A Faulty Model Of God

The sciences do not try to explain, they hardly even try to interpret, they mainly make models.  By a model is meant a mathematical construct which, with the addition of certain verbal interpretations, describes observed phenomena.  The justification of such a mathematical construct is solely and precisely that it is expected to work.
—    John von Neumann
The mathematician is dependent on what is quantitative, on everything that can be determined by number and measurement, and so, in a certain sense, on the universe in its outwardly recognizable form.  If, however, we contemplate this, in so far as we are endowed with this capacity, with all our intellect and all our powers, we realize that quantity and quality must be looked upon as the two poles of visible being;  which is also why the mathematician raises the language of his formulas high enough, in so far as this is possible, to include the immeasurable world together with the measurable and calculable world.  And now everything appears tangible, within reach and mechanical, and he comes to be suspected of secret atheism, in that he, as it seems, believes he can also grasp what is most incomprehensible of all, what we call God, and therefore seems to be relinquishing the idea of God’s special or pre-eminent being.
—    Goethe
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On This Day In:
2022	Just Waiting
2021	Tomorrow: Will Republicans Choose Democracy Or Tyranny?   (Well, I guess we know which one they chose…)
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2020	On Killing Foreign Generals…
2019	Patient Understanding
2018	I Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Form
2017	Fashionista
2016	A Faulty Model Of God
2015	Non Sequitur
2014	No Flags League
	I Ain’t Who Am
2013	Spoiling For Fame?
2012	How Many?
2011	Too Tired To Chat Much
2010	I Must Be Crazy!!

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