Just the other day I watched the first episode of the the Aple + tv show Foundation. https://tv.apple.com/us/show/foundation/umc.cmc.5983fipzqbicvrve6jdfep4x3?ign-itscg=MC_20000&ign-itsct=atvp_brand_omd&mttn3pid=Google%20AdWords&mttnagencyid=a5e&mttncc=US&mttnsiteid=143238&mttnsubad=OUS2019859_1-547710607871-c&mttnsubkw=104006946180__gBGfTJXl_&mttnsubplmnt= is a show based on the novels of Isaac Asimow so being a science fiction fan I could not wait to watch this show and it did not disappoint. The first episode explains how our heroes got themselves exiled.
The heroes used math to predict when society would collapse and their reward for this insight was exile from the society they served. No good deed goes unpunished, am I right?
I have always been intrigued by the capabilities of predicative algorithms and probability. Right now algorithms are used in our lives everyday, often unknown working behind the scenes algorithms influence our career home choice where we are seated on public travel. There is a pretty good book Weapons of Math Destruction. The book outlines how and when algorithms are used in our lives.
The stock market is a pretty volatile business world. Fortunes can be made and destroyed in short spans of time. There are some pretty interesting predictive algorithms that are used by powerful players in the stock market that work well to make many fortunes.
There are some very accurate algorithms out there and some of the predicative algorithms are becoming more and more accurate. I for one love the idea of knowing what the future can hold. I think I like it because I understand that the future is not written it doesn’t even exist time doesn’t exist really. The future is simply the effect of the cause and the cause is the present. Pulling levers now makes a difference immediately and in the future.
I have some children and my major desire for my children was, initially for them to be healthy and happy however I quickly realized I had very little influence over those aspects of their lives and happy is pretty subjective. Now that the children are older I just want them to do the right thing. I want them to be Good with the capital G. I myself also want to do as much good as I can.
I really think that this is the most we can do. With all the predictive algorithms and formulas and tools we have doing good is still the best thing we can do. Thwe formulas and tools can help us choose the most good thing to do but at the end of the day it is doing the good or right things that will save humans and the world.
Do as much good as you can and do it now.
The Corrigan Encore 