[MD] Chaos and Goldilocks

[David M]

> [Case]
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.

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.

DM: I think this point of view if fully adopted is a fantasy and delusion.
I think science's ability to deliver on the reductionist programme is far
from a clear success, so 'stunningly effective' is just an opinion and can
be argued against see John Horgan's The End of Science for example.
And what use is any god's eye view when quantum theory could turn
out,under some interpretations, to mean the genuine indeterminacy of all
systems.


> 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.

DM: Approximate is good, and snooker is pretty predictable,
but outside of such an artificial set up the 'potential' outcomes in most
open systems are vast and on a knife edge, such that quantum
fluctuations means that there is no way to determine outcome for
any observer. Science is useless here, check out the whether forecast
for example. I think we overstate the power of science due to what
in can achieve by artificial., i.e, technological progress. Larger scale 
control,
it is pretty useless, just look at social problems and world problems.