Living with the Unexpected

HS # 17  2016.12.6

Living with the unexpected

Several years ago, I was having lunch at 8^th Street Russ’ in Holland. A teenage boy was busy clearing the tables, and across the isle from me several 40-something aged women got up to leave. One of them nodded to the table-clearer and said, “We’ve leaving, you can clear our table now.”  He looked back with an expression of, “What’s your problem?”  Seeing his expression, she repeated – a bit more emphatically, “We’re done here – you can clean off our table.”  By this time her behavior had attracted my attention and that of several others. Noticing our quiet disapproval, she gave a quick head-point towards the young man, smiled, and explained, “That’s my son.”

As I broke into a chuckle, it occurred to me what a difference an explanation can make.  Somehow I imagined this typical teenager going through his 16 years giving grudging help at best. Had he ever cleared a table at home? Who knows – but his mother was certainly taking delight in seeing him do it now. What fun.

What is it about the unexpected that often causes us to break out in laughter?

Once when walking through the Hope College Student Union, I overheard a custodian confront a student who had his feet up on the coffee table, “Do you put your feet on your coffee table at home?”  “Huh?  Yes - - I do.”  “Well, you’re not at home, so get them off!”

Quick thinking – caught me by surprise, and likely the student as well.

Or there was the time when I was having lunch with a couple professor friends in the Hope Kletz. We were discussing my faithful canine companion, Elvis.  The conversation ranged from whether I was careful to pick up after him on campus to whether dogs might join us in heaven.  Getting up to leave, sociology professor Don Luidens explained that he regretted leaving this discussion of scatology and eschatology. 

I still take delight in that quick-witted association.

Indeed, why do we laugh at the unexpected – especially when it is at our own expense?

I once had a calculus student come to my office for help. I spent 90 minutes thoroughly explaining the material and carefully answering his questions. Upon leaving, he gratefully acknowledged my help, “Thanks anyway.”

Another time I was talking with my fellow math professor, John Van Iwaarden, after the Hope College graduation ceremony.  A math student who we had both taught in several classes approached us, grabbed John’s hand, and pumping it vigorously, enthused “Thank you for being such a great teacher! It was so easy to learn from you.”  Then turning to leave, he noticed me and stuck out his hand, “Goodbye.”

Then also, the unexpected humor can come from good intentions.

Several years ago I mistakenly gave Elvis a ham bone to enjoy. Not a good idea. The bone splinters into flakes and clogs up the digestive system.  Taking the vet’s advice, I put Elvis on the back porch with the door propped open to the back yard, so that he could relieve himself as needed. Feeling sorry for subjecting him to the frigid March temperatures, I bundled up in a sleeping bag and several blankets and spent the night on the porch futon to keep him company. After a chilly and restless night, I awoke to find him nowhere in sight. He was neither on the porch nor outside.

Getting rather nervous I glanced towards the door to the house and there he was – inside the house, cozy and warm – smiling out at me. I found out later that after a trip outdoors, he had gone to the front of the house (his usual entry point) and barked to be let back in. My kind-hearted neighbor heard him, and gave him entry.  I rather think he spent the night laughing at me.

What is it that often makes us laugh when surprised? Maybe it is a naturally developed defense mechanism, maybe a gift from God. Whatever the case, humor is a salve that enables us to accommodate the unexpected in our lives – especially when it is consequential and far-reaching.  As was said by others wiser than I, “The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think.” “There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt.“

Do we have freewill?

HS #16  2016.11.1

 Do we have freewill?

One of my favorite hours of the week is 7-8 am on Sunday morning. I lie in bed and listen to “On Being” with Krista Tippett on Michigan Radio at FM 104.1.  She interviews a broad collection of influential thinkers on topics in religion and science.

A recent interview involved the veracity of the statement, “I have freewill.”

I claim it is true, but my explanation may trouble you. The most slippery word in the statement is “I.” What does “I” mean? Let’s unpack it a bit.

What’s the difference between the game of tic tack toe and the game of chess? Likely you learned to play tic tack toe as a child, and stopped playing it about three days later. Why? Because when players have gained the ability to imagine three or four moves ahead, they won’t lose.  Thus two experienced opponents will always play to a draw. Not much fun.

