In 2009 I had some weird thing I must have felt the need to write down about absolutes. I was looking for a work I wrote on symbosis when I stumbled across this one. It is a personal mental rambling of me wanting to document some idea I likely had that was keeping me from falling asleep.

I think it is kind of amusing and also interesting. I am going to format it for here, but I will largely leave it as close to how it was when I wrote it in 2009 as possible.

Absolutes

The safest thing to say is that "There are no absolutes" as an absolute is a matter of perspective. There are many perspectives and perspectives change.

The easiest way to demonstrate this is with Mathematics which can be viewed as an absolute.

2+2=4

They say that is an absolute. I say it is a matter of perspective. Depending on perspective that statement above becomes either TRUE or FALSE.

What does 2 represent?

What if for example it represents two molecules of one type that when combined with 2 molecules of another type produce 2 new molecules? In this case the math would be 2+2=2. You could end up with 2+2=3, 2+2=6, or any other combination depending upon the result of combining those molecules. It could be argued that is still absolute because, we do things like this 1H + 2O = H2O.

Source: study.com

However, that is a matter of perspective. People often drop details when they are dealing with people. Especially, when they are discussing things they speak about on a regular basis. "How big is that?" "It is a 10." To these people they may not bother saying what it is 10 of. They already know that and are working in a common field. Yet to anyone perceiving this from the outside they likely would not know what the people were talking about. Perspective can alter the results.

It may be also argued that mathematics is absolute when applied to the same objects.

2 Pennies + 2 Pennies = 4 Pennies

Again, this is a matter of perspective.

2 Uranium + 2 Uranium = 4 Uranium

TRUE unless time is added into the equation. Over a lot of time you'll simply end up with a bunch of lead due to the radioactive half-life of Uranium. Once time becomes involved it alters the truth of that equation.

Source: geoinfo.nmt.edu

Okay, so now I am splitting hairs because, I added time into the equation

Not so.

How about slamming 2 Hydrogen atoms together and getting 1 Helium atom?

This is a process you likely have heard of called Fusion.

Source: both images from giphy.com

I am not saying that mathematics has no value. That is not the intention of this document. Mathematics has tremendous value and is one of the best tools available to us.

I am simply that saying that to treat anything as absolute is a matter of perspective.

You may be thinking "but, there is an absolute truth!" Do you know that? If so, how do you know that? I think you assume that. We all like to assume that. It is still simply an assumption without proof. It is certainly worth seeking the truth though.

Source: drsircus.com

Isaac Newton discovered Newtonian physics, which worked Great for many instance and still does to this day. However, with new perspectives and new information things such as predicting orbits of multiple stellar bodies were found to fall apart with Newtonian physis. (added for this post: see Three-body problem)

Source: www.goodreads.com

Albert Einstein studied this and introduced General Relativity.

Source: physics.aps.org

Problems with Relativity were found due to new perspectives and new information and thus, was conceive Quantum Physics, which the physicists themselves have not settled on which way it actually works. Though they have discovered enough that they have been able to apply technologies based upon it. It has caused many physicists to question everything they thought they knew.

Source: www.messagetoeagle.com

Simple:

If there is an absolute truth then it is something we will likely never achieve simply due to the fact we cannot contain all knowledge and all perspectives.

Closing remarks for Steemit

I have no idea why I wrote this. I don't think I actually shared it with anyone. This totally has the feel of one of those types of things I start thinking of in bed and can't fall asleep. The only way to make my mind shut up is to get up and write it down.

I actually had totally forgotten about writing this. Hopefully you find some amusement and enjoyment from it. I actually enjoyed rereading it.

Source: giphy.com