm of transformative new paradigms in disparate fields.

Warm Up

Birnbaum’s first foray into the realm of ‘new paradigm’ was as the designer in 1983 of a unique ‘cutting edge’ course, which he taught in the evening, for the New School for Social Research in Manhattan. The course was The Science of Strategy in which Birnbaum showed, over a 12-session course series, how a set of (universal) strategic principles he compiled could be applied as a starting point to deal with a wide array of problems and challenges.
Unique Business Model

Birnbaum revolutionized the hi-end luxe jewel industry in the Americas with the unique new paradigm construct of his Upstairs Private Jeweler operation. Operating with just a small elite team out of a seventh floor suite in the Rockefeller Center area, Rare 1 purveys ultra-rare jewels globally and directly to VVIP end-users.

Birnbaum’s ‘day job’ is heading Rare 1, his flagship international rare jewel operation. The firm, founded in 1982, employs a unique business model which has weathered the turbulence of global change and remains the template of the firm to this day.

The firm has refined the concept of direct pinpoint database marketing of a hi-end product. The firm markets via ultra deluxe catalogues to the top 1/10 of 1% of the global financial spectrum. Its direct competitors, the established iconic Fifth Avenue retailers, are saddled with massive retail frontage overhead and the concomitant quite necessary, quite high margins.

The unique Rare 1 business blueprint was conceptualized and designed by Birnbaum in the early 1980s. While its ‘Designer Line’ has morphed over the decades, its core strategy and even its core senior team has remained intact. The firm stands alone at the pinnacle of the Private Jeweler market in the Americas.

Birnbaum refers to Rare 1 as his ‘day job’ and to his wide-ranging neo-academic projects as his ‘night job.’ However, some staffers do ‘double-duty’ focusing on one or the other as needed. Birnbaum quips that depending on the economy “some years the academic books do better than the jewels.” (Nobody believes him.)

Metaphysics

Birnbaum presents a new paradigm challenge to the global academic community. He seeks to overthrow the entrenched staus quo.

Birnbaum’s iconic new paradigm design project has been his quest for a unified metaphysics. He set out to find one Unifying Theory – one that united religion, spirituality, philosophy and science and provided a framework for understanding the totality of the cosmos. No small endeavor. Birnbaum’s three-part treatise Summa Metaphysica I: Religious Man (Ktav, 1988) Summa Metaphysica II: Spiritual Man  (New Paradigm Matrix, 2005) and Summa Metaphysica III: Secular Man (New Paradigm Matrix, 2014) is the answer to that quest. The treatise presents a ‘new paradigm’ philosophical construct.

The centerpiece of an international conference hosted by Bard College in 2012, Summa Metaphysica‘s central concept of Infinite Potential was presented as a breakthrough in philosophy. It is the first theory to quite formidably challenge the ‘entrenched orthodoxy’ – the dominant atheist Randomness Theory – for describing the nature and purpose of the cosmos. Unifying the intellectual, philosophical, and theological, Birnbaum has accomplished what has eluded philosophers and scientists alike for millennia.

Birnbaum focuses on his signature theme of potential. He deploys his Infinite Potential as a“simultaneous solution” which frontally lances more than a dozen previously unsolvable metaphysical issues. In one smooth and logically consistent sweep, Birnbaum lays them open to explanation in a solution poetic in its stunning simplicity, yet powerfully elegant (see Paradigm Wars). No bona fide flaw has been discerned in the theory since it was first introduced in 1988 by Ktav Publishing.

Jewish History

Birnbaum has designed and then implemented two quite-distinctive historical chronicle projects. The inter-related projects both involve chronicling Jewish history via different modalities. The author had twin objectives: (1) Discerning and tackling the core ‘driver’ of historic anti-Semitism, and (2) showing the historical journey of the Jews within rich and textured historical context.

In turn, Birnbaum’s first history project, the 2-volume The Crucifixion takes an additional two tacks: Volume I traces Jewish history from 1 CE – 1300 CE while Volume II focuses on the First Century CE (1 CE – 100 CE) via 80 inter-related exhibits.  En toto the set carefully chronicles how first the early Church Fathers and then their successors laid the groundwork for twenty centuries of anti-Semitism via the institutionalized demonization and dehumanization of the Jews.

