Insanity

There are numerous “Eskimo” words for “snow.” It's not an urban legend. It's a fact. Part of the plethora results from the fact that people whose environment is almost always snowy have developed a vocabulary that distinguishes among multiple varieties caused by different conditions – temperature, humidity, and the like. Also important is the fact that their lives are largely governed by the snow and it is important to differentiate the types better suited to sleighs or snowshoe, those requiring different tools for hunting or other tasks, the varieties which determine where particular fauna may be found, etc. (And, in terms of the number of terms, we should not forget that there are many “Eskimo” languages.)

And there are differences among the snow "atoms" as well.  No two snowflakes are alike. That is both the teaching and the science. The snowflake, or snow needle, has a shape that is governed by the way molecules come together at different temperatures and levels of humidity. And with a virtually infinite number of possible arrangements of molecules, no two have ever been the same.

No two people are identical. Even “identical” twins, though their DNA may be matching, display differences. All the moreso when considering individuals with different genetic patterns.

Indeed, no two of anything are identical. “Real” objects, formed from matter, have differences like those of snowflakes based on differing arrangements of molecules. (We may even wonder if all electrons are absolutely identical, and all protons, neutrons, quarks, etc.) The differences may be minor and require complicated instruments to demonstrate, but they are there. And concepts and words, no matter how similar, carry disparate “baggage” in the form of varying nuances. And that makes accurate translation impossible.

In the words of Albert Einstein, “Insanity [is] doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” It's pithy, and it certainly is a reasonable view. But it's misleading. I don't question either Einstein's knowledge or his wisdom. However, according to Wikipedia – a source which many dispute – “Albert Einstein may have been the first person to carefully point out the radical effect the new quantum physics would have on our notion of physical state. Quantum indeterminacy can be quantitatively characterized by a probability distribution on the set of outcomes of measurements of an measurements of an observable [occurence]. The distribution is uniquely determined by the system state, and moreover quantum mechanics provides a recipe for calculating this probability distribution.”

That's a fancy way of saying that everything is random – it has a probability but we can never know if two situations are the same. And they're not. No matter what we may think or believe. So if “Insanity [is] doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,” we should recognize that we're (virtually) never doing the same thing over and over. No matter how it may seem and what we may think.

And I think about it. Often. Every time a problem comes up when I'm using my computer I wonder if I should try again. (If you don't succeed at first, try, try again.) I usually do so, and occasionally it works. If not I follow the wisdom recommended by all the computer mavins: “reboot.”

So I reboot and try again. And most of the time the problem is solved. I've gotten to the point that I expect a different result. Einstein would consider me insane, and perhaps I am, but the system works. I view it as black magic and, while I don't believe in magic, I prefer that to seeing myself as insane. I assume that there is some difference between the situation when I failed and the conditions when I succeeded. The difference may relate to the phase of the moon, to electrical impulses, quantum indeterminacy and randomness, temperature and humidity changes, slight variations between electrons, or evil spirits. I don't know.

And I don't care.

I have to run now. The men in the white coats are coming for me.

Next episode: “Re:” Virtual or hard-copy.