I’ve been spending quite a bit of time doing math lately. Specifically of the problem solving type. Since this site is about rational things, lets take a look at mathematical probabilities. It is an interesting subject…well maybe for a geek like me. What is fascinating is the way certain rules always work. It points to a higher organization that we know little about. We just observe how it happens. I promise to keep this basic.

When you flip a coin, the odds are 1:1 that it will turn up heads. It doesn’t matter how many times it is flipped, the odds always stay the same. You can flip the coin three times and get tails but that doesn’t change the odds when you flip the fourth time. This is called gamblers odds. But the odd thing about it (forgive the pun) is if you get three heads in a row, it may seem you are beating the odds, however, the more you flip the coin, the closer it will go back to 1:1. Over twenty flips for instance, you will most likely have ten heads. Having certain results overall doesn’t change the odds for each single flip though.

Insurance companies use probabilities to set their rates. The ratio of claims will stay consistent over a large group and these translate into the odds for a single claim for you. They bet on those odds to make money and due to how reliable probabilities are, they can use close margins.

When you go to the casino, you might win a few, but the longer you play, the closer you will get to the probability that the casino management has calculated ahead of time. This is how they make enough money for the lavish surroundings. Your odds at that particular game is the same each time you play. That doesn’t change. You might win a few times, but the more you play, the closer you will get back to whatever was figured ahead of time by the management. They know the margins and can reliably charge an amount in relation to how many times the game is played so they always come out on top. So as with any entertainment, the experience may be fun, but it can’t be looked at as a money maker.

If I could 

What does it mean to be free? There are those who feel that sharing wealth makes everyone free. But that is simplistic and just addresses one area. Wealth in a free country is a fruit that is earned. In a despotic country it is a gift from a benevolent government. There are more aspects to freedom than money. A person who is truly free has the ability to make his own choices. Yet there are those who make bad choices and end up controlled by their appetites. What it gets down to is that freedom is having the ability to govern oneself and enjoy the resulting fruit. Unfortunately, sometimes we make bad choices. There are times when some people need the assistance of a third party to govern their actions. This should be the exception and not the rule.

A despotic leader will make the claim that the vast majority of people aren’t capable of governing themselves. They exaggerate crisis and make themselves out to be a savior. A despot will specialize in characterizations in order to form a contrast; presenting themselves as a champion of virtue. The principles concerning freedom verses despotism apply to our relationships with friends, businesses and government. We can be hard on ourselves and lack the ability to be free to express ourselves due to inner inhibitions from past hurt or fears. The past can have despotic rule over our present if we allow it to.

We all have our own passions and appetites that give us enjoyment while we travel through moments of time. They are there for our benefit. But at the same time there is a governing part within each of us that sets limits so we can meet our own needs, personal goals and enjoy our leisure. Choice means that a person has retained the ability to govern their own passions. There is no choice in slavery. It is what happens when one person asserts authority over another individual. In our personal relationships, we cede some control over choices in order to achieve common goals. The further an authority is from an individual, the less the personal interests of an individual can be considered and the more general it becomes. Bureaucracies are formed in an attempt to address these particulars. Ideally, people are free when they govern themselves, make agreements among themselves and pursue their own dreams. That is what the concept of limited government means. In our close personal relationships we use the word trust. Trust means there is a certain confidence in a person’s ability to govern themselves so they are free to make their own choices with their passions. Limited government and trust in the people are synonymous.

A soothing voice awakened me

Ruling classes should not be established or be permanent. Regardless of a person’s family line or wealth, there are people of good character and those who have poor character. Enough intelligence can be gleaned from common people to do the job of governing. This makes it important to educate the population properly. The most important area is that of ethics. A good government may be set up and good laws made and yet motives always come into play when the laws are applied. A despotic government is one that is all about the ruler while a country of freemen is all about the people. A despot will apply laws to suit his advantage while a freeman will sacrifice his wants for the good of his fellow citizens. They can both initially have the same good laws. This behavior is characteristic of all rules and authority. To survive in the long term, a country must limit the scope of authority with good laws. At the same time they must raise a population that has a good grasp on what is just toward others and what behavior is expected out of individuals.

This brings us back to the two parts of the soul. We have passions and rational principles. Our passions would like to lead but in order to go further than an unreasoning animal, rational principles must be obeyed. This leadership of principles over passion is something that is common in nature too. Growing crops, gardening and business require organization with certain principles of planting, watering and tending. In order to enjoy the taste of good fruit, good principles are followed. The rational area of our soul also has two divisions. One is practical and the other is that of the pursuit of enjoyment. They both require thought but of course we always like enjoyment better. A citizenry will participate in business and leisure; war and peace. We don’t always enjoy preparation and organization and yet these must come before any lasting enjoyment can occur. Music and Art also follow this principle. A person needs to learn scales and shadowing before a good product occurs. There is practice involved before the enjoyment. Even while enjoying their art, a person must take time to develop and organize ways to present it. The practical side can be painful, but for the artist and others to enjoy the product, practicalities have to be endured.

There is a saying that all work and no play makes for a dull life. This is true, therefore our lives shouldn’t just focus on preparation and organization. The goal of practicalities is to bring leisure and enjoyment. Leisure is subject to practicalities yet it is still the endgame. I have read this described as the masculine and feminine side to things. The masculine leads and protects while the feminine obeys and brings enjoyment. Whatever words are used to describe it, a good leader will keep his focus on the endgame. He will go to war and prepare for peace, enforce laws to stop injustices and yet make sure freedom is preserved. Those who lack courage and temperance will become the servants of others. That’s why everyone in a country should be taught how to endure hardship and to have self respect so they can earn leisure. In order to be a good authority one has to know how to obey. Cultivating an understanding of these principles allows a country to chose practically any citizen to lead and be good statesman.

