Imagination is closer to the concept of probability and statistics, than it is to logic and reason. Logic and reason place limits on the imagination, while probability is not limited to cause and effect, but allows one to imagine things with zero and low probability to be real. In my imagination I can jump off a cliff and survive; low odds not cause and effect. This would not be viable, if I have only logical pillars of cause and effect in my imagination. The age of enlightenment and age of reason appeared to place a limit on the scientific imagination. The imagination of science needed to remain in cause and effect to prevent imaginary reality. The modern ages of chaos and statistics removed these limits, allowing the assumptions of reality to be based more on the full range of the imagination; anything can happen, all is relative, since cause and effect are not in effect. This is useful to the imagination in the sense of making it fully open, but if this open imagination begins to lead reality, reality will begins to break down into the image of the open imagination; chaos, division, relative, but nothing solid. The doom and gloom scenarios, connected to man made global warming, are not coming true as they were predicted. The milestones of the north-pole being melted and the seacoast flooded did not happen, even though these imaginary theories, were used to stampede the liberal herd into action. It should have raised a yellow flag, However, since cause and effect is not as important as chaos, within the liberal imagination, the lack of definitive results is considered part of the randomization of chaos. This is not good unless one is a con artist. Einstein said he did not believe that god would choose to play dice with the universe. He was old school and believed in rational pillars that limited the science imagination to only the products of reason. The dice approach was starting to gain gourd where the underlying assumptions of the universe where based on chaos and dice. This placed a different set of limits on the social imagination, where there are not real limits, so anything can go. This does not make it real, even f it creates it own imaginary reality. For example, say there are odds that say, I will have a car accident in my lifetime, yet I go my entire life and never had an accident? How do you resolve hard reality with the imaginary prediction? Reality data shows no accident, yet the world of chaotic imagination will reacts to something that does not occur, as though it will occur? One can manipulate the herd with fear of something; car=accident, or a lure of something; car=girlfriend, based on odds, that don't have to occur in reality, to be believed in the chaotic imagination, as real. This is a scammers paradise. The age of enlightenment hit the scammers hard, but they made a come back.
Huh???? The Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment provided the framework for all of modern science! Sure, occasionally a person was born whom we would consider a true scientist, such as William of Ockham, who is known for Occam's Razor, with his surname normalized to Latin, the language of scholarship in his day. On the other hand, Galileo barely avoided execution at the hands of the thoroughly unenlightened leaders of the thoroughly unreasonable Christian church. Of course, I must note that a psychoactive drug played a major role in the launching of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. When the Roman Empire collapsed, Europe plunged into the Dark Ages, and all of Rome's civil engineering accomplishments were allowed to degrade due to inattention. This included its sewer system, which was not maintained, and certainly was not expanded to the rest of Europe. As a result, the water in Europe was undrinkable. Beer was the cheapest liquid that could be drunk safely because of its alcohol content, so most of the people were stoned most of the time. Then explorers in Ethiopia discovered the coffee bean and brought it back with them. Within a few decades, coffee replaced beer as the drink of choice, and the average effective IQ of the population increased by about 30 points. (My own estimate, I haven't seen any figures developed by scholars.) The Royal Society, Britain's professional society for scientists, was founded in a coffee shop! So next time Mr. Mackey tries to convince you that "drugs are bad, okay?" remind him that the world as we know it would not exist if it were not for the discovery of caffeine. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
To run test scenarios in our heads in order to make predictions about the possible consequences and efficacy of our actions.
The irony is Galileo, although setting the framework for modern science, via 20/20 hindsight, was not technically correct in all ways, based on what we know today. The Church was correct in that it was not allowing a step up the ladder, to sales pitches itself as the final truth. This is also based on 20/20 hindsight. Each step up the ladder of science thinks it has reached the top of staircase, only to find this is only a landing with another set of stairs. The Church was on the previous landing. Enlightenment is understanding science never reaches the top but only the next landing. Galileo had to learn this to make his heart right; organic and not stone.
Huh??? Today's scientists certainly don't feel that way. They're enthusiastically searching for new laws, structures, attributes of the space-time continuum, and other discoveries that might turn science on its head.
