I was wondering about Sheldon’s dialogue in the first episode
of the first season of “The Big Bang Theory”, where he speaks about “The mass
cultural delusion, that sun’s apparent position to earth during the time of birth
somehow affects our personality”. Well, maybe it does. I ‘am not saying it because
I have some medieval faith, but I think there might be a scientific explanation.
To understand this clearly, you need to realize something. I wish you don’t realize
it completely, because the after affects of that realization aren’t good.Once you realize it, life
seems worthless, everything you do seems pointless. I might not be right. I
wish I ‘am not right. This might seem obvious at first but as you understand its
deeper implications, that is when trouble starts. The idea is simple: “its all
chemical reactions”. Everything we do, everything we say and everything you can
imagine is a chemical reaction at the basic level. So you might ask if its all
chemical reactions, then life must be one-dimensional, that is only one
definite course of events is going to
occur in your life. And what course of events occurs must depend on the
initial chemical configuration. This would be an excellent explanation for the
theory of destiny. But I ‘am afraid this might not be true. Heisenberg’s
Uncertainty principle had explicitly made it clear that down at the level of
the atoms, probability rules. There is only a certain possibility of an event, down at that level. And most of the reactions, including neurological reactions,
occur at that level. So it’s all a game of chance. There is only a certain possibility
that something will happen in your life. Worst part, it’s not your choice. Your
social and cultural upbringing does affect the outcome but only in a small way.
They bias some of the possibilities but never make them certain. This is where Baye’s
law of probability comes into place. The probabilities are weighed but still
they are only probable, not certain. Even if your upbringing creates a 99%
chance of a certain outcome, for that one time when you need to make the
decision, the electrical signal in your brain might take the one in hundredth chance
and go the other way and this might change the entire course of your life. Well
the point is, even if you might not notice it, “chance” affects our life in the
subtlest way. Call it luck or whatever you want, the truth is that our life is
a game of chance and we can only hope for a favorable outcome. Einstein didn’t
like to believe that the world is ruled by “chance”. He famously said, “God
doesn’t play dice”. I wish he was true, I wish there is a definite course for
us. I don’t bother if it’s decided beforehand or is it in our hands to shape
it, at least we won’t be at the mercy of “chance”.
