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How do you react to things you can't explain

#42
Just to clarify, by "luck" I mean the odds of recreating my particular situation with the same outcome are very slim given all the variables involved. In that one case my outcome did not have the highest probability from the start. Hence I was lucky. I did not mean that luck is some sort of tangible thing that some people(like Han Solo) have and some don't...
 
#44
pmchenry said:
Just to clarify, by "luck" I mean the odds of recreating my particular situation with the same outcome are very slim given all the variables involved. In that one case my outcome did not have the highest probability from the start. Hence I was lucky. I did not mean that luck is some sort of tangible thing that some people(like Han Solo) have and some don't...
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MatticusMania said:
As in 'predestination'? Im not entirely sure, but I dont think so.
Ive rejected the idea for a very long time, and I believe we have free will and the ability to shape our own outcome.
I'll admit, though, that the idea is kind of growing on me, in a sense.
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I think what both of you are describing best fits under Chaos Theory. If you, pmchenry, had been, say, an inch away from where you were, the outcome of that mortar blast may have ended very differently for you. You (very luckily) got a perfect not-storm of initial conditions.

As for predestination, I think that the way things were at the start has everything to do with the the way things are now and will develop (in a Universal sense), but that doesn't predestine our own individual lives within the system. While being born in California put you on a different path than that if you had been born is Uzbekistan, that doesn't pre-determine your actions or where you will end up. Those actions themselves (among other conditions) will set up their own possibly chaotic outcomes as you move through existence.
 
#45
Bloodhammer said:
I think what both of you are describing best fits under Chaos Theory. If you, pmchenry, had been, say, an inch away from where you were, the outcome of that mortar blast may have ended very differently for you.

...

They set up their own possibly chaotic outcomes as you move through existence.
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Chaos Theory is very interesting and there are definitely certain parts of it that I find to be quite valid, but as I know you are aware, the oversimplified version glosses over certain other components of the theory(when applied to larger systems, such as human populations, weather patterns, or astronomical data at least) that have a lot of holes in them. On the small scale, and in computer science and mathematics, though, it's incredibly cool stuff.
 
#46
MatticusMania said:
As in 'predestination'? Im not entirely sure, but I dont think so.
Ive rejected the idea for a very long time, and I believe we have free will and the ability to shape our own outcome.
I'll admit, though, that the idea is kind of growing on me, in a sense.
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Huh. I am sure the concept(pre destination) is bunk. We are what we do, IMO.
 
#48
Bloodhammer said:
I think what both of you are describing best fits under Chaos Theory. If you, pmchenry, had been, say, an inch away from where you were, the outcome of that mortar blast may have ended very differently for you. You (very luckily) got a perfect not-storm of initial conditions.

As for predestination, I think that the way things were at the start has everything to do with the the way things are now and will develop (in a Universal sense), but that doesn't predestine our own individual lives within the system. While being born in California put you on a different path than that if you had been born is Uzbekistan, that doesn't pre-determine your actions or where you will end up. Those actions themselves (among other conditions) will set up their own possibly chaotic outcomes as you move through existence.
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Well said. That describes my feelings a bit more accurately.
 
#49
pmchenry said:
Chaos Theory is very interesting and there are definitely certain parts of it that I find to be quite valid, but as I know you are aware, the oversimplified version glosses over certain other components of the theory that have a lot of holes in them.
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All theories have holes. I wasn't trying to pigeonhole you into an over-simplified example of how the theory works - I was just agreeing that it was circumstance and not a miracle.

Glad you survived BTW.
 
#52
Bloodhammer said:
All theories have holes. I wasn't trying to pigeonhole you into an over-simplified example of how the theory works - I was just agreeing that it was circumstance and not a miracle.
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It is really cool though! I especially like the areas involving fractal mathematics. I've always found it incredibly interesting that atoms resemble tiny simplified solar systems resemble tiny simplified galaxies resemble tiny simplified universes. But I suppose I am drifting off topic...

Bloodhammer said:
Glad you survived BTW.
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Thanks :D me too. Probably should have quit smoking after that, but you know I was right back on that roof an hour later lighting up. :p
 
#53
pmchenry said:
It is really cool though! I especially like the areas involving fractal mathematics. I've always found it incredibly interesting that atoms resemble tiny simplified solar systems resemble tiny simplified galaxies resemble tiny simplified universes. But I suppose I am drifting off topic...
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I wish I comprehended mathematics better. I never was good at it.

I've begun to think of the Universe as not being something in which we exist, but that we ARE. It seems to me that all things resemble each other. :)

pmchenry said:
Thanks :D me too. Probably should have quit smoking after that, but you know I was right back on that roof an hour later lighting up. :p
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Well, in a weird way, that may have been the most practical place to stand right after the fact. Gotta live life to the fullest, in any case! :D
 
#54
LSquared said:
For some reason, I felt the need to get away, quick. I turned and took about 2 steps to the door when lightning hit the tree by the steps, ran down it and jumped to the steel railing where I had been leaning moments before. I was knocked off my feet, into the apartment, which ended up filled with little singed pieces of pine bark. And about 1/2 the electrical stuff was fried throughout the building (including light-bulbs). I was unhurt except for skinned knees and elbows.
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Good thing your SVT wasn't plugged into the ac outlet...Woulda toasted the PT for sure.... :eek:
 
#59
Science has done such a good job of explaining so much of the world that we seem to have forgotten that much of life, maybe all of life, is a mystery.

Once people thought that diseases were caused by evil spirits. Now we know they are caused by bacteria and viruses. A virus is made up of molecules, which are made up of atoms, all of which are obeying the known laws of physics. Mystery solved, right? But wait ... all the atoms in the virus, and in my body, obey quantum physics. So they are particles with definite locations when we measure their locations, and they are probability waves when we aren't measuring them? They get entangled with each other and can "communicate" across vast distances instantly (not just faster than light, but instantly)?

Where does conscious experience come from? If I build a model of a brain, with all the electrical and chemical connections that a brain has, will it be conscious? How does that happen? That seems to occur outside and independently of the laws describing the physical components of a brain, yet here it is, I'm having conscious experience right now.

So how do I react to things I can't explain? With awe and humility.
 

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