Limitations of Causality and its Relation to Scale

by Not Hegel

Carl Sagan in Cosmos provided a very logical rejection of horoscopes. He said the doctor helping the mother give birth has a greater gravitational effect on the child than Saturn does. This gravitational effect of the planets is the crux of the study of horoscopes. Therefore, this was a disregard for Scale.

When talking about cause and effect, the scale of what is being analyzed has to be kept in mind. When we say Earth is in the Solar System, we are saying that Earth is within the dynamics and scale of the Solar System and is affected by it. If the Earth was light years away from the Solar System, sure it would still have an effect but it would not be enough to provide any meaningful effect or difference.

What’s being stressed here is that when discerning cause and effect, scale and limits are very important. A discourse limit is when a relation between cause and effect is negligible.

When thinking about the planes of discourse, the scale needs to be kept in mind when it comes to causality. What is the limit of cause and effect of quantum physics creating an atom? We can all agree that everything is made of quanta, but each quanta’s sphere of influence is minuscule. Without adding new rules to the universe, we can safely say quanta has limits in its singular effects.

What I’ve discovered is that these discourses all have limits. This may seem obvious to some, but the problem is similar to horoscopes: we just disregard the scale of their limitations. Because of this, much paradox is created.

Just to point out how the scale of limits can be problematic: which is the primary cause of a sneeze? (1) the quantum particles (2) the atomic particles (3) the chemical reactions (4) the biological mechanisms. According to a physicist, all things are determined. According to a chemist, the chemical is the key. According to a biologist, the sneezing mechanism is primary.

I’m not going to even attempt to answer this question now without a proper philosophical foundation. All I’m trying to point out here is that discourses have limits in their scale. This is much more important than you may think, I will cover this more in Limits and Layered Causality.

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