His second new paradigm Jewish history project is the 7-volume Jews, Church & Civilization, which is an integrated timeline interlacing the historical points of the Jews with that of the Church and key civilizations including Chinese, Japanese, Egyptian, Russian, French, British, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Indian sub-continent. Both Islamic civilization and noteworthy American and Latin American historical points are incorporated as well.

Jewish Thought

Birnbaum has since turned his attention to designing and launching a potentially landmark spiritual-oriented series, the Mesorah Matrix. The series is an in-the-works, projected 10-volume, 7-year endeavor (culminating by 2020). Birnbaum conceptualized the project, and is heading it as editor-in-chief. The Mesorah Matrix will incorporate essays from over 150 Jewish intellectual leaders from around the world focusing on 10 eclectic themes. The entirety of the work is expected to contain a staggering estimated 200 eclectic essays.

Typically works on Jewish philosophy and spirituality have been limited to under 10-20 authors and usually the book themes have been fairly general. Mesorah Matrix breaks that mold. It attempts to ‘get a handle’ on Jewish Thought by focusing on ten very specific themes, some iconic and some subtle. As one of the senior editors, Saul J. Berman noted, “Before Birnbaum came up with his 10-theme/150 authors concept and jump-started the anticipated seven-year global endeavor, Judaism had never quite been able to ‘get its arms around’ the vast ocean of spirituality at its very core.”

In keeping with Birnbaum’s style, he has challenged traditional denominational barriers; the series will cut across standard demarcations in the Jewish community and shatter the glass barriers between the Orthodox, Conservative, Reconstructionist, Renewal and Reform denominations. Those who follow him closely will find it no surprise that it was Birnbaum who managed to unify the thought leaders of these fiercely independent groups under his aegis for such a monumental and unique undertaking. According to Senior Editor Martin S. Cohen, “The disparate scholars apparently had confidence in the top leadership and its vision; the consequent unification breakthrough engendered by the series has been striking and profound.”

The cross-fertilization of the mini-cultures of the formerly self-segregated denominations engaged in the common-goal project has only served to turbo-charge the dynamism of the project underway. To be published by Birnbaum’s New Paradigm Matrix publishing platform, the first two books of the 10-volume set are expected to be released in late 2014/early 2015 with the entire series expected to be completed by 2020. Titles included in the work will be Sanctification, Kaddish, and Search for Meaning, among others.

Political Science Alchemy

Unable to resist the challenge of ‘dipping his toe’ into the hitherto intractable Middle East quagmire, Birnbaum tried his conceptual hand at a peace framework formulation.  In June 2011, the Jewish World Magazine Group published a new paradigm proposal designed by Birnbaum titled Squaring the Circle. In it, Birnbaum unflinchingly made a point-by-point assessment not only of both Israel and Palestine’s vested interest in finding a solution to the ongoing conflict, but an actual, detailed, integrated, one page peace plan formula as a platform to execute such an accord.

Among the proposals were (1) A de-militarized Palestinian state (2) Key Arab portions of Jerusalem become linked to the nascent Palestinian state (3) Refugees compensated, but no refugees would be mandated by the accord into Israel’s sovereign territory  (4) An Israeli military presence along the Jordan River Valley (5)  A land swap of about 20%  (6) Israel to maintain the key settlement blocks (7)  A phased-in Accord over several years to allow “peace to settle-in.” The audacious, nuanced and multi-part peace plan was widely disseminated, including within the hallowed halls of Washington and the State Department, in particular.

Fast forward 2.5 years to the beginning of 2014 and Secretary of State John Kerry’s emerging ‘framework’ Israeli-Palestinian peace proposal. Surrealistically, in a near point-by-point reading of the proposal, there sits an almost carbon-copy of David Birnbaum’s blueprint from 2011. He notes “Part of me must have a ‘death wish’ for wading into those turbulent and volatile waters.” But if peace is eventually achieved under this new paradigm blueprint, some astute readers will know to look back to Squaring the Circle and give a polite nod to Birnbaum’s not insignificant role in the process.