Now consider chess.  As a logical game, chess is no different from tic tack toe. Two players with the ability to think about 40 moves ahead would find it just as boring because again each game would end in a draw.  However, since even grand masters can typically visualize only about eight moves in advance, we experience the two games as vastly different. Said another way, tic tack toe and chess are qualitatively the same, but since they are so different quantitatively, they FEEL qualitatively different.

Hold that thought and consider another.  Imagine a Roomba, the robotic carpet sweeper advertised on TV. They move ahead until they bump into something. Then they back up a bit, pivot to a slightly different direction, and then move ahead again. Eventually, if you’re lucky, they may sweep the entire floor.

My question: Does a Roomba have free will? Your first impulse may be “Of course not, it’s just a machine,” but ponder a bit. The Roomba is doing exactly as it wants. It “wants” to move forward, and when it bumps into something, it wants to pivot. Does the fact that we know what it will want to do change the fact that it is doing as it wishes? Does the fact that it was programed to make those choices change the fact that it is doing as it chooses? I think not.  From its point of view – not being aware of its own circuitry, it is just doing as it pleases.

Now, in the same way that chess feels different from tic tack toe just because it is so much more complicated, so also we humans may well be essentially the same as the Roomba. We just seem different because the circuitry of our brains is so much more extensive.  But in the same way that tic tack toe and chess SEEM qualitatively different but in fact are not, perhaps we humans are very complicated Roombas. (I told you that you weren’t going to like this.)

If so, then we have free will just like the Roomba – we are free to do as we wish. It’s just that “what we wish” could be determined and predicted (in principle) by looking at the circuitry of our brains, just as the engineer who made the Roomba circuit board will know what it will want.

Now, knowing just a little about how your brain is wired, I can predict how you might be responding: “You are talking nonsense!  Of course I’m not just a complicated Roomba!”  My reply,  “How do you know?”  There is certainly nothing from your experience to which you could turn for a counter argument.  Even our self-awareness, for example, might just be the result of the more extensive circuitry.

Does the meaning of “I” change if we bring God into the picture? To my knowledge, there is one biblical passage that treats the topic of freewill in depth. I’m referring to Paul’s letter to the Romans – chapter 9.

With lawyerly precision, Paul wrestles with the question of human free will and divine sovereignty. By asking honest questions, Paul backs himself into a corner.  God made us and determines our freewill, just as Roomba’s engineer made it and determines its freewill. This leads to the inevitable question: How can God then hold us humans responsible for our actions? Paul’s answer?  He punts! -  We are the created, who are we to question God!  Surprisingly then, Paul’s explanation is not inconsistent with us being Roombas.

Troubled?   Of course – that’s the way you are made.

Conformity and Choice: Three Great Quotes

 Hope College alum A.J. Muste, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and the Apostle Paul share something in common.  Each says something significant about conformity.

 Born in the Netherlands and raised in Grand Rapids, A.J. Muste, advisor to Martin Luther King Jr., was heralded by Time magazine as “the Number One U.S. pacifist.”  At Hope College he played baseball, was captain of the basketball team, and graduated valedictorian in 1905.  He then taught at Northwestern College for a year, and upon graduating from New Brunswick Seminary was ordained into the (then) Dutch Reformed Church.

Muste’s deep knowledge of and dedication to the scripture that he had studied since a child led him to question whether its teaching could be reconciled with the carnage that began with World War I. These questions led to a life of searching and activism, which included spending eight days in jail at age 74 for climbing over a 5 ft fence into a missile construction site.

So with that as a brief backdrop, you will appreciate his answer when asked by a reporter, “Do you really think that you are going to change the policies of this country be standing out here alone at night in front of the White House with a candle?”  Muste replied, “Oh, I don’t do this to change the country. I do this so the country won’t change me.”

As with all great quotes, that one speaks for itself.

Let’s compare it with one from another activist with the same steely look in his eye: Ralph Waldo Emerson.  In his 1841 essay, “Self-Reliance,” Emerson penned,  “Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members.”

