Randomness

In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth. And the Earth was without form, and void; And God said, let there be light: and there was light...

This was His will, His intent. Creation. As we can read about in the Book of Genesis.

God spoke the words “let there be” and there was. Actions that resulted in reactions. Cause and effect. Actions that were not arbitrary. Effects that were not random.

They reveal a process, a single thought, a feeling, some kind of intent…

At least one word, one thought, one feeling was required in order to constitute Creation…

Images of God

We, mankind, images of God, were created in His likeness. We require more effort in order to manipulate our surroundings, produce artefacts and call it ‘creation'.

We have to use designs, plans, schematics, resources, tools and time in order to construct our houses, cars and computers, in order to establish our modern day living spaces.

Whereas our ‘creations’ are fallible, collapse and return to dust, eventually, God’s Creation isn’t, God’s Creation is everlasting.

But our creations are not arbitrary, they are not random. They require at least one feeling, one thought, one word…

Is it safe, reasonable, to conclude that there is a pattern to creation?

Is there such a thing as a random pattern? Or is that a contradiction in terms?

When the fluttering of the wings of a little butterfly causes a huge thunderstorm. Is that a random event? An act of God? Is there an underlying pattern whereby the flapping of the butterfly’s wings sets in motion a chain of events that lead to a thunderstorm elsewhere?

Laws of physics tell us that for every event, any action, there is an counter event, a reaction.

The Hegelian dialectic argues a thesis, giving rise to its reaction, an antithesis, which contradicts or negates the thesis, and the tension between the two being resolved by means of a synthesis.

All causes have effects. This applies to our daily lives and the world we live in, but can also be applied to the world that is not visible to the naked eye. The example of the butterfly and others represent events we have come to know of in science as ‘chaos theory’. 

Can chaos lead to order? Can order lead to chaos? And if so, are these random occurrences, or is there an underlying pattern? 

What is ‘random’?

This is what the Cambridge dictionary tells us about the word random:

• happening, done, or chosen by chance rather than according to a plan
• by chance, or without being chosen intentionally

Which leads to another word that is raises questions: ‘chance’.

This is what the Cambridge dictionary tells us about the word chance:

• an occasion that allows something to be done
• the level of possibility that something will happen

Interesting words… 

What if we would replace the word chance by its definitions? Would random become more clear?

Let’s give it a try:

• happening, done, or chosen by an occasion that allows something to be done rather than according to a plan
• by an occasion that allows something to be done, or without being chosen intentionally
• happening, done, or chosen by the level of possibility that something will happen rather than according to a plan
• by the level of possibility that something will happen, or without being chosen intentionally

To ‘choose’ or to ‘allow’ don’t seem to be random, even though they are determined by an ‘occasion’. They seem to indicate a thought process, some kind of intent. The latter definition contain an interesting concept: level of possibility.

Level of possibility

‘level of possibility’ is terminology that relates to science, physics. In fact, it is very commonly used terminology in quantum physics, the study of nature on the sub-atomic level, the world that is not visible to the naked eye or can be seen, even under a microscope.

All matter, everything that is in existence in our universe, has a certain amount of energy. From the biggest and obvious objects like the Sun, to us humans, to the smallest building blocks of matter like atoms and beyond.

The amount of energy these objects contain can be measured and described in levels, energy states, which may vary in time. Much like you and I may wake up one day full of energy and the next day we feel tired, low on energy. There is usually a reason to the way we feel.

Quantum physics, in particular string theory, states that the level of possibility, the probability, that an atom or smaller particle has a certain energy state is not random, but discrete…

These energy states are well defined and the level of possibility that a particular particle has a certain energy state is not a random occurrence but a finite event.

Science is the study of God’s Creation by means of experiment, gathering and analysis of data; data that can be reproduced and independently verified.

From this little sidestep in to science, it may appear there is very little or no room at all in science for randomness. For the level of possibility for these events to happen is not a continuum but is discrete, subject to distinct patterns.

Needless to say that truly random events are hard to reproduce, let alone be independently verified by other people. It seems that random events in their very essence contain a level of possibility that undo the randomness of these events.

For if events can be predicted, they can be determined and if they can be determined, they can be predicted…

In others words: 

An event that can be either determined or predicted, even with an infinitesimal small level of possibility is no longer random…

It seems to me that science shows us that randomness is not very scientific. It seems to me that nature tells us there no such thing as random.

Then why do we use the term random so often? Maybe it has to do with our (imperfect use of) language? Maybe it has to do with our (imperfect) perception and (lack of) knowledge of nature?

How many things do we know for certain?

How many things do we know are truly random? The weather, earth quakes, accidents, coincidences, miracles, discoveries, a lottery win, death, creation and destruction.  We often like to think that events in our lives are random. Yet, none of them are. They all have causes. They all are reactions…

They have causes in events and are reactions to events that we simply have no way of knowing or determining its origins. And yet we establish as (science) fact that the nature of their origin is random. Whereas this is arguable, debatable, and could well turn out to be (science) fiction. 

We should be careful to declare the nature of events as random, especially where it concerns the origin of nature in particular the origin of man and other species. It is very convenient to explain away unfathomable outcomes as 'random'.

The scientific unsoundness of randomness

Nothing is random. It may seem to be, but it isn't. It is also scientifically unsound. There is no mathematical model that equates, equals to randomness. There are models to simulate or approach states of near-randomness, but that is not the same thing.

Everything is discrete, meaning everything complies to distinct patterns, has a limited amount of manifestations, that are well defined and have a certain probability, a level of possibility.

It is for us to study those definitions, patterns, probabilities and possibilities.

God’s Creation may well be infinite but is certainly not random….

We should never leave God out of any equation we construct, for it will fail…