[MD] Probability

[Ham Priday]

Hi Peter, All --


> Paraphrasing Case; when something becomes 100% certain then it happens, is
> true and real. Another moment later it is history, gone, never to be
> repeated. I am not a scientist but the way I read the famous Uncertainty
> Principle it is about uncertainty in the now; that you can't evaluate all
> properties of the particle simultaneously. I appreciate Case's trial of
new
> ideas but to say 'Uncertainty is Quality' does not have meaning for me.

Nor for me, either.  I think the whole issue of Probability and Certitude is
a red herring.  The fact that a quantum physicist cannot measure or locate a
quark's position at the precise instant he is observing it only demonstrates
that man cannot push the frontiers of knowledge beyond his finite
sensibility.  I see no other relevance of these statistical theories to
one's ordinary experience of reality (present and past), Pirsig's Quality
thesis, or my philosophy of Essence.

The quality we recognize or value in existence is the essence of our
experience.  It has nothing to do with the sub-micro structure of the
universe which is Science's attempt to theorize objectively about what we
can't experience or observe subjectively.  Whether you equate the premise
"The sun will rise tomorrow" as a probability factor or a matter of "faith"
or "trust", the fact is that the mode of human experience is sequential in
time, and we are denied knowledge of the future.  The philosophical
significance of this fact is that we can make free choices based on relative
values in a relational universe.  If man had access to absolute knowledge,
there would be no uncertainy.  But neither would there be any value for him
in the life-experience.

It is one thing for a philosopher to hypothesize a greater reality beyond
experience as the source of all finitude.  It is quite another for a
nihilist to deny the essence of our finite experience on the grounds of a
technicality resulting from the limitation of man's intellect.

Let's face it, folks -- a relational world has its limitations.  We can live
life fully and enjoy its values.  Or we can spend our time despairingly
because we'll never have all the answers.  As free individuals, the choice
is ours.

Regards,
Ham