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© Copyright 1999, Jim Loy
I have heard people claim that we who try to argue against or disprove outrageous claims (astrology, psychic powers, etc.) have an emotional need for solid facts which are always true, an abhorence of uncertainty. I find that the opposite (close to the opposite) is true. I delight in things that I do not yet understand. I delight in discovering new things. If all things were known, if I knew all things, I would be bored almost to death. I do confess that I cannot believe things which have been demonstrated to be false. But I thrive on uncertainty. Curiosity is one of my most important traits.
I recently discovered an equation (phi is the golden ratio):
phi=1+1/1·1-1/1·2+1/2·3-1/3·5+1/5·8-1/8·13+...
This discovery lit up my life. Here was something that I never knew before. I suspected that the equation was already known (it was), although I failed to find it in my search of the literature. The joy of discovery is what I live for, not dull certainty.
I find that scientists tend to feel the same way. That is why they are in science.
By the way, the above equation was not my invention. It was my discovery (rediscovery, as it was already known). It was out there waiting to be discovered. It was a "certainty" that was built into the mathematical universe, not any kind of certainty which I imposed upon the universe.