Disclaimer: Read the following article at your own risk. The author won't be held responsible and won't refund your expenses for yourself using disprin after reading this one. This is not meant for the faint hearted. It might get very confusing from the beginning itself, and will be the ultimate test of your patience, well except if you have previously been exposed to my killer pjs :D
So let’s start.
I have been thinking for quite some time, the basis of predicting the future, and if it is at all possible, and if possible, of any use at all. Let us say, I go to an astrologer, and he predicts something undesirable happening to me, say a road accident. For the time being, let us also believe that whatever he has predicted must come true. Naturally, over the next few days, I would try to keep away from the roads and lock myself at my home, but that would lead to the future foretold by the astrologer to be false. So, in effect, by warning me of an imminent danger, the future as predicted by the astrologer wouldn’t happen.
Also, if the future predicted, is like the writing on the wall, and will have to happen in spite of anything and everything I do, then, what's the use of me knowing the inevitable future and fretting about it until the time that it actually happens?
So, my point is, if someone or something were ever able to predict future, they should only be able to predict various, actually, hundreds of different realities that could have existed that would depend on the different reactions of a person to a single action. And now comes the chaos theory (I won't define it, coz even if I do; you are going to look it up for yourself).
For a very crude understanding, from an oft sited illustration: A butterfly's wings might create tiny changes in the atmosphere that may ultimately alter the path of a tornado or delay, accelerate or even prevent the occurrence of a tornado in a certain location...That's chaos theory for u...When we apply the chaos theory in this context, we can conclude that the farther the future predicted, the lesser is the probability of it happening, as it would get influenced by a million actions of a million people!
So, instead of predicting an accident in the next few days, the astrologer should have told me, that if you are out on a bike on the wrong side of the road at 9 in the morning near adajan circle on a weekday, the chances of an accident are very high, they decrease if you are at the right side, if you are in a bus they will be even less, finally if you are at home due to a bunk, no probs dude!
On a lighter note, a person or machine that could somehow predict accurate future should be able to predict different scenarios on how I will fare in my test, if I ate khaman in my breakfast, or dosa, or patra, or just corn flakes!
Random thought: Would the world have been the same if Alexander the great, had had a bad stomach just before he attacked India or is it possible that different sneezing patterns of the Mahatma, could alter the course of history?
So let’s start.
I have been thinking for quite some time, the basis of predicting the future, and if it is at all possible, and if possible, of any use at all. Let us say, I go to an astrologer, and he predicts something undesirable happening to me, say a road accident. For the time being, let us also believe that whatever he has predicted must come true. Naturally, over the next few days, I would try to keep away from the roads and lock myself at my home, but that would lead to the future foretold by the astrologer to be false. So, in effect, by warning me of an imminent danger, the future as predicted by the astrologer wouldn’t happen.
Also, if the future predicted, is like the writing on the wall, and will have to happen in spite of anything and everything I do, then, what's the use of me knowing the inevitable future and fretting about it until the time that it actually happens?
So, my point is, if someone or something were ever able to predict future, they should only be able to predict various, actually, hundreds of different realities that could have existed that would depend on the different reactions of a person to a single action. And now comes the chaos theory (I won't define it, coz even if I do; you are going to look it up for yourself).
For a very crude understanding, from an oft sited illustration: A butterfly's wings might create tiny changes in the atmosphere that may ultimately alter the path of a tornado or delay, accelerate or even prevent the occurrence of a tornado in a certain location...That's chaos theory for u...When we apply the chaos theory in this context, we can conclude that the farther the future predicted, the lesser is the probability of it happening, as it would get influenced by a million actions of a million people!
So, instead of predicting an accident in the next few days, the astrologer should have told me, that if you are out on a bike on the wrong side of the road at 9 in the morning near adajan circle on a weekday, the chances of an accident are very high, they decrease if you are at the right side, if you are in a bus they will be even less, finally if you are at home due to a bunk, no probs dude!
On a lighter note, a person or machine that could somehow predict accurate future should be able to predict different scenarios on how I will fare in my test, if I ate khaman in my breakfast, or dosa, or patra, or just corn flakes!
Random thought: Would the world have been the same if Alexander the great, had had a bad stomach just before he attacked India or is it possible that different sneezing patterns of the Mahatma, could alter the course of history?