Conceptual Problem Solver

Birnbaum likes to look at problems afresh. He is averse to being held hostage to the established wisdom’s standard architecture or accepted ‘givens’ or conventional ‘platforms.’ Birnbaum likes to work with a clean slate, a tabula rasa so to speak; he likesto be in position to craft his new paradigm formulations from the ground up.

Birnbaum’s contributions in the new paradigm department are not inconsiderable; but as far as Birnbaum  is concerned, he is just “a pretty good conceptual problem solver with ‘a hang’ for new architecture.”


DAVID BIRNBAUM PHILOSOPHY

DAVID BIRNBAUM PHILOSOPHY

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** DAVID BIRNBAUM PHILOSOPHY **

Paradigm Wars

Posted by: univ7280 Jan 16, 2014

 

In the hallowed halls of academia, competing theories often exist, each with their own supporters. A theory paradigm may reign for many years before a paradigm shift may occur, where one theory overtakes another as the most acceptable concept. The theory that has encompassed contemporary thought is that events in the cosmic scheme of things have occurred through Randomness. Everything that has occurred to create the amazing complex concept of life from the Big Bang to evolution was only because of a random chance according to the theory of Randomness.

One theory that had attempted to challenge the Randomness theory paradigm was “intelligent design” whereby an intelligent source created the universe and the life it contains with a particular purpose. Those that believe in “intelligent design” have not been successful in overturning the reigning Randomness paradigm, and have been ridiculed by many of the atheist academics that support the theory of Randomness. There is another challenger , however, which has formidable possibility to effect a global paradigm change: The Theory of Potential.

The Theory of Potential was devised by David Birnbaum, a yeshiva-educated and Harvard-educated Manhattan native who is a scholar and philosophical writer. His philosophical treatise, Summa Metaphysica (Volume I 1998; Volume II 2005) outlines this theory explaining its theme as the “Quest for Potential”.

Potential is something that can be used to explain the cosmic history of the universe. Potential or the possibility of something is a force that is eternal. According to Birnbaum, potential is what created the universe, and was the key impetus for life itself existing in the world. Birnbaum’s theory is that the “Quest for Potential” is what has motivated the dynamics of evolution, human thought and everything that brings life to its fullest inherent qualities. This “Quest for Potential” is something that can be seen as eternal as it is something that never ends. There is always something within the realm of possibility for growth and positive change.

Summa Metaphysica is a two-volume set that explains Birnbaum’s Theory of Potential in full detail. The first volume is Summa I: God and Evil (1988 KTAV Publishing), and the second volume is Summa II: God and Good (2005 New Paradigm Matrix). These volumes explain how Birnbaum believes that there is “infinite divine potential” in the universe and that this divine potential created our past and will pave the future (see www.philosophy1000.com).

Birnbaum covers a variety of questions that mankind has philosophically asked itself for time immemorial. Thought provoking questions can be answered by his theory like how the universe is so “finely tuned”, the evolution to concepts such as love, consciousness, and the realization of potential along with what it the ultimate goal of the universe.

Although Birnbaum is a universalist, and is not theistic, his use of ‘infinite divine potential’ divine has put him, and his theories into the same crosshairs of those same zealot academics who undermined the “intelligent design” theory. Both ‘intelligent design’ and Birnbaum’s Theory of Potential seek to answer the cosmic questions of the universe, such as how something as amazing as life came to exist. To many of the atheist academics any theory that brings in a divine force is taboo. However, despite the aggressive gambits of those academics who support the theory of Randomness, there is growing global support for Birnbaum’s Theory of Potential.

Birnbaum is well-known as a pinnacle rare gem dealer, but has kept a fot in academe since gradution fro Harvard in 1974. He has been expanding further into academic realm over the past two decades. His multi-media publishing platform is www.newparadigmmatrix.com. Birnbaum is the author of the 7-volume historical timeline chronicle Jews, Church & Civilization. As well he is the editor-in-chief of the anticipated 10-volume, 150 essay Mesorah Matrix series on spirituality. David Birnbaum’s philosophy works are used by many reputable colleges and universities as course texts, which include Christian institutions, as well as world-renowned secular institutions like UCLA, Brandeis and Hebrew University (Jerusalem).

