New Sciences and Humanities

Wennie Wu, PhD

International Innovative Institute, USA

Abstract

• “Modernization” was once conflated with “Westernization”. It was believed that from Science to Humanity, all would be clearly known with western methodologies.

• Later discoveries have challenged the fundamentals of that paradigm.  We came to realize uncertainty, probability, indeterminism, incompleteness of science and humanity. 

• The views of scientists such as: Newton, Einstein, Feynman, Prigogine, Hawking, etc., as well as views of politicians, writers, artists, will be discussed. For example:

Abstract (Cont.)

• Prigogine, a Nobel laureate 1977, was inspired by Chinese views of the nature.

• Bill Clinton and Tony Blair advocated “the Third way”, which echoes the Mid-way (Centrism) that is a major theme by Confucius.

• The works and lives of Lu, Xun, Eileen Chang, Kenneth Pai, Ang Lee, will be briefed to illustrate the environmental impact and transcendence from modernization to this new era of globalization.

Abstract (Cont. 2)

• The potential contributions of the Chinese culture to the new globe will be discussed

• With the new views of Sciences and Humanities, how to progress toward a New civilization - the betterment of the changing new Globe, will be explored.

Introduction• Newton’s Law of Physics. Determinism in

sciences and social sciences. • Later development in fields of science, logic,

social science, arts will be briefed.• Uncertainty, Probability, Indeterminism,

incompleteness, inconsistency, etc. will be discussed.

• A list of the potential contributions of the Chinese culture to the new globe

• reductionism, holism, inclusiveness, agility, pragmatism, for the betterment of the changing new Globe

SCIENCE-Newton’s Physics

• Newton’s law of physics (Classical Mechanics) Newton's Second Law:

• if the position and motions of stars and planets were known, then where they will be in the future can be predicted.

• Determinism: Once initial conditions are given, everything is determined. Nature is an automaton, which we can control.

SCIENCE-Uncertainty

• Quantum Mechanics

Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle

The more precisely the position is determined, the less precisely the momentum is known in this instant, and vice versa. --Heisenberg, uncertainty paper, 1927

SCIENCE-Probability

One cannot know the precise position and momentum of a particle at a given instant, and all that can be known about the position and motion of a particle at some future moment is a probability distribution.

The Schrödinger equationFor a single particle in three dimensions:

Where is the particle's position in three-dimensional space, is the wave function, which is the amplitude for the particle to have a given position r at any given time t.

m is the mass of the particle.is the potential energy of the particle at each position r.

SCIENCE-Indeterminism, unknown

• The Born-Einstein Letters. Einstein: "God does not play dice" • Stop telling God what to do with his dice - Niels Bohr quote• Prigogine (the Nobel Prize in 1977.) The concept of a passive

nature subject to deterministic and time-reversible laws is quite specific to the Western world. In China and Japan, nature means "what is by itself." In his excellent book Science and Society in East and West, Joseph Needham tells us of the irony with which Chinese men of letters greeted the Jesuits' announcement of the triumphs of modern science. For them, the idea that nature is governed by simple, knowable laws seemed to be a perfect example of anthropocentric foolishness. According to Chinese tradition, nature is spontaneous harmony; speaking about "laws of nature" would thus subject nature to some external authority.

• Dark matter and dark energy are recent discoveries and much unknown.

LOGIC-Incompleteness

Gödel's incompleteness theorems, proved by Kurt Gödel in 1931, are two theorems stating inherent limitations of all but the most trivial formal systems for arithmetic of mathematical interest.

LOGIC (Cont.)

• Gödel's first incompleteness theorem states that:

• Any effectively generated theory capable of expressing elementary arithmetic cannot be both consistent and complete. In particular, for any consistent, effectively generated formal theory that proves certain basic arithmetic truths, there is an arithmetical statement that is true, but not provable in the theory.

LOGIC (Cont. 2)

• Relation to the liar paradox

• The liar paradox is the sentence "This sentence is false." An analysis of the liar sentence shows that it cannot be true (for then, as it asserts, it is false), nor can it be false (for then, it is true).

LOGIC (Cont. 3)

• Gödel's second incompleteness theorem can be stated as follows:

• For any formal recursively enumerable (i.e., effectively generated) theory T including basic arithmetical truths and also certain truths about formal provability, T includes a statement of its own consistency if and only if T is inconsistent.

LOGIC (Cont. 4)

• Economist Oskar Morgenstern recounts that toward the end of his life Einstein confided that his "own work no longer meant much, that he came to the Institute merely…to have the privilege of walking home with Gödel".

