For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the message was lost.
For want of a message the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
--Old nursery rhyme
When a butterfly flaps its wings in India, that tiny change in air pressure could eventually cause a tornado in Iowa.
--oversimplified explanation of "chaos theory"
By some counts, there are 70 references to "casting lots" in the Hebrew Bible and 7 in the Christian New Testament. Casting lots /drawing lots was often used as a way to divine (pun intended) God's will, as well as to settle something, such as the Roman soldiers dividing Jesus' clothing amongst themselves by drawing lots. All chance, really. How do the bones fall? Who draws the short straw? What do the tea leaves look like in the empty cup? Why am I still alive when everyone who loved me has died? In a chaotic world, I find it both strange and at the same time quite reasonable that people would turn to "games of chance" in an attempt to understand and accept the universe.
I also find it interesting that as human beings we are drawn to games of chance - think of everything from carnival games to online (or any) gambling, to most every card game or board game there is. Even if there's a modicum, or a large helping of skill involved, there's still an element of chance. Casting lots to see what the universe has to say to us today, and adding stakes to that - if you draw the long straw, you "win"; draw the short straw, you "lose."
Is it all truly random? Albert Einstein is reputed to have said "God doesn't play dice with the universe." This was not Einstein's way of saying he believed in God - he made it very clear he did not, at least not in the sense of the Judeo-Christian traditions. Rather, it was his response to the emerging science of quantum mechanics - a science for which his own work laid the foundations, the bizarre and wonderful (in the root sense of that word) and seemingly completely random way in which particles interact at the subatomic level. But the though is that even at that level, there are some "laws" governing those interactions, even if we cannot yet understand them.
One thing I do know, despite the old nursery rhyme and the butterfly effect, is that we live our lives mostly at a macro level, where we are governed by different laws than those at the quantum level. We are free to make random choices, to draw lots, to just totally do something out of the ordinary. But we just might not be free of the consequences.
— Zachary
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the message was lost.
For want of a message the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
--Old nursery rhyme
When a butterfly flaps its wings in India, that tiny change in air pressure could eventually cause a tornado in Iowa.
--oversimplified explanation of "chaos theory"
By some counts, there are 70 references to "casting lots" in the Hebrew Bible and 7 in the Christian New Testament. Casting lots /drawing lots was often used as a way to divine (pun intended) God's will, as well as to settle something, such as the Roman soldiers dividing Jesus' clothing amongst themselves by drawing lots. All chance, really. How do the bones fall? Who draws the short straw? What do the tea leaves look like in the empty cup? Why am I still alive when everyone who loved me has died? In a chaotic world, I find it both strange and at the same time quite reasonable that people would turn to "games of chance" in an attempt to understand and accept the universe.
I also find it interesting that as human beings we are drawn to games of chance - think of everything from carnival games to online (or any) gambling, to most every card game or board game there is. Even if there's a modicum, or a large helping of skill involved, there's still an element of chance. Casting lots to see what the universe has to say to us today, and adding stakes to that - if you draw the long straw, you "win"; draw the short straw, you "lose."
Is it all truly random? Albert Einstein is reputed to have said "God doesn't play dice with the universe." This was not Einstein's way of saying he believed in God - he made it very clear he did not, at least not in the sense of the Judeo-Christian traditions. Rather, it was his response to the emerging science of quantum mechanics - a science for which his own work laid the foundations, the bizarre and wonderful (in the root sense of that word) and seemingly completely random way in which particles interact at the subatomic level. But the though is that even at that level, there are some "laws" governing those interactions, even if we cannot yet understand them.
One thing I do know, despite the old nursery rhyme and the butterfly effect, is that we live our lives mostly at a macro level, where we are governed by different laws than those at the quantum level. We are free to make random choices, to draw lots, to just totally do something out of the ordinary. But we just might not be free of the consequences.
— Zachary
(This is "Macoff")--- Yes, we can operate at a "macro" level and believe we have "free will," and it makes little difference to our assessment of ourselves. I believe you've written an introductory chapter to your new book here! What new book? I don't know!
ReplyDeleteThank you Macoff, for the kind and encouraging words.
ReplyDelete