F David Peat - Collected Quotes

"A good poem has a unified structure, each word fits perfectly, there is nothing arbitrary about it, metaphors hold together and interlock, the sound of a word and its reflections of meaning complement each other. Likewise postmodern physics asks: How well does everything fit together in a theory? How inevitable are its arguments? Are the assumptions well founded or somewhat arbitrary? Is its overall mathematical form particularly elegant?" (F David Peat, "From Certainty to Uncertainty", 2002)

"A model is a simplified picture of physical reality; one in which, for example, certain contingencies such as friction, air resistance, and so on have been neglected. This model reproduces within itself some essential feature of the universe. While everyday events in nature are highly contingent and depend upon all sorts of external perturbations and contexts, the idealized model aims to produce the essence of phenomena." (F David Peat, "From Certainty to Uncertainty", 2002)

"A system at a bifurcation point, when pushed slightly, may begin to oscillate. Or the system may flutter around for a time and then revert to its normal, stable behavior. Or, alternatively it may move into chaos. Knowing a system within one range of circumstances may offer no clue as to how it will react in others. Nonlinear systems always hold surprises." (F David Peat, "From Certainty to Uncertainty", 2002)

"A theory makes certain predictions and allows calculations to be made that can be tested directly through experiments and observations. But a theory such as superstrings talks about quantum objects that exist in a multidimensional space and at incredibly short distances. Other grand unified theories would require energies close to those experienced during the creation of the universe to test their predictions." (F David Peat, "From Certainty to Uncertainty", 2002)

"Although the detailed moment-to-moment behavior of a chaotic system cannot be predicted, the overall pattern of its 'random' fluctuations may be similar from scale to scale. Likewise, while the fine details of a chaotic system cannot be predicted one can know a little bit about the range of its 'random' fluctuation." (F David Peat, "From Certainty to Uncertainty", 2002)

"An algorithm is a simple rule, or elementary task, that is repeated over and over again. In this way algorithms can produce structures of astounding complexity." (F David Peat, "From Certainty to Uncertainty", 2002)

"Chaos itself is one form of a wide range of behavior that extends from simple regular order to systems of incredible complexity. And just as a smoothly operating machine can become chaotic when pushed too hard (chaos out of order), it also turns out that chaotic systems can give birth to regular, ordered behavior (order out of chaos). […] Chaos and chance don’t mean the absence of law and order, but rather the presence of order so complex that it lies beyond our abilities to grasp and describe it." (F David Peat, "From Certainty to Uncertainty", 2002)

"Chaos theory explains the ways in which natural and social systems organize themselves into stable entities that have the ability to resist small disturbances and perturbations. It also shows that when you push such a system too far it becomes balanced on a metaphoric knife-edge. Step back and it remains stable; give it the slightest nudge and it will move into a radically new form of behavior such as chaos." (F David Peat, "From Certainty to Uncertainty", 2002)

"Giving people new mental tools to represent aspects of the world around them meant that they could now externalize and objectify that world. Proceeding in this way they could treat the world as external to themselves and as something to be contemplated within the imagination. The world now became an object to be manipulated within the theater of the mind, rather than an external tangible reality. This also meant that people could gain increasing control over the world around them, yet always at the expense of a loss of direct involvement. The more we objectify the world, the more we are in danger of losing touch with that sense of immediacy felt by active participants in nature." (F David Peat, "From Certainty to Uncertainty", 2002)

"In a linear system a tiny push produces a small effect, so that cause and effect are always proportional to each other. If one plotted on a graph the cause against the effect, the result would be a straight line. In nonlinear systems, however, a small push may produce a small effect, a slightly larger push produces a proportionately larger effect, but increase that push by a hair’s breadth and suddenly the system does something radically different." (F David Peat, "From Certainty to Uncertainty", 2002)

"In chaos theory this 'butterfly effect' highlights the extreme sensitivity of nonlinear systems at their bifurcation points. There the slightest perturbation can push them into chaos, or into some quite different form of ordered behavior. Because we can never have total information or work to an infinite number of decimal places, there will always be a tiny level of uncertainty that can magnify to the point where it begins to dominate the system. It is for this reason that chaos theory reminds us that uncertainty can always subvert our attempts to encompass the cosmos with our schemes and mathematical reasoning." (F David Peat, "From Certainty to Uncertainty", 2002)

"In essence, mathematicians wanted to prove two things: 1.Mathematics is consistent: Mathematics contains no internal contradictions. There are no slips of reason or ambiguities. No matter from what direction we approach the edifice of mathematics, it will always display the same rigor and truth. 2.Mathematics is complete: No mathematical truths are left hanging. Nothing needs adding to the system. Mathematicians can prove every theorem with total rigor so that nothing is excluded from the overall system." (F David Peat, "From Certainty to Uncertainty", 2002)

"It is not so much that particular languages evolve and then cause us to see the world in a given way, but that language and worldview develop side by side to the point where language becomes so ingrained that it constantly supports a specific way of seeing and structuring the world. In the end it becomes difficult to see the world in any other light."  (F David Peat, "From Certainty to Uncertainty", 2002)

"Lessons from chaos theory show that energy is always needed for reorganization. And for a new order to appear an organization must be willing to allow a measure of chaos to occur; chaos being that which no one can totally control. It means entering a zone where no one can predict the final outcome or be truly confident as to what will happen." (F David Peat, "From Certainty to Uncertainty", 2002)