LOGIC (Cont. 5)

• In the absence of his wife, Gödel refused to eat, eventually starving himself to death. He was 65 pounds when he died. His death certificate reported that he died of "malnutrition and inanition caused by personality disturbance" in Princeton Hospital on January 14, 1978.

Theories of everything and physics

Stephen Hawking and others, argue that (an analogous argument to) Gödel's theorem implies that even the most sophisticated formulation of physics will be incomplete, and that therefore there can never be an ultimate theory that can be formulated as a finite number of principles, known for certain as "final"

SOCIAL SCIENCE

After Newton’s Law of Physics was developed, physicists took a deterministic view and believed science provided a precise and complete predictions for the physical world. Some social scientists also believed social sciences should be and could be dealt with in a so-called scientific way to generate precise and complete predictions and solutions for the society. For example, Economic Determinism was developed.

SOCIAL SCIENCE (Cont.)

• For the 20th century, there had been severe struggle between the left and the right.

• Late 80’s, Berlin wall collapsed. The left was discouraged.

• Today, the financial tsunami hit the globe. The right was discouraged. Alan Greenspan exclaimed “Shocked disbelief”.

SOCIAL SCIENCE-the Third Way

• Bill Clinton and Tony Blair advocated “the Third way”, which echoes the Mid-way (Centrism) that is deeply routed in Chinese culture.

Literature and art-Lu, Xun

• Lu, Xun, 橫眉冷對千夫指 , 俯首甘為孺子牛 deeply concerned about China being week and poor, he produced harsh criticism of social problems in China, particularly in his analysis of the "Chinese national character". He has often been considered to have had leftist leanings.

Literature and art-Eileen Chang

• Eileen Chang: 娥眉冷指千夫 . She suffered from the problems of her family life. Her works frequently deal with the tensions between men and women in love. Chang's work describing life in 1940s Shanghai and occupied Hong Kong.

Literature and art (multi-cultures)

• Kenneth Pai combined the western techniques of modern novel writing and the eastern philosophies of Buddhism and Confucianism.

• Ang Lee is good at “speaking English in Chinese, and vice versa”. He gently criticized and manifested multi-cultural values.

China’s Contributions

• A.  Organic viewpoint of the universe, versus mechanic viewpoint from the west. Prof. Prigogine, Nobel laureate was inspired by Chinese viewpoints of the nature.

• B.  Holistic medicine• C.  Philosophies (Confucianism, Taoism, etc)• D.  Esthetically, garden, dance (S shapes, or

sine and cosine, prevail in China; versus straight lines, Euclidean geometry in the west)

China’s Contributions (Cont.)

• E. Zen that dealt with logical thought and its boundaries thousand years ago

• F.  Martial art, Tai-chi, etc.• G.  Iconic language (Feynman, also an artist, very interested)

• H.  Unique painting, poetry, literature, music, craftsmanship, etc.

• I. Harmony versus conquest/conflict (This applies vastly: human to human, human to nature, body to soul, elite to commoner, intellectual to illiteracy, etc.).

China’s Contributions (Cont. 2)

• J. Experiences in integrating the west and the east.  Experiences of modernization by a country outside of western Europe and America. Modernization exerts great stress to a system that communism developed right where modernization started: the western Europe. Needless to say the stress on other cultures have been tremendous.

• K.  A perpetual pursuit of a peaceful, progressive and prosperous world 禮 運大 同

How to progress toward a New civilization

-apparent absurdities of Quantum behavior

Feynman (Nobel prize, 1965):

On the apparent absurdities of Quantum behavior, in The Character of Physical Law (1965) Lecture 6 : Probability and Uncertainty — the Quantum Mechanical view of Nature, I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics. What I cannot create, I do not understand.

How to progress toward a New civilization

-I can live with doubt, and uncertainty, and not knowing

• I can live with doubt, and uncertainty, and not knowing. I think it's much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong. I have approximate answers, and possible beliefs, and different degrees of certainty about different things, but I’m not absolutely sure of anything, and in many things I don’t know anything about....知之為知之 , 不知為不知 , 是知也

How to progress toward a New civilization

-must leave room for doubt

• Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts. We absolutely must leave room for doubt or there is no progress and no learning. There is no learning without having to pose a question. And a question requires doubt. People search for certainty. But there is no certainty. People are terrified—how can you live and not know? It is not odd at all. You only think you know, as a matter of fact. And most of your actions are based on incomplete knowledge…

How to progress toward a New civilizationadmission of uncertainty, there is a hope...

