The (Un)Knowable Universe

What is the extent by which the universe is knowable?

My 5 year old told us the other day that “there is no last number.”  So it seems he has the most knowable fact right there at the tip of his cognition.  He can know that and feel comfortable even though the rest of the iceberg of his un-knowing makes him tremor and shake out of fear:  The dark, the tunnel, the cave, the scary tree, the hallway at night, and all the “dark rides” at Disneyland.

An aquaintance said that the more we know of our universe the less random it appears.  The weather is a classic example– the more we study the patterns of weather, the more predictable it seems.  And tagging on to that is why earthquakes (not yet really predictable) scare the bejeezus out of everyone.

The last many entries, I have focused on random more than magic.  But it is the unknowable that also makes magic work and/or believable.  But that is a post for another day.

Daily Draw

Gypsy Fortune Teller @ Disneyland (25 cents gets the fortune machine going)

“Esmeralda’s Prophecies”

The card: “Born under a very lucky star, your disposition, naturally good, has been made uneven by the selfish and snobbish people you have met, and it has made you unhappy.  This condition is soon to end, for your lucky star will soon place you in a new change of life that will be far more pleasant.  While you will never have a great amount of wealth, you will never want for the things that you should really have.[…]”