"Mathematical fractals are generated by repeating the same simple steps at ever decreasing scales. In this way an apparently complex shape, containing endless detail, can be generated by the repeated application of a simple algorithm. In turn these fractals mimic some of the complex forms found in nature. After all, many organisms and colonies also grow though the repetition of elementary processes such as, for example, branching and division." (F David Peat, "From Certainty to Uncertainty", 2002)

"Quantum chance is absolute. […] Quantum chance is not a measure of ignorance but an inherent property. […] Chance in quantum theory is absolute and irreducible." (F David Peat, "From Certainty to Uncertainty", 2002)

"Science is like photographing a series of close-ups with your back to the sun. No matter which way you move, your shadow always falls across the scene you photograph. No matter what you do, you can never efface yourself from the photographed scene." (F David Peat, "From Certainty to Uncertainty", 2002)

"Science is that story our society tells itself about the cosmos. Science supposedly provides an objective account of the material world based upon measurement and quantification so that structure, process, movement, and transformation can be described mathematically in terms of fundamental laws." (F David Peat, "From Certainty to Uncertainty", 2002)

"Science proceeds by abstracting what is essential from the accidental details of matter and process. […] Science begins with our relationship to nature. The facts it discovers about the universe are answers to human questions and involve human-designed experiments." (F David Peat, "From Certainty to Uncertainty", 2002)

"The danger arises when a culture takes its own story as the absolute truth, and seeks to impose this truth on others as the yardstick of all knowledge and belief." (F David Peat, "From Certainty to Uncertainty", 2002)

"The quantum world is in a constant process of change and transformation. On the face of it, all possible processes and transformations could take place, but nature’s symmetry principles place limits on arbitrary transformation. Only those processes that do not violate certain very fundamental symmetry principles are allowed in the natural world." (F David Peat, "From Certainty to Uncertainty", 2002)

"The theories of science are all about idealized models and, in turn, these models give pictures of reality. […] But when we speak of the quantum world we find we are employing concepts that simply do not fit. When we discuss our models of reality we are continually importing ideas that are inappropriate and have no real meaning in the quantum domain." (F David Peat, "From Certainty to Uncertainty", 2002)

"There are endless examples of elaborate structures and apparently complex processes being generated through simple repetitive rules, all of which can be easily simulated on a computer. It is therefore tempting to believe that, because many complex patterns can be generated out of a simple algorithmic rule, all complexity is created in this way." (F David Peat, "From Certainty to Uncertainty", 2002)

"To make a quantum observation or to register a measurement in any way, at least one quantum of energy must be exchanged between apparatus and quantum object. But because a quantum is indivisible, it cannot be split or divided. At the moment of observation we cannot know if that quantum came from the measuring apparatus or from the quantum object." (F David Peat, "From Certainty to Uncertainty", 2002)

"Quantum theory forces us to see the limits of our abilities to make images, to create metaphors, and push language to its ends. As we struggle to gaze into the limits of nature we dimly begin to discern something hidden in the dark shadows. That something consists of ourselves, our minds, our language, our intellect, and our imagination, all of which have been stretched to their limits." (F David Peat, "From Certainty to Uncertainty", 2002)

"Quantum theory introduced uncertainty into physics; not an uncertainty that arises out of mere ignorance but a fundamental uncertainty about the very universe itself. Uncertainty is the price we pay for becoming participators in the universe. Ultimate knowledge may only be possible for ethereal beings who lie outside the universe and observe it from their ivory towers." (F David Peat, "From Certainty to Uncertainty", 2002) 

"Where we find certainty and truth in mathematics we also find beauty. Great mathematics is characterized by its aesthetics. Mathematicians delight in the elegance, economy of means, and logical inevitability of proof. It is as if the great mathematical truths can be no other way. This light of logic is also reflected back to us in the underlying structures of the physical world through the mathematics of theoretical physics." (F David Peat, "From Certainty to Uncertainty", 2002)

"[…] while chaos theory deals in regions of randomness and chance, its equations are entirely deterministic. Plug in the relevant numbers and out comes the answer. In principle at least, dealing with a chaotic system is no different from predicting the fall of an apple or sending a rocket to the moon. In each case deterministic laws govern the system. This is where the chance of chaos differs from the chance that is inherent in quantum theory." (F David Peat, "From Certainty to Uncertainty", 2002)

"While chaos theory is, in the last analysis, no more than a metaphor for human society, it can be a valuable metaphor. It makes us sensitive to the types of organizations we create and the way we deal with the situations that surround us." (F David Peat, "From Certainty to Uncertainty", 2002)

"Quantum theory stresses the irreducible link between observer and observed and the basic holism of all phenomena. Indigenous science also holds that there is no separation between the individual and society, between matter and spirit, between each one of us and the whole of nature." (F David Peat, "The Blackfoot Physics", 2006)

"Art and music make manifest, by bringing into conscious awareness, that which has previously been felt only tentatively and internally. Art, in its widest sense, is a form of play that lies at the origin of all making, of language, and of the mind's awareness of its place within the world. Art, in all its forms, makes manifest the spiritual dimension of the cosmos, and expresses our relationship to the natural world. This may have been the cause of that natural light which first illuminated the preconscious minds of early hominids." (F David Peat, "Pathways of Chance", 2007)