How The Three Body Problem Can Lead You To Stoicism 🧠
No, that's not about the sci-fi novel, but about the actual problem of Newtonian physics.
It turns out, it is impossible to predict the exact positions of three physical objects, that affect each other with gravitation (e.g. planets in space). Every object pulls two other objects and at the same time is affected by them.
At the moment there is no single universal method for predicting a future state of such a system.
There are indeed specific solutions for limited cases, but in a general case, a three-body system is a chaotic system.
It's impossible to use any intuition or math to tell what's going to happen in a chaotic three-body system. Even if you run a simulation, it will start to deviate over time, as even a tiny error in integration may grow exponentially in time (aka the Butterfly Effect).
We can’t predict what will happen in a system where many variables affect each other.
Here is what it means for you.
We live in a complex, ever-changing world, where many things and people are influenced by many other things and people, and even if you try to model and make a simulation of peoples’ behavior it is impossible to accurately tell what’s going to happen.
Does it mean it is pointless to try to predict anything at all? What can we do?
Good question. There are things that we can do, and there are things outside of our control.
We should focus on the variables that we can control.
We should also try to understand the variables that we can’t control, but we can’t expect to predict the behavior of the system based on these variables.
Some variables are constant, and some variables are changing.
We should identify the changing variables and try to understand how they change.
We should try to control the changing variables, but if we can’t, we should accept the consequences.
We should expect some unexpected results. The best we can do is to prepare for the unexpected.
This brings us to one of the core principles of Stoicism:
You don't control what happens, you control your own response.
Practical applications
When engaging with a complex system embrace unpredictability
Find the variables you can control by interacting and experimenting with the system. Try to change these variables and observe how it affects the system.
Try one variable at a time. Find which variables positively affect the system the most and use them.
Example:
You join a large organization to run a project, and you need to find out how you can align people and information flow to achieve your goals.
Start by identifying your boundaries in terms of the things you can affect and what variables you can change.
Find the variables that make the biggest impact in the direction of your goals and focus on them.
“The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control. Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to the choices that are my own...”
― Epictetus,
Discourses, 2.5.4–5
P.S. Rumors are Netflix is working on a drama based on The Three-Body Problem novel, created by the people behind True Blood and Game of Thrones, to be released sometime in 2022.
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