(2.2) EDITOR335
Why do we make crazy stuff up?
The skinner box, otherwise known as an operant conditioning chamber, is a laboratory apparatus used to study animal behavior. When humans are placed in such an experiment and a reward is randomly timed, they will begin to develop rituals they think will produce the reward for them. Similarly, we take all those aspects of life we do not understand, the ones that appear chaotic or random to us, and we create fictions that explain their origins and rituals which we hope will assure better outcomes. Although I posit that reality is deterministic, there is such great complexity within the structure of reality that neither mathematics or reason can predict the next day with accuracy. We are unable to understand the root cause of much of our reality. Therefore we are in a Skinner box, and for all we don't understand, for the metaphysical, we develop rituals and religions to satisfy our ignorance.
One of the most amazing discoveries in mathematics is the simple equation Zn+1 = Zn2 + C ( Z sub n plus one equals Z sub n squared plus C) Sub n because n is the next value inserted and iterated in the equation, when repeated over and over and plotted you get these complex patterns, this becomes what is called the infinitely complex Mandelbrot Set.
It is my belief that like fractals life is also a simple equation. A simple two variable iteration that creates huge complexity, but remains true to its founding equation. Consider a complex fractal equation that uses as its variables two differential equations one for our sexual drive, and the other for our curiosity.
I don't pretend to understand the function for life, but I do think that civilization evolves through social competition caused by sexual selection. That the motivation for life is simple, and can be reduced to two variables: "competition" and "curiosity".
Snowflakes, trees branching, lightning, and ferns are all examples of fractals in nature. Fractal geometry is capable of describing many irregularly shaped objects or spatially nonuniform phenomena in nature such as coastlines and mountain ranges. I can not give you the formula that would produce human civilization, I only suggest a reasonable and logical approach to understanding the human condition is far more promising than the metaphysical interpretations we have been given by mystics.
In conclusion: Our reality is practically infinite, and far too complex for our finite minds to comprehend, so in frustration, sometimes we make crazy stuff up, can you blame us? We are only human, temporal souls within a vast incomprehensible reality. But, sometimes we can look out and understand a little, and then say great words for it.
— To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing.
— Macbeth (Act 5, Scene 5,
This is one in a series that I am developing to explain reality and Christianity, as I see it, form the point of view of now 70 years of seeing it.
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