March 16, 1999

To Err

The title suggests a common phrase, "To err is human." Is it truly natural for us make mistakes, to be wrong? Our brains are an amazing machine capable of recording trillions of trillions of bits of data and keep this all sorted in an easy to use file system. We can distinguish millions of different tastes (an amazing feat since we only have four basic types of taste buds). Since we can calculate this, why can we not do the same with larger systems? We have experiences and data, so why can we not analyze it as well as we do the savory tongual experiences of dining?

We do err. We also hope. Despite all the modern day existential angst that is supposed to drain away at our wills to live, deep down we are optimists in some way. Through our teeth, under our breath, we have chanted, "Come on, come on," in the light of some particular event we want to go our way. Why do we need to cheer for one side over the other? We must be uncertain about the outcome for our minds have told us that what we want is not what will be. Still, we have hope. There is our error.

Hope is what makes us human. Even though we know the math and the numbers and the factors and the logic and the reasons and the directions and the flow and the general gist of it all leads to one conclusion, we sometimes want another ending, so we hope, pray, wish, yearn, and chant and dance for it. We grow used to this wish cycle and ignore the reasoned reality. That is when we make errors.

Or maybe it's just me, but if I remove hope from the equation, I always get the endings correct.