ThirstyFish

So graceful.

When we hear or read any nerd-talk about Random Variables, Complex Systems, Chaos Theory, Nonlinear Systems, Turbulence, etc., we run. We like everything to be nice and predictable and linear. Take a look at the tern in the photo. A tern's life and flight is anything but predictable and linear. Yet, she maintains her grace.

Randomness means a lack of pattern or predictability in events. But randomness is a problematic concept. We take a dice roll to be random. Is it? Assuming it is, we can calculate the probability of a given outcome of throwing two dice over a large number of trials, but that does not tell us anything about the next pair of numbers. Despite all the math-talk, the fact is, we still don't even know if random is "random", or simply "unpredictable". It may turn out that there are no random processes at all. Take for example the expanded digits of pi: 3.14159265358979323846264338... which go on forever. Any section of those digits seem to be random, but we're know they're not because they are the digits of pi. When we do know of a process that appears to be random but is not, we call it a pseudorandom process. It could be that everything is pseudorandom?

Here is a question worth lingering over. Why do we worry about "unpredictability" so much when we don't even address the things we think "we know for sure"? Do we really need to predict the unpredictable? Maybe we should just embrace uncertainty as the tern embraces turbulence, and make constant little corrections here and there.

The best way to comprehend Zen is zen (absorption); To experience life, rather than just reading about it and studying it. And the quickest way to extinguish cognizance is to anguish over what is unpredictable. Can one really have foreknowledge of what is worth knowing?