Comments by "Jim Luebke" (@jimluebke3869) on "Ancient Wisdom at an Ancient Library" video.
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"If you're a master of numbers, there's almost nothing that is beyond your grasp" Only, ultimate mastery of numbers is not possible. Even augmented by computers, the complete reduction of everything the numerical calculation is not possible. To believe otherwise is hubris.
Two classes of problem spring to mind, one of which you mention - the quantum realm. Uncertainty teaches us that there is a scale at which mechanistic calculations give way to probabilistic calculation. This is related to the mystery of human consciousness, by the way, as our brains operate at this scale.
Another class of insoluble problem (though more may remain) is chaos: when the present determines the future, but the approximate present does not determine the approximate future. Any small error in initial conditions, input measurements, or tertiary calculation, will lead to a prediction that can radically diverge from reality. Chaotic pendulums, three-body celestial dynamics, and the behavior of convection cells fall into this category.
(Michael Knowles, of all people gave a good talk on this subject a little while back, with the incendiary title "I'm fine with being called anti-science". I recommend it.)
The most critical of these chaotic (and therefore bunk) prediction models these days, are our Climate models. They are built on hundreds (sometimes, thousands) of convection cells. If these will accurately predict the future, it can only be by accident. This fact bears repeating, until it gets greater play in our cultural conversation.
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