[MD] Chaos and Goldilocks

[Case]

[David M]
A question, a photin is release from a source.
After time T it may be anywhere in the universe it could have reached it
time T at the speed of light.

Is this chaos?

[Case]
I don't know. I tend to thing of this in probabilistic terms so that a
photons trajectory is fixed barring the probability of it being diverted
from its path by some object particle or gravitational field.

[David M]
I'd suggest that it is also potential and that this potential is present in
all systems unless they were purely mechanicalor pure SQ, and this is never
fully the case, and sometimes even the snooker ball (to use a favorite
Newtonian metaphor) kicks in a way that is unexpected.

The whole point of controlled experiments in science is to reduce the DQ,
the chaos, the potential to see what the SQ looks like under controlled and
unnatural circumstances, and these go wrong most of the time.

[Case]
Science is fundamentally a search for rules and patterns. It is an attempt
to construct a description of reality that is consistent with what we
observe and can form consensus about. Reductionism is a program to find
causes that are necessary and sufficient. You could argue against this on
some sort of philosophical grounds I am sure. But the results of this
approach as so stunningly effective the arguments ring a bit hollow.

The example you give is apt. We can specify the geometric and physical laws
that govern the game of snooker to a very precise degree. But to call any
particular shot in any particular game is a whole different ball games. What
causes a ball to roll into a pocket is all the physics and math plus the
level of intoxication of the shooter, the volume of the jukebox, the amount
of money on the line, the hottie flashing her goods the next table over...
Still it is good to be able to sort causes and effect to approximate what
will happen.


[David M]
As John Du Pre says:

we live in a world of general disorder with some order.

[Case]
This depends a bit on point of view. If you adopt a kind of over arching
omnipresent point of view surely there is not disorder than order in the
universe. If you adopt a human being trapped in the 20th century point of
view, there is more order since we are the authors of order and we live in
our own orderly worlds.