“There is nothing in life so irrational, that good sense and chance may not set it to rights: nothing is so rational, that folly and chance may not utterly confound it.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
pi vs tau
Humans in themselves are irrational, equipped with the tool of survival called rationality. Irrationality is an inevitable part of the system: if one eliminates irrationality, one also chooses to neglect the ability to have faith, hope, or even the Spidey-sense, that is your instinct; or is there even a supreme power that ensures justice, or does life have a meaning?
While ‘Rationality’ and ‘Irrationality’ are the sides of the same coin, both require their own checks and balances, and here we derive angles to the various irrational behaviors and phenomena, by indulging ourselves in irrationality.
What is the relevance? That would be like asking the relevance of spirituality or hope; which as of now, and for another century will be universal.
For a concrete argument, the pandemic has put people in a zone of desperation where irrational behavior including superstitions has sprung to a heightened level. People have hit rock-bottom in a way. Anything and everything, just to get past the day; but this tone of life is not something new, we just did not pay attention to it. Every story has more than one side, and let us see what those sides have for us.
‘Pi’ and ‘Tau’ are two mathematical irrational numbers and there is an actual debate among the supporters of these two numbers over which should be more important and representative of the circle. All the formulae of the circle comprise π, whereas the Tau supporters feel that π is overrated, and if we derive the constant using radius of the circle, we will get Tau to be the ‘constant’, and therefore Tau must be elevated.
Now though problems can be solved using both the numbers according to convenience, there is an age-old inconclusive debate of one being better than the other. Mathematically there are good arguments but for the sake of entertainment, let us just have fun with them.
Interestingly enough, these are two groups of people clashing over irrational numbers; and since not one is more right than the other, we perceive it as a clash of perspectives.
All in all, we are perhaps entitled to irrationality more than we know.
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