In April of 2012, Bard College in Upstate, New York hosted a 4-day academic conference that focused upon Birnbaum’s Theory of Potential and his Summa Metaphysica. Academics from around the world were invited to attend as panelists and presenters. This conference was a chance for Birnbaum to throw down the gauntlet to challenge the Theory of Randomness and those academics that support it.

One academic who highly engaged with Birnbaum during the conference was Peter Atkins. Atkins is a famous chemist, who is also a noted atheist, stuck with his theory of Decay as answering the big questions while Birnbaum focused on his “Quest for Potential” as the answer. It appears that they each did not really connect with each other on the topic. It was as if they were communicating using a different language on different frequencies.

This gauntlet which Birnbaum has thrown down has not been taken lightly by the academic community in that there seems to be a mysterious movement trying to discredit the conference, defame Birnbaum’s theory, and misreport all that occurred there. The key group that seems to be most interested in turning Birnbaum’s Theory of Potential into the next theory of “intelligent design” are academics who are British, atheist, reductionist and materialist. To combat this shadowy war on his theory, Birnbaum has posted all conference materials and videos through his publishing house, New Paradigm Matrix for the world to see what actually occurred at Bard College (see bard.summametaphysica.com).

Over the past summer a team of 40 temps compiled an email list of a million+ academics at the world’s top 6,000 colleges and 1000 top institutes. So far one direct ‘mailing’ has gone out. The plan is apparently to periodically communicate ‘directly’ with academics globally by leapfrogging over the establishment-controlled journals.

Birnbaum observed the devastation wrecked-upon the ‘intelligent design’ protagonists, with no intention of being delegitimized by anonymous character, assassination gambits orchestrated by erstwhile fancy academics operating from the shadows – whether from atheist-friendly British academia or from anywhere else. David Birnbaum is increasingly the subject of feature articles globally, and has proven his ability to pro-actively ‘get his message out’. His supporters are fully-poised
to expose what they view as the ‘Emperor’s Clothes’ nature of the Theory of Randomness, as well as the rogue gambits and ‘excesses’ of some of its supporters.
Birnbaum supporters are dubious that the Theory of Randomness can withstand truly open debate and scrutiny.

It is widely presumed that the de-legitimization gambits are orchestrated by ‘pinnacle players’ from the entrenched establishment hierarchy in England – and from the hierarchy of related societies. Birnbaum supporters remind academia that the defamation gambits deployed against the ‘intelligent design’ protagonists bordered on criminal behavior, even setting-aside the libel dimension, and setting-aside generally accepted societal norms. They remind academia that the de-legitimization gambits by components of the establishment harken back to the Roman Inquisition of 1615, which found Galileo guilty of ‘vehemently suspect of heresy’ whereby Pope Urban III put Galileo under house arrest – at the behest of establishment astronomers – for propounding heliocentrism.

Although a private scholar and not backed by a university, Birnbaum has garnered forthright support from the academic community. One academic supporter on the side of Birnbaum is Andrei Alyokhin stating “…it is reasonable to propose Quest for Potential as a working hypothesis for explaining the impetus behind the cosmic dynamic”. Alyokhin is an Associate Professor of Ecology at the University of Maine.

Pivotal buttress for Summa Theory comes from the works of MIT’s Seth Lloyd. His 2006 book Programming the Universe seemingly displays a 1:1 correspondence with Birnbaum’s1988 and 2005 Summa works.

Although some academics are affronted – and even outraged – by what they see as an outsider philosopher treading on their’ turf’, increasingly more academics are supporting Birnbaum’s theory and his treatise, Summa Metaphysica. Over the years many have come forward to offer a written testimonial to show that support. Of course many academics have already assigned Birnbaum’s Summa Metaphysica in their respective courses over the past twenty-five years.

