Is Everything Determined and Parables of the Kingdom  --Samantha Wiktor

While reading “Is Everything Determined,”  by Stephen Hawking, I was trying immaculately hard to wrap my head around the author’s concept, but in the end, found it confusing and frustrating.  He addresses some fairly large issues and makes great comparisons such as, the effective theory of fluid mechanics not being exact but then contrasting his example by reminding us that we use this theory successfully in the design of ships or oil pipelines.  I think that through this reading I learned that, yes, we do know enough to predict certain situations.  I know that if I place my hand on a hot over, it will get burned.  This is common knowledge discovered through experience.  I’m not sure that we, as a human race, could ever come to the point of knowing or through a set of laws being able to predict what will happen in every circumstance possible, but it is a very interesting thought.  Hawking even says himself that “the idea that there is some grand unified theory that determines everything in the universe raises many difficulties.”  I think throughout this essay, Hawking is searching for something comparable to the golden rule.  Do to others as you would have them do to you.  I think that Hawking wants to take something this simple and universally known and create a rule or set of rules that function in the same way.  He is looking for a golden rule for determining everything.  This, then, raises a problem of authority.  Who is to say that Hawking’s set of theories or rules are greater and should be accepted over my set of theories or rules.  Hawking then touches on free will and says that, “..if we are all determined by a grand unified theory, none of us can help what we do, so why should anyone be held responsible for what they do?”  This applies to the insanity theory that loosely says, if you are crazy and commit a crime, you receive a free pass.  We, as a human race can not function with a grand set of theories or rules.  We need the free will and capacity to let some events and situations determine themselves.

In “Existentialism,” I liked when the author talked about anguish.  He first asks what is meant by anguish and then proceeds to claim that man is anguish.  We, as a human race are and embrace anguish.  He is obviously an observer of people when he loosely claims that even though some people claim not to be anxious, we say they are hiding it.  I think that is absolutely true.  Personally, I have never met anyone that wasn’t anxious about at least one thing.  If not anxious, then nervous.  Or, as Sartre put it, is someone with an “uneasy conscience.”  We all have something that we’re unsure of or nervous about.  There are always decisions to be made and different problems that come up daily.  I thing that Sartre is trying to help us understand that when we throw this feeling off as unimportant or, in another case, become completely overwhelmed by an anxious feeling, we are not alone and he reminds us that all of human kind feels this way at some point or another.  He makes the observation that, “anguish is evident even when it conceals itself.”  I agree with this statement because I know that I have become pretty experienced at covering up my problems.  I don’t want others to feel sorry for me or feel the need to reach out and help me at any time.  That doesn’t mean that I don’t have any, it just means that I have, as Sartre says, concealed them. It’s helpful to read this passage and to remember that anguish is here and all too present in the human race. 

Is Everything Determined/Parables of the Kingdom

Team Minotaur

Is Everything Determined/Parables of the Kingdom

World views are very diverse for the most part but I believe in these two articles that they are similar in the argument that everyone is responsible for our own actions. Hawkins makes states this argument as the third problem he see with determinism. We claim to have free will but he believes this could be just an illusion. Furthermore, he state that the human brain is subject to the uncertainty principal. We have an element of randomness in human behavior and we cannot predict human behavior.  Hawkins summaries this with, we must adopt what he labels the “effective theory” that one has free will and is responsible for one’s actions. Jesus in, “Parable of the Kingdom”, and under “Ten Talents”, gave special number of talents to three servants. These servants we to make good of these talents and return back to his lord. Two to these servants utilized the talents and produce double talents upon their return and we allowed to enter in the kingdom of heaven. There was one that did not utilize the talent but buried this away and out of his sight. When he returned to his lord he did not have talents to offer and was denied to enter as the other servants had. His lord said to him “For unto everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. I interpret this as we are in control of our own destiny and we are responsible for our personal outcome. If you don’t contribute to a better way of life and don’t work hard for the things you desire, then you will not be rewarded with such. This is not to say that some people aren’t born with a “silver spoon”, but someone in the ancestors worked for this outcome and provided this lifestyle from their hard work. Even those that did not have to work as hard as family members before them will often lose the fortune or gifts if they too don’t work hard to keep it. You get in what you put forth. If you make bad decisions there will always be a consequence for your actions.

words

"thank you dance"

http://www.reshareworthy.com/humpback-whale-rescue/#hYGwsf4uF4wmzGHU.01

Team Unicorn: Certainty vs Bewilderment

                In order to maintain some sense of sanity (whether that sanity be real or imagined), humans like you and I are certain to need certainty. The anxiety and stressors placed on the average person usually stem from some combination of uncertainties in their lives. We are comfortable knowing that a dog is a dog, a paycheck brings in money, and household belongings will be there upon returning home. These tangible ideas are what keep people going. Religion is one of these tangible ideas that ease people’s discomfort about what we truly mean and how we fit into the world or universe. This is not necessarily a negative idea; that we have to put ourselves into the realm of the known in order to deal with the unknown. It allows us to move forward and for some, instead of fear the unknown, explore it. The quest for knowledge is the quest for certainty. What we find may also leave us bewildered, unable to comprehend the possibilities outside of what we know to be concrete. The theory that I am merely a holographic version of actions being performed by a two-dimensional version of myself out in the “universe” somewhere is completely bewildering. It also creates that sense of “enchantment that follows a complete collapse of reference and reconcilability.” This is the driving force behind progress. Bewilderment is necessary. It reminds us of our insignificance, while also reminding us of the relative role that we play.

Our Universe May Be a Giant Hologram--Samantha Wiktor

I think it’s very interesting how Greene explains his life growing up and how it affected him in his daily life as an adult.  He questions the limitations of human perception and knows, even at a young age that our minds are limited by what we see.  He says the word “universe,” actually means “all there is.”  So to say that the notion that more than one universe exists is a contradiction in itself.  We can not have confidence in an alternate universe when this one that we know of, are familiar with, and have grown up in, is all that we’re set up with.  We are unable to live with a level of certainty due to the fact that our universe is being questioned.  All of these questions being asked about our universe and the parallel universe we live in reminds me of the movie, Inception.  In this movie the characters explore new and different realities and allow themselves to live and be apart of somewhere completely new and different, with each level of their understanding and thinking being questioned.  Just watching the movie I was constantly confused and frustrated.  The different levels of thinking were maddening to never be sure of how or where your true person originated would be too frustrating.  How can we take something that is so familiar to us and transform it into something different?  We would constantly be living a life of confusion and I think that would eventually drive us all mad.