A 'mathematical model for behavior'? What does that mean? Is it necessary? Why not some physical, chemical, biological or psychological component instead? And doesn’t the mathematical just reflect the physical anyway? And if so, which physical component does BD's mathematical model reflect? Why don't the hard sciences employ these mathematical models? Isn't this because their equations represent reality – not just a mere copy? Do these artificial mathematical constructs of BD really add anything to our knowledge of human behavior? Do they really represent a new paradigm for the study and organization of human behavior? Article Summary.
Although it might seem otherwise, the equations of motion, gravity, electromagnetism, and quantum electro dynamics represent mathematical models of physical reality. Although scientists can employ these equations to predict the behavior of matter with an incredible, almost unlimited, degree of accuracy (hence the illusion of truth – which enables our society to put men on the moon, send waves through the ether to produce images and sounds that we can see and hear – via radio, then televisions, now the computer, and create sophisticated and amazingly refined essences to create chemicals for medicines, machines and plastics – all of which make our modern world of technology possible – they know virtually nothing about the hows and whys of these underlying forces, only the whats. Despite the almost magical ability of our engineers to produce endless gadgets to entertain and make our life easier based upon the equations of constant, reliable matter no one knows what gravity, electromagnetism, or photons are. These credentialed specialists know how the world of substance behaves with amazing precision - as matter has no motive force – no free will – no decision making capability (at least seemingly so). However they don’t know how they work. For instance why is there an attraction between two pieces of matter and why is this so called force of gravity directly proportional to their mass and inversely proportional to their distance from each other? No one knows.
In contrast the same scientific community knows exactly how the unpredictable woman works (although not what she is going to do). Her muscles and bones, nerves and synapses – hormones, circulatory system and such are well catalogued and researched. In fact although our community of scientific geniuses can’t predict the precise behavior of any living creature (even that of the tiny insect – only some probabilistic tendencies) they understand the inner workings of Life infinitely more than that of ubiquitous gravity, which is everywhere, omnipresent and active over the entire space-time continuum of our physical Universe. Therefore we have predictable matter worked upon by unknowable forces while we have unpredictable life moved by forces that are understood more clearly by the day- as scientists are working around the clock all over the globe to obtain and refine this knowledge.
However the mathematical equations studied in universities across the entire planet – in every major language that exists – are employing mysterious forces with not even a vague inkling as to how they perform their magic - haven't been able to look inside their box. These tried and true formulas evoke those unanswerable kid questions that seem so simple, “How does gravity work? – Why does it pull two objects together always, everywhere, in all times and places? – Doesn’t it ever get tired?” So the incredibly sophisticated and precise equations derived by Newton, Maxwell, Einstein and Feynman are just mathematical models describing how matter behaves, albeit with a magical level of predictability.
Further the power of these formulas derived from mathematical principles is their ability to generalize their findings into unrelated and surprising realms to make other, even more precise predictions about aspects of our material world that previous generations didn’t even suspect existed.
So two diametrically opposite forms of existence intersect on our small planet – unpredictable life (so much so that we can't even control the tiny cancer cells and viruses that eat up organisms) and incredibly predictable matter. Due to computers and the related ability to make sophisticated machines scientists primarily employ their deep understanding of matter to explore the parameters of unpredictable life – the physical limits of the realm of possible. Thus this first group of scientists employ matter’s formulas to study what life consists of and how it works
Another group of scientists employ probabilistic techniques to predict behavior. (In terms of matter they also began with precise formulas but then proceeded to probabilistic techniques to predict the behavior of so-called subatomic particles.) They have performed elaborate experiments using probability in the attempt to vaguely predict the behavior of animate objects, including the simplest plants. “Most likely it will do such and such.” – “In most circumstances they will probably …” – “For all practical purposes this will happen.”
The more sophisticated the life form the more vague the generalities become – to the extent that we can't even predict what styles of clothes women will be wearing next season – much less next year. Indeed enormous salaries are thrown at individuals who have a proven track record of choosing celebrity types, the next popular fashion, the scent of the season, or the next hit novel or movie. As an indication of importance the ability to predict trends is highly rewarded in our society. Yet none of these unique individuals are scientists or went to school to learn their talent. They just have a special innate sense of what people might buy or be attracted to. Helpless before this barrage of unpredictability the scientist retreats into machines and formulas of predictable material to understand the human organism and how it behaves.
On the contrary the mathematical models behind Information Dynamics; albeit computer generated, general and imprecise, provide a deep understanding of the ways that humans behave – from nutrition to sleep, cultural change, boredom and creativity – achieving the Zone. Yet these mathematical models do not reveal the innate nature of these underlying forces any more than the equations of gravity, electromagnetism or subatomic particles reveal anything about their well studied forces. The mathematical models based upon computer generated graphs just reveal some underlying patterns of human behavior based upon observations of life - primarily of mine and those in the world around me.
Therein lies the new paradigm (not a shift, as this is brand new). As with Newton’s equations, which opened the door to matter; or Maxwell’s, which opened the door to electromagnetic waves; or Feynman’s to the world of subatomic particles (all material worlds) – these models, which have been developed over a lifetime, deal with elemental and fundamental processes that work on human behavior at all times and in all places – independent of culture, language, race, sex or creed. This inadvertent discovery provides a theoretical foundation for a variety of behavioral phenomena based in mathematical patterns rather than biological forms or the mechanics of physics. (Of course real scientists must confirm this theoretical model experimentally before the correlations are validated - turning BD from a proto to a real Science.)
This then is the new paradigm (not a mere shift) that the Universe set up for my Person to discover so many decades ago – due to just a whiff of a notion – nothing else – just a casual hint from a friend about a book he had read for a college class. This peculiar strategy – following the inner directive into unknown lands – succeeded beyond my wildest imaginings – despite no fame – no acclaim – no greatness in the traditional sense. Further the discovery of this new paradigm occured due to my Person being an Outsider – seeing with fresh eyes – further evidence for Kuhn's hypothesis and the decision to follow his conclusions - just because they seemed right.
I bow my head and pray to express the utmost Gratitude to the powers that be for this fascinating Life – a gene pool culmination – a karmic realization – despite the physical pain, the emotional suffering, the toil in relative obscurity. These all pale in significance to the Discovery and its implications – which are still in the process of revelation. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for giving me this Life – whoever you are – whatever you are – that exists everywhere in all places at all times. Another unknowable force that works in a mysterious fashion to achieve seemingly distinct yet unknown ends. Amen.
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