Cybernetic effects fed it back.
But our needs led to want;
We collapsed to a quant.
Hence theology's back on the track.
This limerick is an autobiography and whimsical biography of the universe, a kind of Theory of Everything in panentheism (the theistic worldview holding God to be both transcendent and immanent). It describes my own studies in physics and cybernetics, followed by my material desires leading me into a stage in my career as a quant (financial quantitative analyst), and finally my interest in theology in an effort to find my way back to meaning and purpose, resparking my academic interests in physics and cybernetics.
The allegorical aspect of the five lines is more complex:
- Line 1 — A first cause started a world in which evolution (the "knack") would eventually emerge;
- Line 2 — By means of feedback mechanisms, intelligence emerged and became self-aware;
- Line 3 — Mankind chose to serve their own material needs;
- Line 4 — As a result of this, humans are conscious of themselves as individuals rather than as beings coherent with the universal wave function;
- Line 5 — God guides us in the search to rediscover a selfless worldview.
