PrintCovid-19 Is Becoming a Theory of Everything
Theoreticians who lead the discipline of physics have for some decades devoted themselves to formulating a theory of everything (TOE), which is a single theory that is assumed to be capable of describing all the physical phenomena in the universe. The theory concerns the reconciliation of the theory of general relativity with the vagaries of quantum mechanics. It’s hoped that TOE will provide grand unity of understanding of the cosmos.
For Max Tegmark, mathematical existence equals physical existence, and all structures that exist mathematically exist physically as well. Such a concept is related to the now infamous Covid-19 models, based on mathematical models and not only predictive of the future, but formulas for the interpretation and transformation of the physical realities of societies.
Man’s constant quest for a formula that explains the cosmos and a sure measuring stick for the machinery of societal institutions and humanity itself are quests that never cease. Be it the phenomena of phlogiston posited as the glue that holds the cosmos together or humanity defined by sexual behavior alone, the desire for a one size fits all explanatory formula is a constant.
The desire to retrofit societies’ infinite complexity to conform to a formulaic preconception may explain how a virus has overnight become a key to interpreting and restructuring the entire world.
COVD-19 immediately morphed from a disease to a philosophy that includes a multidisciplinary effort that defines other disciplines, including economics. The wholesale applicability of COVID-19 first began with the expansion of the disease’s symptoms into a DOE, or Disease of Everything that in turn has become the formula for interpreting the entirety of the field of medicine. The long list of symptoms attributed to viral infection have expanded to the status of a universal affliction. Symptoms include COVID toes, blood clots, organ failure and heart attacks, dizziness, difficulty breathing, coughing, sniffles, and much more.
Even children, initially thought almost immune to infection, are now coming down with “pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome.” ABC reports in an article entitled, “Coronavirus Chicago: Kids sick with mysterious illness possibly linked to COVID-19,” that there are cases in Chicago of a strange illness “impacting children that may be connected to COVID-19. The symptoms are very similar to toxic shock syndrome or Kawasaki disease, a rare sickness that involves inflammation of blood vessels.”
Maggie Fox of CNN reports, Dr. Scott Brakenridge, an assistant professor on the acute care surgery team at the University of Florida stated, "One thing that is both curious and evolving and frustrating is that this disease is manifesting itself in so many different ways.”
While the doctors attending the children are no doubt quite sincere practitioners of their discipline, one has to wonder if the expansion of the disease’s effects to include children might serve a political “save the children” cause. One also has to view with some suspicion the words “possibly,” and “maybe,” as both are also synonymous with the phrase, “We just don’t know for sure.” In other words, just how scientific are the diagnoses, and how substantial are the guesses? Just how long is the list of symtoms?
COVID-19 appears to be rapidly becoming the explanation for most illnesses and deaths. In fact, it seems to be becoming a universal and formulaic diagnosis of what ails the entire human race. And of course, a universal disease needs a universal remedy.
It’s helpful to recall that the field of medicine has seen DOE theories before.
· For generations, the humor theory dominated medical diagnoses. Humors determined the behavior of all earthly elements and determined the health of a given human body.
· Freudian diagnosis determined that repressed sexuality was behind mental illnesses.
· Genetic malfunction was determined to be behind criminality, which was passed on to generation after generation.
· Race was considered determinative of intelligence and moral character.
While it should be emphasized that most, if not nearly all doctors are genuinely concerned about the health of their patients and about COVID-19 -- which is a real disease caused by a real virus -- it should be remembered that much harm has been done to human beings by fake science and by extending science beyond its capacities to observe and to analyze more than material realities. Scientific formulas and projections can cause great harm when extended beyond the scientific method into metaphysics.
To put it another way, when a formula is presented as the touchstone by which all of the cosmos is explained, including the human being and the world humans live in, a singularity is bound to happen. That is, we are bound to reach the place at which the formula makes sense no longer and becomes incapable of measuring accurately what is actually going on. Mathematics, as Kant pointed out in his Third critique, has inherent limitations and may or may not describe what is actual. There comes a point at which we are incapable of discerning the exact properties via mathematics that are the bases of projections.
In other words, mathematics can become detached from real objects in a real world and become mere visionary projection into the future; visions of the kind, as Ray Kurzweil puts it, that overturn “the institutes and pillars of society and completely change the way we view ourselves as human beings.”
Kurzweil continues: “How would things work if each of us could enjoy his very own ‘Doctor House,’ that provided ongoing recommendations and which new ideas and revelations would those super-intelligents come up with when they go over humanity’s history and holy books?”
Collaborations of the seers with computer generated models has created a Kurzweilian model of future prognostications that are to determine the direction of human society. We have seen such in models before. Malthusian projections about the horrors of population growth have had an enormous influence on countries like China, whose “one child” policy was adopted because of fear of overpopulation. The one child formula applied to Chinese society produced unforeseen results; results that spun out of control.
The Coronavirus formula reached its inherent limitations as an explanatory formula almost immediately and now has spun into an incoherent mess. Seeing the Coronavirus as a theory of everything has resulted in the trashing of the entire global economy, soon to be accompanied by looming shortages of food and the distinct possibility of famine.
The proposed remedies for the Coronavirus are distinctly anti-human and anti-societies. They are mere experiments gone mad. Reductionist, ideological formulas are always so sere, uncompromising and unforgiving in their simplicity, in their one size fits all remedies for the human condition, that they always lead to diminishment and even death. When such a single-minded formula is wed to an enabling force like the government, the chaos produced becomes anarchy that in turn leads to tyranny, as the one institution of government becomes the sole significant entity. All other entities are either disappeared or shut down, and their ameliorating influence jettisoned.
We seem to have forgotten our human limitations; forgotten that we will always see through a glass darkly, always have partial sight. But even with one eye, we can see that some visions are narrower than others and some are darker than others. We should not be surprised that a world defined by a disease will become critically ill.
Human beings will become ill and all of us will eventually die. That reality will not be resolved by the Midas Touch of the Federal Reserve; nor by the Philosopher’s Stone exuding an elixir guaranteeing immortality—a potion sought by such luminaries of science as Isaac Newton. The inherent problems attendant to the human condition will not be solved by the government.
But disease can be mitigated by earnestly pursuing and seeking after cures for specific diseases like the Coronavirus while offering compassion and mercy to the sick and dying. Meanwhile, we can ensure the healthy continue on with their lives as best they can. We can reform rather than destroy the institutions that form the very bases of society, institutions that cannot be locked down without making all of society ill.
We can choose life instead of the permanent invalidism of the entire social order. We can and must choose the good, the true and the beautiful as our guiding stars. We can demonstrate compassion, mercy, grace and love to all, sick and healthy alike. These are the best palliatives we possess.
In the ancient chronicles of Deuteronomy, the people of Israel are faced with a choice given by Jehovah, the Creator of everything; a Person, not a theory:
That choice is always before us.
Fay Voshell holds a M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary, which awarded her the prize for excellence in systematic theology. Her thoughts have appeared in many online magazines. She has contributed regularly to American Thinker since 2011. She may be reached at fvoshell@yahoo.com
