Predicting Is Hard, Especially About the Future
I love the fall. I love moderating temperatures, the leaves turning color, and football. Especially football. My mother has had a year long battle with cancer which she is winning. It requires a lot of maintenance and vigilance but at some point, mom would just like her life to return to normal. She's been a good soldier, battle weary, but still doing the things that are important. So this week, mom asked one of her doctors how many more visits she was going to have to make to the hospital. The doctor said anywhere from 5, to maybe 7 visits. He then patted her on the leg and said, "Predicting is hard, especially about the future." He turned and walked out of the room. I giggled about that all day. I even looked that phrase up- it sounded so Yogi Berra. But I think the credit actually should go to an old time physicist, Niels Bohr. Predicting, as it turns out, is really not that difficult at all. Doing it accurately, well that's a whole different story. He...