First cause formed in physics the knack;
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.
If causality loops have recurred
Consequential-based logic's abjured.
Links acausal confuse
What begins, what ensues —
Life's a paradox, strange and absurd!Causality loops are hypothetical constructs based on speculation that future events, if allowed to impact their own past causes, will lead to logical paradox, and are thus sometimes used to posit that acausal connection cannot therefore exist. Science fiction has many instances of such fanciful implications (they are collectively referred to as the predestination paradox). However, if one does not make the assumption that time-lines (an individual observer's past-present-future chain of causal events) are fixed for all observers (this is technically called an assumption on non-locality); and that if it is possible to revisit and change the past through an acausal connection; then perhaps subsequent events from that point on are within a new time-line for the acausal observer. Non-participating observers on other time-lines will be unaffected, though from then on exist in other worlds, inaccessible to the acausal observer (and vice versa). The implication here is that many time-lines (and thus worlds) may coexist. However, an individual observer only perceives the time-line he is on. He is responsible — because of his acts and observations — for the world he exists in. Thus, a time-traveler can go back in time and kill his own grandfather and still exist, because the world from that point on unfolds differently to his prior recollection. He is on a new time-line. As such, there is no paradoxical causality loop in such a formulation, and the concept of free-will is preserved. Strange as it may sound, such many world interpretations of quantum mechanics are serious candidates explaining the underlying reality of the observable universe.
Having positive cognitive attitude
Can stem from, some say, real gratitude.
When you visualize need,
Don't materialize greed,
Else the Law of Attraction burns latitude.The Law of Attraction is that by training our minds to think positively about our desires we can make them manifest, that mind controls the material reality we experience.Having, or offering latitude, means giving a degree of freedom from normal restraints, limitations, or regulations. For example the scientific method has requirements for rigor in empirical and verifiable evidence. Similarly ethics, such as mercy, compassion and selfless love of ones neighbor, imply we should shun systems of belief that promote excessive material greed that focus on the individual. The proposed Law of Attraction in the recent movie and book The Secret is neither a secret, nor has it passed scientific analysis as a law of nature, and has an ethical basis that for some gives cause to pause. Nevertheless, being positive and affirmitive in life is generally a good thing, and many people believe in the power of prayer, meditation and synchronicity. At some level, the Law of Attraction may indeed work. Some interpretations of the quantum theory of physics do give some credit to the association of matter and mind, but these are not mainstream models and they remain at the fringe of science.