It starts with a passion that can’t be explained

A letter to a friend:

I read you were questioning evolution verses creation. Here is my perspective from examining the subject closely since I was in high school. I used to go on blogs and debate people also, but find that most of the time people lack a base to really give opinion on the matter. It isn’t that they are stupid, but just haven’t thought the matter through and have mistaken notions. This is a quick summary of my own conclusions

In forensic science, we look at a crime scene and collect data to form conclusions. Even with all the tools we have now, a cold case is very difficult to solve. We still require a trial for the accused because there is no way to make certain conclusions about past events. Even an eyewitness’s testimony can become sketchy over time. And we are only talking about ten years or so. Genuine science can only study things that can be currently observed. The scientific method eliminates all other possibilities through experimentation to make a conclusion true. The variables increase as time goes by. Science about current events that we actually observe and record is sound science.

When it comes to origins and creation, a person has to leave the realm of science and enter into philosophy. Although those who have theories of origins claim to have science behind them, there can be little actual science in what they present. The question becomes which one has the most potential as a possibility. That makes it more of an enjoyable contemplation with no worries. Let’s look at a few of my contemplation.

I haven’t been able to ascribe to the evolution philosophy because there are far too many loose ends and things that don’t make sense. Darwin based his conclusions on the simple cells he observed and said static electricity shocked them to bring them to life. Now we have learned cells are far from simple. They contain fascinating factories that transport and convert the right amounts of nutrients and raw materials to the right places. When it comes to reproduction, the process is complex and precise. It is silly now with what we know, to think that it could have happened by chance. We observe scientifically, when nature is left alone, things will decay. There is some kind of force that keeps live things organized. A random electrical shock bringing life belongs in Frankenstein movies. I have an electrical background and it always follows the path of least resistance. We observe that mutations bring deficiencies that don’t improve species either.

Many things presented as science today are really done to secure grants so the people doing the studies can make further money. Proving evolution generates money like saving the planet does. The stories are sensationalized so not only scientists get grants but advertisers get money for all the hits. The Neanderthal over the years has evolved from a missing link to just normal people who lived alongside modern man. There are races and individuals today that have different cranial and skeletal structures living among us. Tracing genetics back takes computer modeling that isn’t all that accurate since there are variables they leave out. But once in a while stories pop up. Most of them are a waste of time scientifically but interesting philosophically.

You have to move out of philosophy to study the characteristics of a being that would have organized it all. Philosophy can form conclusions about origins from experiences but religion goes further to say what that being is like. An Atheist makes the claim that there is no being. But that isn’t even a sound philosophy since we see that chemicals work in certain ways and don’t create. When cornered on how their philosophical arguments are un-based, most Atheists I encounter will become agnostic and say it would have to be an indifferent being or they go to space theories where life came from a meteor. The conclusion is the same; they usually end up agreeing that life came from a designer. The philosophy about single cells reproducing themselves into beings is still kind of lame. I think people become atheistic just to oppose those who are dogmatic about biblical creationism and rightly so.

You have to study religion to believe Biblical creationism. Describing how someone who lives outside of time created things that are in our dimension would be a hard task. The seven days, the fall of Adam and similar things would have began outside of the dimension of time we live in. Religiously, I believe that God created the earth, yet philosophically, I don’t think the literal description of how it happened is perfect and the actual events are beyond human description. Moses or whoever came up with it did their best.

I think all theories of origins belong in a philosophy class and should be eliminated from science textbooks. As I look through Organic Chemistry College textbooks, these theories are a distraction from the actual subject matter. When we debate philosophies, it pulls people out of the superficial and into good human contemplation. I am all for having classes in school for it. There should be objective studies on religions too. But confusing origin philosophies with science dilutes science and takes time away from science that can be better applied to help solve energy supply, diseases and hunger.

The ultimate goal for our actions on the earth is happiness. But happiness has more to it than mere pleasure. It must also be based in nobility. There is a saying from my generation,”If it feels good, do it.” but that is a slippery slope. Looking at pleasures in a way that gives us tunnel vision, with no consideration for how it may affect our our overall well-being is a detriment to our lives. This view must also be applied in a broad sense to a culture. And a culture begins with how we educate our children.

Aristotle quoted an actor who said it was best to be the first on on stage because the crowd’s first exposure is the one that they love best regardless of the skill. When teaching our children, it is best not to expose them to debauchery and crudeness because we don’t want it to become a part of their inner foundation. Once they have nobility and goodness established their lives, the crude things in life can be entertaining, yet not a part of their character. The shock factor comes into play. When the morality we hold dear is challenged, there is a certain thrill involved. It takes more to shock a person of poor character. To be entertaining and dramatic to a someone, the greater the contrast, the greater the thrill. In this sense, a person with good character has potential to enjoy life better as long as he doesn’t become judgmental or upset his foundation.

There are extremes to everything and we still don’t want a culture to become desensitized by its entertainment. There is a certain dynamic concerning people and a culture where they need to go out to explore and yet keep their base solid. In art and music, a person with a strong foundation will have quality in their creative endeavors. Creativity and logic need each other to work properly. With common core education today there is a focus on creative reasoning and some of the logical rules aren’t hammered in to the extent some people would like. Morality, math and writing must start with rigid rules and repetitions and yet they come to life when creativity is added. The point where we think we have the rules down is really what is up for debate at times. In everything, we have to occasionally sharpen the saw and go back to the basics before heading out on the next adventure.

This is the poem that says it all 

Love is a gift for someone in need