Saturday, October 5, 2019
By: Matthew Doucette
Just a short thought:
There is a connection between the following theories and priniciples:
They all describe how we can not know things:
Chaos theory: sometimes known as the butterfly effect, is related to mathematics and describes how small changes in initial conditions can have drastic effects in the future. Edward Lorenz described it: "When the present determines the future, but the approximate present does not approximately determine the future." Chaos theory is what gives us freedom of will even in a universe that is determinnistic. The same way a chess game is ultimately deterministic however even the strongest players (computers and humans) excise their free will to win as the calculations of the determined chess-universe is too complicated to calculate to the end. Just like our universe.
2019-DEC-06 UPDATE: Veritasium just posted a video that beautifully describes and demonstrates chaos theory:
"The Science of the Butterfly Effect" by Veritasium.
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle: is related to quantum mechanics which means it is relate to physics. This means it is related to reality. It describes how we cannot know all properties of a particle in our universe. The more we know one property, the less we know another. This is not because we are not smart enough to know more, it is becuase the universe is, in priniciple, unknowable. 3Blue1Brown describes why and how this is, via a YouTube video, in one of the best explanation I have encountered:
"The more general uncertainty principle, beyond quantum" by 3Blue1Brown.
Gödel's incompleteness theorems: is related to mathematics and is actually two theorems that demonstrate there are inherent limitations of axiomatic systems, such as mathematics itself. It was once thought that an axiomatic system, like our mathematics system that has truths, would also have proofs to those truths. It was thought that no matter how hard these proofs would be, and even if we never discovered them, they would still exist in prinicple. Kurt Gödel proved this wrong in 1931. This does not mean we should stop trying at math, as many truths are knowable and math helps us unlock the understanding of the universe.
Nothing more.
I just found this inherit limitation of knowing to be interesting.
That is all.
About the Author: I am Matthew Doucette of Xona Games, an award-winning indie game studio that I founded with my twin brother. We make intensified arcade-style retro games. Our business, our games, our technology, and we as competitive gamers have won prestigious awards and received worldwide press. Our business has won $190,000 in contests. Our games have ranked from #1 in Canada to #1 in Japan, have become #1 best sellers in multiple countries, have won game contests, and have held 3 of the top 5 rated spots in Japan of all Xbox LIVE indie games. Our game engines have been awarded for technical excellence. And we, the developers, have placed #1 in competitive gaming competitions -- relating to the games we make. Read about our story, our awards, our games, and view our blog.