Quotes / Risk

Thank you for the comments.  As for chaos theory, I know little enough about the mathematics involved.  I imagine that those who ascribe to it believe in free will, and that those who do not believe in determinism.  Or does that not necessarily follow?

Well, that’s an interesting question.  I can’t answer that question fully because it depends on information we haven’t discovered yet, and the debate on that very question continues.  It’s obvious we don’t live in a completely chaotic universe.  There is a great deal of absolute information.  It’s also clear that probabilistic determinism is at work in the universe, especially at the quantum level.  I look at chaos theory as a kind of reduction mechanism that considers all solutions for the environment in question and manifests all of those results which are capable of existing within said environment.  These environments are diverse, distributed and vast as provided for by the inflationary epoch in the early universe, so the quantity and type of possible emergent solutions vary depending on the environment that exists.  I think these probabilistic rules still apply even to an emergent order such as intelligence.  We simply get to choose from the probabilistic solution set we are faced with at any given time.  So basically both follow.  There is free will and determinism, but they are “fused”, so to speak, into probabilistic determinism.  These concepts may also not lend themselves to contrast either, as free will may in fact itself be an emergent order, as I’m not sure I understand how it would apply to systems that are not intelligent, or how absolute randomness can equate to free will.  I suppose I’ll just thank and excuse myself for not clarifying any of this for you.

That’s a bit over my head in the land of cosmogony and quantum mechanics.  I am certainly intrigued by the idea of probabilistic determinism, however.  I shall endeavor to look into that and hope that I’ll not find myself lost for the effort!

I got a bit lucky on this one, as I liked the sound but did not initially realize how apt “currency” was for “living”, as it implies movement, like a current.  I believe someone here pointed that out to me.  In the same way, “coin” is a static term that fits well with “dead”.  Thanks for the review!

Hi Blue, yes, that’s about it.  :)

I look at security as illusory, and striving for it means making oneself like the dead, in that the risks that turn possibility into reality are passed over in the name of security… it’s a sort of stasis that can’t be preserved in a dynamic world.  Risk is a better choice, since it is active and striving.

Thank you for the comments!

Much agreed. Thank you for the clarification. :)

The sentiment of your last statement is definitely a part of it, but I don’t think it’s pessimism, exactly.  It’s just that I think security is an illusion, and that striving for it inevitably means passing up opportunities that involve risk, stripping an individual of much that makes life worth living.  Thanks for the review!

And in today’s world, as we’ve come to know most recently, there is no security, is there? All is up for grabs and has been a total illusion. I believe in risk taking, for without it, one never challenges one’s self. Good thoughts you put out. But we all strive a bit for security I think or we wouldn’t be normal, living on the edge all the time is rather frightening, don’t you think? Thanks, Willow_Wren

Hi Willow, yes, I would agree that most people strive for a certain amount of security.  Perhaps the only true security, however, is not a safety net or a fortress of walls, but the stability to ride out change.  The only security I want is enough stability to feel comfortable taking risks.  ;)  But philosophically it’s all a house of cards, really.  May as well take some chances.  Thank you for the conversation!  :)

I don’t even know about spy coins!  Spy coins?  Tell, tell.  :)

Thanks!  :)

I like “remuneration”, but “coin” is simpler and easier to instantly relate to.   Plus, more people will understand it right away.  ;)  ”Coin” is also associated with a static noun, which works for something dead.  :)  Thanks for the review!

and if you don’t, you may as well be dead.  Pretty much what I mean, yes.  :)

     I appreciate your comments!  There is a security in death, perhaps, yes.  Or a non-security that doesn’t matter any more than security in a state of non-existence, but a state you can rely on with a sense of security.

     I suppose what I initially meant was something more along the lines of being alive when you take risks, which are dynamic, and being less alive, or like the dead, when refusing to take risks, which is a static position.

     Something like that.  Thank you!

Right on.  :)  Thanks for the review!

~Jeff