Birnbaum is the author of the 7-volume historical timeline chronicle Jews, Church & Civilization. As well, he is the editor-in-chief of the in-the-works 10-volume Mesorah Matrix series on spirituality, which has under its umbrella as essayists 150 leading Jewish thought leaders from around the world.

On the philosophical front, Birnbaum’s Summa treatise has positioned him as the founder of the metaphysical school of Potentialism. Noted intellect Claude Levi-Strauss told French radio in 2006: “Remarkable and profound Suma Metaphysica II rounds-out the author’s powerful and original Cosmic Womb of Potential metaphysics…Has the author indeed founded a new field – Potentialism?”

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DAVID BIRNBAUM PHILOSOPHY

DAVID BIRNBAUM PHILOSOPHY

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Q4P∞: What is it? Why do we care?

Potentialism Theory challenges

Posted by Admin On December 18th, 2013 09:27 PM | Philosophy

 

Q4P  is a  shorthand notation for Quest for Potential.   Potential is the centerpiece of an audacious contemporary theory in philosophy causing a stir around the globe.  It was conceptualized by David Birnbaum at age 32 in 1982.

In 1988 Ktav Publishing House (NJ)  published the first of three volumes of a cutting-edge philosophy work.  The ultimate name of the 3-volume series was  Summa Metaphysica  – which modestly translates into ‘the sum of all metaphysics’.

Metaphyics is a corner of philosophy which deals in the bedrock currents of the cosmic order.  It is the turf of Aristotle, Maimonides, Aquinas and Spinoza.  Few writers dare to tread here.  Historically, the field ‘takes no prisoners.’  Many thousands of metaphysics schemas have been proposed over the past five thousand years; not one has truly withstood the ‘test of time’, including those by the aforementioned philosophical giants.

The second volume of Summa Metaphysica was issued in 2005, seventeen years after the first volume.  At that point its author was 55 years-old.

In 2012,  seven years after the issuance of Summa Metaphysica II,  Bard College, Upstate, NY hosted a  3 ½  day international academic conference on Science & Religion focused on the work and its apparent unification of science, religion, philosophy and spirituality.  Neither at the conference, nor over the past twenty-five years has any flaw been discerned in Summa.  Key conference panelists proposed that Summa achieved ‘aesthetic elegance’, the sine qua non for a great  metaphysics.   The panelists could not come up with the name of any seriously competing paradigm to Summa ( see Bard:  Summa Metaphysica ).   The groundbreaking Bard conference closed on a fine and harmonious note, and all the illustrious conference panelists embarked back home to their respective institutions around the globe.

Eleven months after the close of the conference,  this past May 2013,  as if by ‘spontaneous combustion’,  the academic world erupted in intense global battle over the core proposition of the treatise, the author’s signature theme of  Q4P (Quest for Potential).

The author of Summa Metaphysica, David Birnbaum,  is a Manhattan-based yeshiva-educated and Harvard-educated private scholar. Birnbaum divides his time between what he calls his ’day job’ as an international rare gem dealer, and his so to speak  ‘night job’  wherein he has pursued his academic interests since he  exited Cambridge, Mass. for Manhattan in 1974.

Birnbaum’s  publishing platform, New Paradigm Matrix, which now has over 180 global thought leaders under its aegis, has placed him at the crossroads of discussion. Birnbaum’s academic ‘night job’  has not only gained him a global intellectual platform, but has landed him in the vortex of an international storm over his proposed Theory of Potential,  of which Q4P is the centerpiece.

Academic ‘outsider’ Birnbaum’s cutting-edge Theory of Potential challenges the currently entrenched Theory of Randomness of the Establishment. Although Birnbaum’s philosophy works have been used as course texts at well-over a dozen institutions of higher learning globally the concept of an ‘outsider’ frontally challenging the vey core Establishment wisdom has  outraged many ‘insiders’.  The fact that he might actually be right, has apparently only further incensed matters.

