The One You Feed What If You’re Wrong? How Uncertainty Makes Us More Human with William Egginton
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Apr 8, 2025 In a thought-provoking discussion, William Egginton, a Professor of the Humanities at Johns Hopkins University and author, examines the intricate relationship between uncertainty and humanity. He challenges the notion of absolute certainty, discussing how biases shape our perceptions and the interconnectedness of philosophy and quantum physics. Egginton explores the fluidity of identity, emphasizing that our sense of self evolves through relationships. He also dives into the philosophical debate of free will versus determinism, revealing deep insights on the nature of reality.
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Borges's Map Parable
- Borges's "On Rigor in Science" parable describes an emperor who demands increasingly accurate maps.
- The final map, matching the empire's size, proves useless, highlighting knowledge's inherent limitations.
Information Overload
- Excessive information, like Borges's Library of Babel, becomes a jumble of meaningless data.
- We rely on algorithms to interpret this data, often serving corporate interests, not objective truth.
Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle
- Heisenberg's uncertainty principle demonstrates the inherent limits of observation.
- Measuring a particle's position precisely makes its momentum uncertain, and vice-versa.
