One of the best parts of higher education is having someone explain something to you in such a way that you exhale the quintessential "OH!" One such moment was a computer science instructor who stated the now obvious "Random generation is a human construct." It is tempting to observe the chaotic structure of the universe as random, but such an observation would be incorrect. The universe, just as all things in it, is bound by what we understand as physical laws. Under specific conditions all objects operate specifically according to their composition. Our ability to perceive the complex structure of the universe may be limited, but a larger perspective will reveal that all things within the universe follow a specific order. In that sense I believe, to a certain degree, in pre-destiny. The universe is massive, but if you trace any event you will find that it was always meant to occur as it occurred, based on the fact that said event is the effect of an infinite number of causes, all causes of which are in themselves diverse effects.
Anyway, randomness does not exist in a physical model, but only as a conceptual model that we have invented. Even so there are certain logical flaws to randomness we need to observe. Ideally we initialize the concept of randomness to imply chaos or surprise. The best model to demonstrate randomness that we use is the coin toss. Heads or tails seems random enough, and statistical analysis shows that the results hold very close to 50-50. Such analysis is ignorant to all conditions present however. Elevation in relation to air pressure, speed of rotation based on the kinetic energy of the flick, the shape of the thumb and the finger upon which the coin rests, the coin's initial resting state in reference to heads or tails facing upward, the atmospheric conditions, the temperature of the air, etc. If humans were capable of ascertaining all conditions possible we would then create perfect predictions to the outcome of a coin-toss. As such, our fallibility is perfect in allowing us a fair and perfect method for deciding the initial state of a football game. Music is another idiom where I encounter randomness and often so. In the course of electronic composition we use random number generation regularly. It is a very effective tool to avoid the predictability that years of tonal composition have afforded us. Still, even the most elaborate algorithm of randomness is never really random. The other day I was playing my iPod through my stereo. I created a playlist that, as I was using the limited technology of the iPod's "On-the-Go" listing, was not linked in a way any DJ would be proud of. There was no consideration of feel, tempo, key, or splice points, only a list of songs I enjoyed. Instead of put forth the effort to make cognitive and meaningful transitions to songs, I instead employed the "shuffle" feature. As evidenced by my prior statement I am obviously lazy, and as such decided to leave "shuffle" on when listening to Hot Chip's "The Warning" album. Expecting a random distribution of songs from the album order, what gave me the greatest apprehension was that the random distribution played the songs in order of 1, 2, 3, 5, and then selected from the end of the album. The anticipation of unknown segues and an altered energy flow was further disturbing when my usual sense of order was inserted into a chaotic environment. In that sense, with the anticipation of chaos, the most chaotic occurrence was order.
It reminded me of a cartoon I watched as a kid. It was a Sesame Street video I had that was telling stories of all the characters. Oscar the Grouch was talking about how cold it was outside and said "This hot chocolate is going to taste good and yucky." Oscar is a character that has a fine appreciation for negative things. Hot chocolate is a foodstuff that the majority of its consumers find to be quite enjoyable. The fact that hot chocolate is an enjoyable beverage is something that a person with a negative disposition would find disgusting, but as such is counter-intuitive to the fact that a negative person thrives off of negative experiences. Any "yuckiness" present is a sought-after experience, and as such would be considered good. This began an inner-manifestation of a dialogue about good and evil, and how the supposed polar opposites are completely meaningless. In a sense randomness is the same way. The creation of chaos is internal, in which case the superimposition of order upon your given state is the ultimate in chaos. Or so my perceptions have led me to believe.
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2 comments:
Very interesting meditation, Ruxton.
I find it fascinating that events with tiny probabilities of occurring seem to happen all the time. Like running into someone you haven't seen for years in a city thousands of miles from where you grew up. Like Rosenkranz and Gildestern in "Hamlet" flipping a heads 8 times in a row (or however many times that was), randomness sometimes (often, it seems) produces for us miraculous coincidences and patterns. Of course, for every old acquaintance you run into on the street, you walk past thousands more you don't know.
Interesting topic to think about.
i think we get into this habit of associating randomness and chaos with a lack of reason. whether you infer a reason of intent or a scientific reason, everything still has reason, or purpose, or progress, or whatever you want to call it. it's just not always in our grasp to see the pattern behind such occurrences. i met a kid in florence, italy that i played soccer with in grade school. while i contest randomness doesn't apply, it is highly unlikely to happen, but nonetheless a complex series of circumstances in both our lives, and the course of the entire planet nonetheless, managed to merge our paths 5,000 miles from our collective home.
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