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© Copyright 2004, Jim Loy
Virtually none of my pages are written for new agers as readers. Let me make an exception here, and address new agers in this essay. From what I gather, new agers do not believe in certainty, and they seem amused when other people are certain about this or that, and they seem to think that scientists and their ilk are more or lees certain about everything. If you will be receptive to this, for just a minute, let me introduce you to the certainty of scientists. Consider this puzzle:
William is three years older than Mary. Five years ago, he was twice as old as she was. How old are they now?
Now, no matter what you think of such puzzles, pretend for a moment that the words in the puzzle have precise meanings (ages are in whole numbers, for example). Also, please think for a moment about how a rational person would think of this puzzle: maybe this puzzle has a solution. There are several ways to solve this puzzle: by trial and error, with algebra, lucky guess, communication with dead mathematicians, etc. The solution is that Mary is 8 and William is 11. These numbers work when we plug them back into the statement of the puzzle, and other numbers don't work.
If you are still with me, what have we done? As a new ager, you have experienced some certainty (Mary is 8 and William is 11), WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF THE PUZZLE. You may not think that this is any kind of real certainty, but it is. If you are willing to consider a small corner of the rational universe (maybe you consider it an alternative fictional universe) then you can sometimes find certainty. This is the certainty that a scientist finds; they make certain assumptions, and they come up with a certain solution. Sometimes the scientist is surprised to find this certainty. The scientist does not find certainty everywhere, but the scientist finds certainty in many places. The scientist considers a puzzle, and finds a solution.
Can you accommodate some small amount of certainty, within some context?