Thoughts to you from yours truly - ( 44 ) - November 17, 2010

Thoughts to You from Yours Truly - ( TYYT ) - ( 44 ) - Cause & Effect ( 因果定律 ) - Nov., 16/11/10

The law of cause and effect is the corner stone of science, logic, our sanity as well as basis of most religious beliefs. It also appeals to our revered value of justice based on the triumph of good over evil. It is the law of hope and comfort. It's tenet is pretty simple. Nothing happens without a cause. But is it that simple when applied to human affairs ? Definitely not. Most people are wary of the unfathomable and profound mysteries in science. In fact, things are not always what they appear to be. Based on my humble experience from a personal intellectual journey through 250 or so popular science books starting with Professor Stephen Hawking's " A Brief History of Time " ( a pocket book of only 197 pages which I took 3 months to finish ) and ending with his most recent book - " The Grand Design " ( published on 16th October, 2010 of 187 pages which I took 3 days to finish ) over a period of 5 years I have found to my utmost surprise that scientific laws and theories are far simpler than human and everyday affairs such as economics and human relationships. Ask me about Einstein's Special Relativity ( basis of time and even space travel ) and the strange implications of Quantum Mechanics ( basis of our beloved computers ). I can explain their basic tenets and principles in a decently understandable manner ( which I did in my book - " The Universe - A Personal View " freely available on my website ). That is why Einstein had famously said that :- " That most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible. "

I also most presumptuously think that I have found or correctly speculated the reason for this apparent anomaly to my pleasant surprise and elation. It is our mind and consciousness that are the culprits for causing complications in human affairs. Stated more scientifically, natural and theoretical science deal with matters without a mind. Therefore, there is by and large only one to one relationships without any feed back loop to deal with. Kick a rock with a certain force and your pain will be proportional to the force applied. This is Newton's Third Law of Motion :- " Action and reaction are equal and opposite ." On the contrary, human affairs deal with subjects who all have a mind of their own. Each person reacts to external stimuli differently and worse still differently at different times depending on their mood and a given environment. There are multiple feed back loops that create a new situation after each round of interaction that can go on endlessly like the vicious circle phenomenon in macroeconomics. Take a simple everyday example. Say, you run into a lamp pole in a hurry. To correct your inadvertent mistake you simply step sideways and carry on. If you run into a person in a hurry you may not be able to rectify your " misbehavior " that easily. I am sure you have the painful experience of your victim moving to a same side to which you have chosen to divert in your desperate attempt to avoid collision. This unpleasant blocking game could go on for a few rounds before communication can ultimately be established and physical collision finally avoided. In more unfortunate cases, nasty confrontation could ensue ending with very unpleasant results.

What are all these mumble jumble leading to in terms of cause and effect ? Please bear with me a little longer and all will be revealed to you in good time. There are two important moral lessons to be learned here. Firstly, causes of natural phenomena which obey invariant laws can somehow be found. Many of these can unfortunately be traced to human misbehaviour such as global warming and deforestation. We can reduce the probability of their occurrence if we are to blame or predict and protect ourselves accordingly if we are not responsible. Green house gas emission leads to global warming. This is simple one to one cause and effect relationship. Second moral lesson, in dealing with human affairs take extra care when you initial an action. There could be multiple feed back reactions that could easily get out of control like cry wolf about a nonexistent fire in a crowded place leading to panic that could cost valuable lives. The same argument is equally applicable to not so proper love affairs. In summary, natural phenomena and human affairs are two different types of " truths " which I called objective and subjective truths respectively. The former has a definite and predictable response to stimulus while the latter responds unpredictably. Notwithstanding this general characteristic the law of cause and effect still holds true for both. Hence, natural justice will somehow be served ultimately if not immediately. Beware evil doers. Even if you do not believe in God or the spiritual. This is the invariant law of nature. The same warning is also applicable to all materialism advocates and supporters of akin political regimes. I am not talking about superstitious myths and mysteries. This is solid science of nature. It pays to heed my humble warning.

