Realm Sets

I have occasionally referred to situations in my writing in which there are two matching realms, one a simple realm and the other a congruent complex realm. The two must be separate entities, one being able to exist without the other.

Today, I would like to formally define the seven realm sets which I have identified. Each set consists of a simple and a complex realm. This is intended to increase our awareness of the fundamental underlying patterns in everything. I find it very interesting how human activities so often come in matching sets. These realm sets exist only for human beings and have no real meaning in the universe of inanimate matter.

On my religion blog, http://www.markmeekreligion.blogspot.com/ , is the posting "Religion And Philosophy". This explains my view of religion as a simple realm and philosophy as the matching complex realm. A religious statement such as "There is a god" must be either true or false. There is no middle ground.

However in philosophy, it is possible to have two opposing statements which are both valid. We can decide that one philosophy is better or more suitable than another. But a philosophical statement does not really give us the possibility of affixing a true or false label to it. Religion means deciding whether a statement is true or false while philosophy consists of choosing the best one or blending two viewpoints together.

The second realm set is news and opinion. I have also mentioned this previously. News or information is a simple realm, opinion is the matching complex realm. News, like religion, is concrete. Either it is correct or it isn't.

But opinions are subjective. We can prefer one opinion over another, but it is more difficult to label an opinion as true or false. In terms of pattern, we could say that news goes in only one direction while opinion can go in any direction.

The third realm set is referred to on my progress blog, http://www.markmeekprogress.blogspot.com/ , in the posting "The Progression Of Knowledge". Mathematics is a simple realm and the matching complex realm is science.

When we completely understand something, it falls into the realm of mathematics because we can attach precise numbers to it. But when we only partially understand something and are still studying it, we are dealing with the realm of science. I described in that posting that if we completely understood everything, there would be math classes but no more science classes. Mathematics is a numerical description of what we know, science is the seeking of what we do not know.

The fourth realm set also includes science. But in this set, science is the simple realm and art is the matching complex realm. Any procedure which employs a precise, fixed methodology or algorithm is a science.

In contrast, a procedure with no precise way to go about it, with a reliance on human feeling, judgment or, expression, is an art. In our familiar pattern relating to these realm sets, science goes in one direction while art can go in many directions. Examples of art, as opposed to science, are writing, cooking, painting and, acting. It would not be the same if these activities were science and always done in exactly the same way.

History lies somewhere between art and science. It is often said that history is not an exact science, meaning that it is open to interpretation to some degree. But neither is it an art, if it was then anyone could create their own history.

The fifth realm set that I have identified concerns computer science. I consider that digital is a simple realm because it is so concrete, a bit represents either a 1 or a 0. This is definitely a simple realm.
Analog (analogue), in contrast, is a voltage that can vary over a range to represent the same values as the digital bits. Thus, I consider it as the matching complex realm.

Next, we come to quality and quantity. Quantity is a simple realm, while quality is the matching complex realm.

Finally, we come to the most all-encompassing realm set. The primary means of expressing information and ideas for human beings is words and numbers. The numbers, with their invariable precision, are the simple realm. Words, with their many shades of meaning, are the complex realm.

I did not include dimensions themselves in the realm sets, although one dimension can be considered as a simple realm and multiple dimensions as the matching complex realm. But this is a part of inanimate matter while the realm sets are attached to human activities.

Any seeking or goal involves the one and the many pattern which I defined on my patterns blog. But like dimensions, the realm sets are yet another example of the one and the many instead of the other way around. But these realm sets may be a pattern as fundamental to humans as the one and the many.

Categorizing patterns like this is so important because it provides different ways of looking at things and that makes it easier to notice things that would have otherwise gone unnoticed. For example, science and art form one of the realm sets. You might hear someone say "It's an art, not an exact science". Thus, science is the simple realm and art the matching complex realm.

Science is also part of another realm set, matched with mathematics. But in this realm set, mathematics is the simple realm while science is the matching complex realm. The reason being is that mathematics is the realm of that which we completely understand, because we need a complete understanding of something in order to attach numbers to it, while science is the realm of that which we do not yet completely understand.
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Science is actually not a complex realm at all, at least going by the usual definition. A complex realm is a zone in which two opposing statements can both be true, and there are really no concrete statements of true and false. A scientific statement definitely must be either true or false and when science is paired with art in another realm set, science is the simple realm of the two.

Yet, science can be said to be a complex kind of simple realm and when paired with mathematics, which is really the underlying basis of science, mathematics is clearly the simple realm and science the complex realm.

A scientific statement must be either true or false, but science is different from mathematics in that it is still useful even if a scientific hypothesis is not completely true. Mathematics is more black and white in that if a mathematical statement contains any element that turns out to be false, it will render the entire statement false.

Science, being the realm of that which we do not completely understand, is more like a sliding scale with true at one end of the scale and false at the other end. Each successive scientific theory represents a step towards complete understanding of something (Hopefully, the final step.)

Any scientific theory that is presented seems to be the best explanation of some mystery, but it may turn out to contain only, say 70%, truth, while the theory that supplants it may contain 80% truth. When we finally arrive at 100% truth, the former mystery then becomes the realm of mathematics, rather than science.

Science is actually a simple realm, but it is a kind of transitional simple realm. Unlike mathematics, science combines words with numbers and in another of the realm sets, numbers are the simple realm while words are the matching complex realm.

Science is a "complex" simple realm not because two opposite statements can both be true, but because a scientific statement can be useful even if it is not completely true, as long as it contains more truth than the theory or statement which it supplanted or some element of truth which is as of yet unseen.