Central Comedy
Finagle's Law According to Niven:
The perversity of the universe tends to a maximum.
Finagle's Laws of Information:
1. The information you have is not what you want.
2. The information you want is not what you need.
3. The information you need is not what you can obtain.
4. The information you can obtain costs more than you want to pay.
Finagle's Rules of Research
Ever since the first scientific experiment, man has been plagued by the increasing antagonism of nature. It seems only right that nature should be logical and neat, but experience has shown that this is not the case. A further series of rules has been formulated, designed to help man accept the pigheadedness of nature.
1. To study a subject best, understand it thoroughly before you start.
2. Always keep a record of data. It indicates you've been working.
3. Always draw your curves, then plot the reading.
4. In case of doubt, make it sound convincing.
5. Experiments should be reproducible. They should all fail in the same way.
6. When you don't know what you are doing, do it NEATLY.
7. Teamwork is essential; it allows you to blame someone else.
8. Always verify your 'witchcraft'.
9. Be sure to obtain meteorological data before leaving on vacation.
10. Do not believe in miracles. Rely on them.
Conclusion
Yes, all that was amusing. It often seems that the universe is indeed perverse and contrary to human expectation, or elicitive of human unreason. But the underlying reality is that all this is true. We live in a fallen universe. Things in it will NOT work out right. There is no salvation to be had in it, and the laws of thermodynamics agree. Human existence in such a universe would be a meaningless farce if the universe were all that exists (which by some definitions, it is). Dante wrote La Divina Commedia and others have also commented on the comedic nature of life. It isn't merely existential angst which makes us think that life is meaningless. There is no necessity for the universe to have a meaning in and of itself. None whatsoever.
But faith, hope and love, these three abide. And the greatest of these is love.
The perversity of the universe tends to a maximum.
Finagle's Laws of Information:
1. The information you have is not what you want.
2. The information you want is not what you need.
3. The information you need is not what you can obtain.
4. The information you can obtain costs more than you want to pay.
Finagle's Rules of Research
Ever since the first scientific experiment, man has been plagued by the increasing antagonism of nature. It seems only right that nature should be logical and neat, but experience has shown that this is not the case. A further series of rules has been formulated, designed to help man accept the pigheadedness of nature.
1. To study a subject best, understand it thoroughly before you start.
2. Always keep a record of data. It indicates you've been working.
3. Always draw your curves, then plot the reading.
4. In case of doubt, make it sound convincing.
5. Experiments should be reproducible. They should all fail in the same way.
6. When you don't know what you are doing, do it NEATLY.
7. Teamwork is essential; it allows you to blame someone else.
8. Always verify your 'witchcraft'.
9. Be sure to obtain meteorological data before leaving on vacation.
10. Do not believe in miracles. Rely on them.
Conclusion
Yes, all that was amusing. It often seems that the universe is indeed perverse and contrary to human expectation, or elicitive of human unreason. But the underlying reality is that all this is true. We live in a fallen universe. Things in it will NOT work out right. There is no salvation to be had in it, and the laws of thermodynamics agree. Human existence in such a universe would be a meaningless farce if the universe were all that exists (which by some definitions, it is). Dante wrote La Divina Commedia and others have also commented on the comedic nature of life. It isn't merely existential angst which makes us think that life is meaningless. There is no necessity for the universe to have a meaning in and of itself. None whatsoever.
But faith, hope and love, these three abide. And the greatest of these is love.
etched with acid at 4:59:00 pm
5 Comments:
cue Ecclesiastes..
have some faith in chaos theory
i've been thinking about possible escapes from a chilling heat death lately.
so entropy is about chance and tendency...wouldnt we eventually reach a point where by pure luck, entropy is reversed?
my brain hurts.
no wait the real question is...
chaos isnt all doom and gloom is it?
doesnt it offer hope as well?
If you look through my downloads (in white, haha) you will find at least two documents which show how our school is run through chaos theory. Cleverly, I kept the supporting data and PowerPoints to myself. Some day, I shall use them.
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