What do these powerful statements have in common? Emerson and Muste agree that we are easily shaped and controlled by the world around us. We are like jagged, sharp-edged stones put into a polishing machine. Whenever a stone bumps up against another, each looses a bit of its edge. Eventually they smooth out and form a surface and shape resembling the others. In many ways they become more beautiful and useful, but at the cost of losing some of their own individuality.

On a Jimmy Kimmel Live show last month, an apparent Apple I-phone salesman claimed to be offering passersby the new I-phone 7. He took their current I-phone, explained that he was transferring the content onto a new I-phone 7, gave them the “new” phone, and then asked how they liked it. Actually, he had just put their old phone in another case. The fooled I-phone users loved the “new“ one - lighter, brighter, better resolution, better sound. Several enthusiastically paid $50 for the upgrade. 

I'd be laughing at them, but once with friends at college one smelled the cola in his glass, grimaced, and passed it around to several others who had the same reaction. When it came to me, I did the same - something about it smelled funny. They all burst out laughing – there was nothing wrong with the cola.  No way to weasel out of that one - I was the fool.  Amazing how easily we conform to expectations and adopt others’ behavior.

So what’s the answer? Do we coast through life passively assuming the thoughts, values, habits and life styles of others, conforming to society’s expectations?  Or should we resolutely and intentionally try to maintain our own individuality?  Would we really want to spend time with someone who had successfully rejected all attempts to make him/her behave like others? Likely it would not be a pleasant experience.

This is where the Apostle Paul comes in. In his letter to the church in Rome, he encouraged them, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind . . . “

Paul reminds us that we can do more than just barrier off the world’s corrupting influence.  We can also actively choose what will positively transform our lives, making us into better people.   This power of self-reflection and moral choice giving us a hand in our own destiny may be uniquely human. Indeed, John Steinbeck’s masterpiece, “East of Eden,” is built on the Hebrew word “timshel“ meaning “thou mayest.”  At the genesis of humankind, God exhorts Cain, “thou mayest rule over sin.”

All of this a good reminder:  we not only have the freedom to be individuals, we also have the power to choose the good. What a privilege. What a responsibility.

Life Lessons from Mathematics

Here’s a question for you:  Suppose that one in a thousand people have a serious disease and there is a medical test which determines whether or not a person has it. However, as with all tests, it is not 100% accurate. If you have the disease, it will give the correct diagnosis 100% of the time. If you don’t have the disease it will give the correct diagnosis 97% of the time. You take the test and it indicates you have the disease. Should you be concerned? What’s the probability that you actually have it?

You may be surprised to learn that you can breath a sigh of relief.  Chances are only about 3% that you have the disease!  Surprised?  Think of it this way: If 1000 people get tested, just one of those will likely have the disease and will be diagnosed as such. However, 3% of the 1000 – that is, 30 people - who are healthy will also be diagnosed as diseased.  Thus there are a total of 31 people who test positive, but only one of them – about 3% - is actually sick.

OK – now that you’re thinking more clearly, try this one: How many people need to be in a room before you can be absolutely certain that at least two of them have the same birthday (just the day, not the year)?  Well, allowing for leap year, it’s possible (though highly unlikely) that 366 people can each have a different birthday – each on a different day of the year. However, as soon as one more person enters the room, s/he HAS to share a birthday with one of the 366 already there. Thus 367 people GUARANTEES that two will have the same birthday.

Sorry, that wasn’t the question. Here it is: How many people need to be in a room before the probability is greater than one-half that two will have the same birthday?  That is, if you had to bet, you’d do better to guess that somewhere in the room two people share a birthday.  What do you think?  A common guess is 183 (half of 366).  However, you’re likely to be just as surprised as before. It turns out that if the room has just 23 people in it, chances are better than 50% that two will have the same birthday. Don’t believe me? The math is too involved for this column, but try it out.  Have everyone in a room write down their birthday (and relatives as needed) so that the total number of birthdays is, say, over 35.  Then go around and have everyone give the dates - - you’ll very likely find a match.

I have spent the last fifteen years going to high schools, colleges, and universities around the country telling about Elvis, my (late) Welsh Corgi. When I threw a ball down the beach and into the water, he ran down the beach and jumped into the lake at just the right point to retrieve the ball in minimum time. (For details, google: elvis, corgi, calculus.)

