ToE

As my CCC course intensifies in terms of "action", I can't help but be optimistic... Perhaps it's cos of the amt of free time that I have this month... (Last week I was free on Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun and today!) I've been busy walking down memory lane, wasting Headcrabs, Mammoth Tanks, Peasants, Audis & of course the ever classic Geodudes!!! (Pokemon Diamond rocks!) Of course that's not all... In the music department... I finally switched to 92.4... Though I broke my vow not to listen to that station until emancipation... I thought WTH... It's all part of the course... Then there's the oldies... Bee Gees, Beatles, Bread et al... Not to mention the good ol' recordings of Os Justi... (Respect)



Recently, I've also thought about the past(Read: Anything that is more than 1 year 7 mths ago) and the future... Back when Kuala Baris meant Koala bears and Singapore was a much smaller place... Where strategy, intelligence and objectives were mental, not physical(ok I admit a little physical at times...), brains not brawns... You get the picture. Life then was hectic, hell but it was fun... Stressful yes. But the rewards justify that kind of suffering... Now life is mundanely (sic) boring... Physical torture and no worthy rewards... A life where people scorn MIT & Oxford... Me? I just roll my eyes, hoping that liberation cometh ASAP... Now I understand how Paris Hilton must have felt...



Then I stumbled upon CL's blog about "Let Life be x"... So I've been discussing with him about applying a Math equation into life... About how life is so uncertain, with many variables... And so I've been tasked to write a hypothesis about what we've discussed, so as to enhance his article. So here goes nothing. (Note: If you're bored after reading up to here, don't go on, the rest is gonna be drier!)



Now if there was a equation that could, just could, describe life accurately(I bet it's gonna be one hell of an equation!), it'll be the Theory of Everything (ToE). Physicists reckon String Theory & Quantum Mechanics will produce an equation worthy to describe the characteristics of quantum particles (eg the mass of an electron, the spin, the charge, how it fits into the uncertainty principal, into both General and Special Theory of Relativity etc.) Sure it's important in terms of R&D that the ToE is found ASAP... Imagine Star Wars... Unfortunately, due to the complex nature (11 dimensions since I last checked) and the tedious process to generate the results that can be counterchecked with the properties of all the quantum particles (muons, pions, quarks and whatnot), I bet it's gonna take quite some time despite our Core 2 Duo processors or quantum computers and tons of scientists with perfect IQ to sort it out...



But all this has no direct application to us mere mortals. Indirect effects yes. But if a ToE does appear in the future and all JC physics H3 students must memorize the equation (Good luck man I bet it's gonna be 5 fullscap long i.e 10 pages long!), does it predict the properties or characteristics of the Marcro world? Sure it can predict accurately the things in the Micro world, but what we see everyday is not "Micro"... "Macro" objects like humans have infinitesimal wavelength, even those gunning for IPPT 2.4 gold... Does our coveted ToE, if it exists, predict the day it rains so we can skip training? Can it predict if you can beat the red light at Dairy Farm Road @ 0645 hrs tmr, much less there being a red light at 0645 hrs sharp @ Dairy Farm Road tmr? Can it predict if a relationship can last? Maybe yes, maybe not. But nonethless the ToE has it's limitations. Just like the limitations of Newtonium physics for quantum particles, the ToE has limitations in the macro field.



The question is: Can we just plunck one equation y=Ax^5+Bx^4+Cx^3+Dx^2+Ex+F to describe an everyday situation, where A,B,C,D,E,F,x and y are variables? We learnt in A Maths to sub values into the equation to get rid of one variable first... E.g. when x=0, y=F... So let's try to apply it to everyday life... If y is the no. of leave/OIL(units days) you get and x is measured in days, y=14 days cos of entitlement's sake... Now if E is the no. of MCs you take(unitless), y=Ex+14... So let's say E=1, y=x+14... Now if u kena caught for malingering, then D=-7 (unitless)... So y=-7x+x+14... If u get caught for AWOL, then C is between -365 and -1825 such that y would be a large negative no., no thanks to 2 letters. Now, before anything happens, you foil a plan that could have caused widespread destruction and receive presidential pardon and an honourable discharge, B= some postively big no. to neutralise the effects of C & D (I'm too lazy to calculate a value!), y would be positive and you might just ORD earlier... Let's say you die instead, then A will be a colossal positive no. like infinity such that y is infinity too which means u enjoy your OILs in the afterlife...

Of course it's not so simple as the above example... How to we compute the values of A,B,C,D,E? Probability comes into play. (E.g) Binomial for E, Poisson for C & D & Normal (don't forget CLT!!!) for A & B... But with probabilty comes a problem... We cannot be sure. It's just a probability... Coupled with uncertainy from measuring instuments(e.g. some units give more OIL, some give less...), it provides a seemingly insurmountable obstacle for obtaining a "macro" ToE... I'm not saying it's impossible, I'm saying we got to integrate multiple probability density funtions in multiple dimentions to obtain variables A,B,C,D,E and F so they can be pluncked into our so called equation to calculate how many leave/OIL we can get.





But hold ye horses... Life's not only about leave/OIL. What about relationships? Can we calculate a threshold value such that if a relationship exceeds that value, a breakup or divorce is imminent? Otherwise, can another threshold value be found such that a sparks can fly only if a relationship exceeds this value? Yeah I bet the equation (if any) is going to be R=c(L+l), where R is the relationship, c is Calvin's constant and L & l is the love of both partners... Imagine combining all these complex equations (including their probablities and uncertainties) together to get the elusive ToE...





So in conclusion, science and math does have its limitations. Despite being able to predict simple "macro" & "micro" worlds up to a certain certainy, more complex forms of both worlds that require treatment of probablity and uncertainty stand firmly in the way of the discovery of the ToE. Ultimately, I strongly believe that only divine intervention can enable man to derive this coveted and elusive ToE!