From one thing, know ten thousand things.
This was taken from Harry's signature as I don't quite understand it.
How, exactly, can we know ten thousand things from one thing?
For that matter, how can we even know two things from one thing?
OK, I can see how we might know three things from two things (if the two things can be logically conjoined to produce the third) but you could argue that the third is already implicitly known when just the two things are known.
So then, Harry (or anyone else), care to explain it? ;)
Re: From one thing, know ten thousand things.
Quote:
Originally posted by simonm
This was taken from Harry's signature as I don't quite understand it.
How, exactly, can we know ten thousand things from one thing?
For that matter, how can we even know two things from one thing?
OK, I can see how we might know three things from two things (if the two things can be logically conjoined to produce the third) but you could argue that the third is already implicitly known when just the two things are known.
So then, Harry (or anyone else), care to explain it? ;)
Ok - here is an example - if you say Maxwell's laws you can predict thousands of detailed things about the universe. These seem to some people 'trivial' as a genius has actually done the hard work of formulating the "one thing" and any dodo can do the "knowing ten thousand". Likewise 'knowledge' of how simple building blocks of nucleic acids fit together we can build up a deep (but delimited) understanding of life, its potentials and inter-relations.
Oh - one thing BTW - it doesn't say from one thing know ANY ten thousand things - the many are linked to the few in very specific ways.