My favorite part of the talk was when I asked what Elvis should do if we backed up another 20 yards, but still threw the ball to the same place in the water.  Most everyone guessed that Elvis’s water-entry point should also back up a bit.  Using calculus, I showed them that their intuition was wrong. Elvis’s entry point remained the same.

These examples show the power of mathematics.  They also show the value of a formal education.  As I tell students, one can learn much about life by getting a job, or traveling the world, or joining the military, or just living out on the street. However, a formal education provides valuable and life-changing insights in mathematics, literature, and science – insights that one won’t likely learn on one’s own.  That is why a liberal arts education is truly liberating.

These examples provide another lesson as well. Our gut intuition and beliefs – our common sense – may well be dead wrong, even when others are in agreement with us.  Think about that. There may be things that you and those around you are convinced are true, but in fact are not. In mathematics it’s relatively easy to prove the error. In other areas we have no choice but to hold our beliefs with a dose of humility realizing that maybe – just maybe – we’re all mistaken.

That’s not a bad lesson to learn – at least that’s what my gut tells me.

Bobby Kennedy’s Legacy

Bobby Kennedy is a hero of mine.  I’m just old enough to remember a little about him first hand, and recently began a new biography,  “Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon” by Larry Tye.

Who can forget the iconic image of him sitting crouched face to face with his brother, the President, during the Cuban Missile Crisis. President Kennedy had been challenged as to the wisdom and appropriateness of appointing his younger  brother, just in his mid thirties, as Attorney General. JFK quipped, “I can't see that it's wrong to give him a little legal experience before he goes out to practice law.”  

That quote is significant. The 1960’s under Kennedy and the Civil War period under Lincoln were two of the most turbulent times in the history of our nation. Yet in the midst of troubled times, these presidents led with gentleness and humor.  Lincoln was famous for his stories. A favorite was of the Revolutionary War hero Ethan Allen who visited England a few years after the war ended. England was still smarting from the loss, so when Allen asked to use the outhouse, he discovered that his host had hung a picture of George Washington in it. Upon exiting Allen announced, “Very appropriate – nothing makes an Englishman shit faster than a picture of General Washington.”  I digressed intentionally. It is good to remember the character – the wit and wisdom  - of our great leaders.

Lincoln, though assassinated, accomplished his great mission – he saw the Civil War end and the Union restored.  President Kennedy was killed before his first term ended, but not before he put this nation on bold new trajectories of humanitarian work abroad, a space program, physical fitness, and civil rights.

But Bobby’s potential legacy remains the great unknown. Not knowing what he would have accomplished as president, we shouldn’t forget the lesson he taught us while still a senator and presidential contender.

The date was April 4, 1968. The place was Indianapolis. Bobby was scheduled to give a campaign speech in anticipation of the Indiana primary.  As Bobby’s plane landed, he learned that Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated.  Fearing riots, the mayor and chief of police advised him to cancel his speech to a largely black audience set in the ghetto of Indianapolis.  Rejecting their advice, Bobby addressed the shocked crowd with words just as appropriate for today (find the full speech  online):

“In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it’s perhaps well to ask what kind of nation we are, and what direction we want to move in . . . We can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand, and to comprehend, and to replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with compassion and love  . . . My favorite poet was Aeschylus – he once wrote: `He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep, pain that cannot forget, falls drop by drop upon the heart. And in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us, by the awful grace of God. ‘ . . . What we need in the United States is not division. What we need in the United States is not hatred. What we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another – and justice for those who still suffer within our country – whether they be white or whether they be black.”   

“We have had difficult times in the past, and we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence. It is not the end of lawlessness. It is not the end of disorder. The vast majority want to live together, and want to improve the quality of our lives, and want justice for all human beings that abide in our land. Let’s dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago, `To tame the savageness of man, and make gentle the life of this world.’  Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country, and for our people.”

Riots broke out in over one hundred major U.S. cities, but Indianapolis remained calm.

Bobby was assassinated two months later.

Friends – this is the heritage of leadership and behavior to which we should aspire.  Bobby was speaking, in the words of Lincoln, to our better angles. We’d do well to reflect and remember.