Statistics (and, therefore, probability) often provides one with an objective view of what is personal and what is not. Thus, the concept of “balance” can connote the tension between what seems clear to me as an individual with prejudices, fears, hopes, etc and what is actually true. I just read an article in the NY Times from 2005 or so about an experiment in which researchers asked people about their view of whether it was coincidence or something deeper if they were presented with evidence that a person with their birthdate was present in some cohort. The responses depended on whether the birthdate was the respondent’s or just a random date.
This is a prelude to, and justification for, the remainder of this post. I have been reading a book “The Last Leonardo” (Ben Lewis, Ballantine Books, 2019). This is somewhat fascinating for two reasons. First, it is a perfect example of fractals for those who would like an example. The author is writing about a painting, “Salvator Mundi”, that may or may not be painted by Leonardo da Vinci. He pursues multiple issues, such as how one establishes the provenance of a painting, how paintings are restored, etc. Each issue he investigates is as detailed as the overall project. No matter what level of detail, it is the same as the one above it.
However, the main justification for mentioning it is in a description of how the painting is cleaned and restored. On pg 125, he writes, “She sent [eight microscopic samples of paint] to be photographed by high-resolution microscopic cameras at the Museum of Philadelphia’s conservation department…” This is in pursuit of trying to ascertain whether a certain painting is by Leonardo, or whether it was put together by his assistants based on certain ideas of Leonardo.
This is from around 2005-2006. Other current events: Hurricane Katrina, war in Iraq, North Korea conducts its first nuclear test,…
How do we deal with the orders of magnitude of importance between these events? I must admit, I spent most of the year worrying about very little beyond the concerns of my family and my career.
At this point, I look to statistics and stoicism to help keep me grounded when contemplating the vast gulf between these different, but important, aspects of my reality.
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