Nobody knew how to govern…. Doubt and discussion are essential to progress

• I want to maintain ... that it is in the admission of ignorance and the admission of uncertainty that there is a hope for the continuous motion of human beings in some direction that doesn't get confined, permanently blocked, as it has so many times before in various periods in the history of man" The government of the United States was developed under the idea that nobody knew how to make a government, or how to govern. The result is to invent a system to govern when you don't know how. And the way to arrange it is to permit a system, like we have, wherein new ideas can be developed and tried out and thrown away. The writers of the Constitution knew of the value of doubt. ... The fact that you are not sure means that it is possible that there is another way some day. That openness of possibility is an opportunity. Doubt and discussion are essential to progress.

How to progress toward a New civilizationUncertainty is of great value,

one that extends beyond the sciences • All scientific knowledge is uncertain. This experience

with doubt and uncertainty is important. I believe that it is of very great value, and one that extends beyond the sciences. I believe that to solve any problem that has never been solved before, you have to leave the door to the unknown ajar. You have to permit the possibility that you do not have it exactly right. Otherwise, if you have made up your mind already, you might not solve it.

Overall, his view is hopeful and optimistic: he believes fervently in our potential to continually challenge and stretch the limits of being human; however, he feels that embracing the humble limits of being human is the process that unleashes our amazing potentials (a wonderful paradox, indeed!).

How to progress toward a New civilization-Einstein vs. Feynman

Physicists like Einstein had to struggle to reconcile their ordinary intuitions with the evidence of their equations. Dr. Feynman happily gave up the struggle. He and the physicists of his generation made peace with a way of describing nature that only explained how, not why.

How to progress toward a New civilization-Be open, Diversify

Essentially, as a practitioner (a thinker and a doer) who embraces (via paradoxes) the humble limits of being human and searches for practical, real-world solutions that help us live and grow together in our increasingly complex and recursive world: opportunistic generalists tend to survive ...Be open, inclusive; diversify.

To hold on one model (doctrine) exclusively and superstitiously leads to problems, sometimes big, like the extreme left and/or right.

盡信書 不如無書

Holism vs. Reductionism

The general principle of holism was concisely summarized by Aristotle in the Metaphysics: "The whole is more than the sum of its parts".

Reductionism is sometimes seen as the opposite of holism. Reductionism in science says that a complex system can be explained by reduction to its fundamental parts. For example, the processes of biology are reducible to chemistry and the laws of chemistry are explained by physics.

On the other hand, holism and reductionism can also be regarded as complementary viewpoints, in which case they both would be needed to get a proper account of a given system.

Eastern civilizations being progressive

In the west, some scholars, artists, leaders have had ideas pertinent to eastern civilizations

• Prigogine (scientist, Nobel laureate, 1977) was inspired by Chinese views of the nature.

• Zen dealt with the boundaries of logic as Gödel's incomplete theory

• Clinton and Blair advocated the third way (Centrism) • Existentialism respects Han-shan, She-Te.• Martha Graham (Lin, Hwai Ming's mentor) created

her modern dance based on the body language of the eastern dancers.

How to progress toward a New civilization-Agility

Agile methodology (for realistic situations):

process analysis, test, requirement tracking (changing).

Maintaining an “agile” process or algorithm in a dynamic context.

How to progress toward a New civilization-Agility

Agile Methodology

Requirements

Design

Development

Test

Implementation

Analysis

DeploymentUpgrade orNew Iteration

Iterated Software Life Cycle

Core F1Proto Fn...

Iterated Weekly Functional Roll out

CONCLUSION-Modernization (all knowing)

MODERNIZATION

After Newton’s classical mechanics (1687), scientists, and some social scientists, believed that logic was complete and consistent, the world was precise, definitive, deterministic, and it was possible to know and control it all.

CONCLUSION -New views for Sciences and Humanities

With the new views (Limitology): incomplete, uncertain, probabilistic, indeterministic and much unknown for Science and Humanity, in this new era of globalization, being inclusive (multi-cultural), agile, are keys to a better world.

Modeling, given incompleteness/indeterminism, is to be remodeled pragmatically, inclusively, agilely and adaptively. 苟日新 又日新 , 聖之時者也

Obama’s plan

• Ideologically adaptive (left/right)• Agile (flood of money and then withdrawal)• Globally inclusive (no protectionism)

• But need to be aware of Limitology and Boundary conditions and set a pragmatic goal of growth