Since 1988 Birnbaum has garnered quite significant support from inside the academic/scientific;  however this  is cavalierly brushed aside by the on the warpath  Establishment group.  To the zealots protecting ‘randomness’, Birnbaum is ‘the horseman of doom’ frontally galloping towards them.

Birnbaum is a ‘universalist’, not hostage to either ‘religious fundamentalism’ or ‘secularist atheism’. His suis generis concept of Quest for Potential (Q4P) straddles the divide between religious and secular. His core Potentialism Theory concept is transcendent; it so-to-speak overarches the cosmic order.

The ‘insider’’ Establishment theory of randomness, however,  championed heavily by the hard-line atheistic academic community, is not only anti-religion, but rejects any transcending dynamic whatsoever, in any shape, manner or form.  Therein lies the seeds of the conflict – and the threat to the ‘entrenched orthodoxy’.

Let us step back a moment at look at the metaphysics chessboard.  Roughly a dozen inter-related classic metaphysics questions have been at the fore of discussion from time immemorial.  All the iconic figures noted above grappled with these issues in their respective writings, and respectively none of their schemas is accepted by the academic community today

Let us look at  a  selection of core metaphysics questions and see how Birnbaum’s Potentialism Theory  – and then the  entrenched  establishment’s Theory of Randomness  – come down on each of these issues.

1) Is there an eternal dynamic ?
Birnbaum:  Yes, Quest for Potential (Q4P)
Establishment: No, none

2) What ignited the Big  Bang?
Birnbaum:  Q4P
Establishment:  Random accident
playing-out across infinite universes

3) What drives the cosmic order?
Birnbaum:  Q4P
Establishment:  Random chance

4) If there is a God what is the essence of God?
Birnbaum:  Potential
Establishment: No God or any transcendent force

5) What was the catalyst for life?
Birnbaum:  Quest for Potential (Q4P)
Establishment:   Random accident

6)What sustains life?
Birnbaum: Q4P
Establishment: no answer

7) What drives  Evolution?
Birnbaum: Q4P ( which includes  genetic survival)
Establishment:  genetic survival alone and  random chance

8)  What was the catalyst for consciousness?
Birnbaum:  Q4P
Establishment:  Random chance

9) Does Man have a purpose?
Birnbaum: To quest for his/her optimal potential
Establishment: No / none

10) Does Mankind have a purpose?
Birnbaum: To quest for its optimal potential
Establishment: No / none

11) Is there a purpose to the universe?
Birnbaum:  The universe seeks its fullest possible potential
Establishment: no purpose

Thus, the battle lines are clear-cut.  Birnbaum layers one single elegant concept across the entire spectrum of issues – and across the timeless cosmic continuum.  Aside from the one issue of Evolution, the Establishment does not even purport to provide one single answer.

The Establishment cannot attack Birnbaum’s Potentialism Theory as it has attacked the ‘intelligent design’ proponents as being a ‘stalking horse’ for Creationism, as he clearly is not.
Birnbaum methodically and clearly addresses all key issues. The Establishment does not. Birnbaum clearly lays-out his Potentialism Theory proposition in a 20+ panel presentation.  The Establishment offers no such blueprint.

Birnbaum’s Q4P construct is a ‘lean and mean’ pure intellectual play. It is so to speak ‘fat free’.  It is, as well, unburdened by any ‘baggage’ from any dogma.

Essentially, Birnbaum’s Potentialism Theory is proposing a new ‘framing concept’ – Q4P – as the underlying bedrock dynamic of the cosmic order. If Summa is essentially on-the- mark, the consequence would, indeed be, a grand unification at a minimum of spirituality, science and philosophy. Many or most fields of study would be impacted to a greater or lesser extent.

As a consequence of Birnbaum’s  offering-up the his  cosmic centerpiece ‘Infinite Potential’ in 1988 and steadfastly advancing the theory both via Summa Metaphysica II and via other modalities, many notables view Birnbaum as the progenitor/originator/founder of a new field, Potentialism.  The author is clear to point out, however, that he views his role as a ‘supporting’ one, and not as a stand-alone field or belief system. See PotentialismTheory.com.


DAVID BIRNBAUM PHILOSOPHY