Thoughts on Gleick's "Chaos" LO4521

Tobin Quereau (quereau@austin.cc.tx.us)
Sun, 31 Dec 1995 19:44:20 -0600 (CST)

Replying to LO4454 --

On 27 Dec 1995, Willard Jule wrote:

> 1. Gleick describes the fact that Feigenbaum measured a certain
> characteristic universality that occurs on the real number line. He goes
> on to point out that when you explore the imaginary plane, you find lots
> of neat complexity that manifests itself in the universality on the real
> number line. As a physicist, I was trained to do my numbers in a way that
> I could extract the real number from the imaginary numbers because this
> real number is what can be measured in the real world.
>
> A little flight of fancy occurred to me in the shower this afternoon after
> three cups of high octane coffee and with the added stimulus of pine soap
> essence. What if we all reside on the imaginary plane? While we are
> "alive", i.e., living in our physical manifestation, we are existing on
> the real number line. We can measure our existence and that of others. In
> a sense, we exhibit universality, i.e., we are all recognized as human
> beings (? :))
>
> When we die, maybe we go off the real number line onto other portions of
> the imaginary plane. We no longer carry a physical manifestation but only
> a spiritual one. We then mix in whorls within whorls and reemerge on the
> real number line in a different physical manifestation. Maybe we carry
> some information with us so we don't have to relearn all of history; maybe
> we come around multiple times with ever greater "intuition." We could
> easily imagine that this imaginary plane is heaven because we are not
> limited by our physical manifestation while we are there; we could even
> carry this idea forward through multiple manifestations so that future
> generations believe in an after life.

In reading this, I was reminded of a class I once attended which was
taught by a Tibetan lama (teacher). At the beginning of the course, he
advised us to treat all beings as though they were our mothers (this
includes, of course, our current mother!). The implication was that, in
all liklihood, they already have been.... Whether or not one assumes
reincarnation to be a "reality", the advice seems inherently useful to me.

[snipped comments for logicians]

> 3. In some phase space, elements which seem to be unconnected dust have
> been proved mathematically to in fact be connected by almost invisible
> filaments. If we are each a particle of dust, we are still all connected
> through the fact that we are nodal points in space and time in the same
> phase space defined by the planet earth's history. We are similarly
> connected to all people who have not yet appeared on the real number line.

Would you believe strands of DNA?

> When I was on "The Wall" at the Pecos River Learning Center (used to exist
> in Santa Fe) and I was tied to two other people, it became so obvious that
> I would choose my actions in an interdependent context because I could see
> that I was interdependent. It was also obvious that many people don't see
> the gossamer strands that connect so they choose their actions as if those
> strands aren't there. The results of these actions are so removed in
> space and time that these people learn that these actions are OK, i.e.,
> produce the results they want.
>
> So is it possible for us to help others see this interdependent reality
> which will enable them to interact differently with their situations and
> thereby create results that add value for a broader set of stakeholders
> without subtracting value from some other set?

It _is_ possible, I would say, as many great teachers from every age have
demonstrated such awareness. What learnings and behaviors, precisely, can
assist us to remain in that awareness seems to be a more difficult
question to answer and one we can each explore for ourself with benefit.

Thanks for the reminders, Willard.

--
In connection,

Tobin Quereau Austin Community College quereau@austin.cc.tx.us