Happy to quibble about the size of the physical and cognitive spaces... but I was merely comparing the volume of physical space to that of cognitive space. You, by contrast, are comparing the possible configurations of our physical universe to the possible configurations of one person's neurons. I refer to all the possible configurations of our physical universe as "the multiverse," which we may or may discuss over the course of the next few weeks. I'd be the first to agree that the multiverse is "bigger" than any individual's cognitive space.

I plan to moderate, not participate, but I'll introduce myself anyway. I grew up on the hard left wing of the political spectrum--my father was run out of Alabama by the KKK, was on Nixon's "enemies list," and was a Welfare rights activist in one of the poorest counties of one of the poorest states in the country (Boone County, WV). I grew up without running water but got a scholarship to a prestigious prep school and went on to Dartmouth, where a course in logic led me to ditch my dream of winning a Nobel Prize as a research biochemist.

As a philosophy major, I asked every unanswerable question except "What do you do when you graduate?" I served as the lay pastor of a tiny all-black Presbyterian church in West Virginia, then went to grad school. I was halfway through Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary when I realized that my irrepressible imagination made me more qualified for "cult leader" than "faithful minister of God's word." I dropped out of seminary and got a job as a programmer.

Five kids and ten years later, I was still programming but also fighting for educational freedom as president of the New Hampshire Christian Home Educators. A seven-month battle with the New Hampshire Department of Education induced me to quit my job, put my house on the market, and head off to law school. I arrived in Cambridge the year that Barack Obama became the first black editor of the Harvard Law Review.

Three years, one more baby, and a law school degree later I took a job at the Home School Legal Defense Association where I had the privilege of serving an extraordinarily diverse group of clients. I've fought for the rights of Evangelicals, Methodists, Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Muslims, Wiccans, agnostics, and atheists. I've represented parents with deaf children, blind children, psychotic children. I've even represented families that claimed to have survived an alien abduction and two families with children who escaped from Satanist cults.

With that as my own background, I'm a big believer in the power of diversity. I can't wait to see what new experiences this group can share!

I have tagged five FaceBook friends and still need one more participant. Jump on it if you want the last slot!
http://futuremetaphysics.blogspot.com/2011/12/pro...

If you'd like to participate, leave a comment to that effect here.

I need my volunteers to be as diverse as possible, so how about if I take a dozen "possibles" and ask everybody to share a little about their worldview and backstory. Then we can pick six very different people for the actual project.

Don't you wish you knew!

Thanks, Elias. If you like multiple futures, you (might) love David Deutsch's "The Fabric of Reality." He argues that EVERY physically possible future is actual. My "fractal future" notion is quite different--I'm the only person I know who suggests that SOME but not ALL futures exist.

With all due respect, frflyer, I haven't seen much evidence of any "extremely well financed disinformation campaign" by AGW deniers. Can you provide me some links to document that?

I've looked into passive solar--love the concept, but it needs some backup for the days when the sun don't shine.

I didn't see "lawyer" on the list. I think that could make up for ALL the other differences, right there. Government lawyers earn very little, compared to what they could make in the private sector.