( Note : Those interested in Einstein's Special Relativity please click on the following link to see my explanation ( agreed to by the professors of astrophysics in Cambridge and Harvard ) to the younger citizen astronomers in the most successful online science research project GALAXY ZOO official forum. This project has also given rise to the term CITIZEN SCIENCE which is specifically singled out by the US National Science Council 2010 report as the new scientific research trend for the next decade :- http://www.galaxyzooforum.org/index.php?topic=270816.0 )


因果定律， 是邏輯，科學和我們正常精神狀態的基石，更加是很多宗教的不異教條。這定律更加對我們產生吸引力，因為它和我們所尊崇的公義，以及好人會戰勝壞人，這種充 滿希望和安慰的信念符合。它的基本信念是簡單而直接的。這便是有果必有因。但用於人與人之間的事情，便不是那麼簡單了。大多數人都對神秘和莫測高深的科學理論，會感到迷失和 有戒心。其實，事情並不像表面那麼單純。在下曾經花了五年多的時間，看了多於二百五十多本科學叢書，從 Professor Stephen Hawking 的 A Brief History of Time ( 這只有197頁的小書，我卻需要用三個月的時間才讀完）開始，以至他最新的書 The Grand Design ( 在本年十月十六日才出版，有187頁的書，而我只用了三天便讀完了), 總共花了五年多的時間才完成私下的研究。以在下這 謙卑的經驗，我察覺到科學的定律和理論，竟然比人與人之間的事情，比方說經濟和人際關係，要來得簡單。假若你問我有關愛因斯坦的狹義相對論（ 我們理解時間與空間，甚至使應用於太空探索的基礎 ）或者量子力學的神秘暗藏玄機 （ 這是我們極度寵愛的數碼電腦的根基所在 ），我都能夠以單純易明的解釋，給各位來作一個簡易說明。而實際上，我已經在我的弊作，一本叫The Universe - A Personal View ( 翻譯作:我個人的宇宙觀）書內試圖作出了。所以，愛因斯坦曾經發表過以下聞名的講話:「 宇宙中最令人費解的事，實屬這宇宙是可以為人所理解的。」

我更加對以上令人費解的事，作了某些大膽的假設和推論。就是我們的思想和意識，便是罪魁禍首。這發現令我十分驚喜和雀躍。以科學化一點來說，自然界的事物 和現象，都是沒有自我和意識的。因此，大多數情況都是單一的回響，沒有複雜的互動元素。比如你以某一力度用腳去踢一塊石頭，你的痛楚必與你發出的腳力成正 比。這是牛頓動力學的第三定律。相反，人與人之間的交往，卻是關乎兩者或更多的有着自我和意識的個體，互相交流。每人對從外界來的刺激，有不同的反應。再 者， 不同的人更加會在不同的時間以及環境，作出不同的反應。這樣就會形成了複雜的互動回響。這互往的反應在理論上是可以無限的。就有如宏觀經濟中的惡性循環一 般。就拿一般日常的例子，如果你在匆忙中不慎走向一條燈柱，你只要踏步則邊避過便成。但是如果你不慎衝向一個人，那便麻煩得多了。我肯定地說，每一個人都 曾經試過這般的不快經驗。被你險些碰撞的人，向左或右避開，而那邊正是你試圖避開他的那一方。這麼一來，大家都尷尬地再次避往令一方，重滔覆轍。幾經辛苦才 找對了不相撞的那邊過路。如果情況更不幸，可能會導致衝突。

讀者會問，究竟以上的討論， 和因果定律有什麼關係呢？請耐心稍候一會，我便會完完本本地給你們答案。以上的討論有兩個值得引以為鑑的警惕。一是大自然的現象，是有着恆久不變和單一互 動，而沒有複雜的惡性循環式互動交替的情況。因此，事發的原因比較容易尋找。很不幸地，很多天災的起因，都可歸根於人為因素。比如地球暖化和森林消失等， 都可尋找原因而加以避免。第二個可用來引以為鑑的警告，就是需要十分小心處理人與人的交往。因為有如以上闡述，人有自己的意識和自我，會由互動產生十分複 雜的惡毒性循環，一發不可收拾的可能效果。比如在人群中惡作劇場，高呼沒發生的火警。這極度可能引起恐慌，以致互相踐踏，引致人命傷亡。同樣的道理，處理 人與人之間的感情，也是適用的。我的總結，是我們的世界裡，存在着自然界的簡單客觀真理，以及人與人之間較為複雜的主觀真理。雖然有這般分類，但這不會影 響因與果的定律，它仍然是有效的。否則我們便喪失了邏輯和正常精神狀態的操作。這也代表着自然公理的不會變易。善惡到頭終有報，只是遲或早的問題吧了！因 此，作姦犯科之類，應以此作為警惕才對。就算你們不相信鬼神，也難逃自然的因果定律。同一警告，也可應用於唯物主義者，以及類似的政治黨派人士。我作重新 警告，這定律不是迷信，而是不會變易的永恆自然界真理，不可挑戰的事實。切記！切記！

JKHC. ( 鄭冠合 )

註： 我對有關愛因斯坦的狹義相對論的解釋 ：http://www.galaxyzooforum.org/index.php?topic=270816.0