The Ten Equations That Rule The World

This article is also published at?https://migoaguado.com/2022/12/20/the-ten-equations-that-rule-the-world/

My high school Physics teacher told us not to be afraid of the subject as it is just "reality in mathematical terms." His words relieved me immediately as my worldview was so simple back then. However, in two decades, adulting, career, and midlife crisis came along with social media, artificial intelligence, and big data. It feels like reality is constructed and deconstructed daily, and I mindlessly observe the constant chaos around me. Revisiting and familiarizing myself with mathematics can help me understand the reality that was once so simple to me back then.?

However, David Sumpter, the author of The Ten Equations That Rule The World (2020), argues that "Math is not verifiable. Instead, it consists of tautologies, statements that have been proven true by logic, but in themselves say nothing about reality... In isolation from data, equations do not have a deeper meaning. They certainly don't provide us with a morality or have anything to do with God. They are just a bunch of extremely useful results that happen to be true." [1] Similar to data, which is either a mathematical source or mathematically derived, do not provide any meaning unless fed into a model and interpreted to generate valuable insights.?

The sheer objectivity of mathematics gives the impression that everything, including the "meaning of life," is solvable through some golden equation. That meaning we perpetually have a quest for is a variable on different levels: individuals, communities, and humanity--and the variance is high across these different layers. Nonetheless, they can achieve common goals despite the high degree of differences. No one can predict everything, even with the best assumptions, anyway. So, who has the answers? No one. And everyone.

Sumpter further argued "Don't believe that you can reliably predict what will happen in life. Instead, make decisions that make sense to you—decisions you truly believe in." This is similar to Collins' conclusion with his?Built To Last?(2017) research: "It doesn't matter what core values you have. It matters that you have core values, that you preserve them over time, that you are passionately committed to them, and that you align your behaviors and your organizational practices and structures and strategies with those core values." [2]

The book offered?equations?and not?solutions, and that's okay.?It's up to the reader to provide?variables,?design?mathematical models, and confront the often brutal implications the equations might suggest. And that's okay. The?coefficients, constants,?and?operators?will never change, but a?variable?is called such for a reason. What are your variables?

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[1] Sumpter, D. (2020).?The Ten Equations that Rule the World: And How You Can Use Them Too. Penguin.

[2] (2017).?IT REALLY MATTERS THAT YOU HAVE CORE VALUES. IT REALLY DOESN'T MATTER WHAT THEY ARE!?JIM COLLINS. https://www.jimcollins.com/media_topics/ItReallyMatters.html