The Secret (and Mendacious) Life of Numbers
In a horse race, the moment of uncertainty lasts for what, in comparison to the time-length of a photon, is a very, very long time. It starts when the gate opens and does not end until the OFFICIAL sign flashes. The race forms a boundary between the past performances and the OFFICIAL result, but the time-space of the race is much too broad to be regarded as a discrete divider. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end, each of which is similarly divided.
Until the moving hand of causality enters the running of the race, the gambler can only guess the physical condition of the horses. Before the gate opens, the strategic planning of the trainers and jockeys remains a mystery (for everyone but them), and until that moment, the order in which the horses will break from the gate has been only estimated from the riding styles of the jockeys and the past performances of the horses. What racing writers euphemistically call "racing luck" did not, before that moment, occupy much more than a dark corner of the handicapper's most inward fear.
After the gate opens, mere estimates and deep-seated fears give way to concrete happenings. The race defines reality. In doing so, it neither obeys nor breaks rules. It does not respond to, but actually is, the physical and psychological forces at work in its here-and-now space and time. It wouldn't matter if the system used to predict the winner worked for 100 per cent of the races. Not the system but the conditions outside the opened gate determine the winner.
Life's a bitch.
Until the moving hand of causality enters the running of the race, the gambler can only guess the physical condition of the horses. Before the gate opens, the strategic planning of the trainers and jockeys remains a mystery (for everyone but them), and until that moment, the order in which the horses will break from the gate has been only estimated from the riding styles of the jockeys and the past performances of the horses. What racing writers euphemistically call "racing luck" did not, before that moment, occupy much more than a dark corner of the handicapper's most inward fear.
After the gate opens, mere estimates and deep-seated fears give way to concrete happenings. The race defines reality. In doing so, it neither obeys nor breaks rules. It does not respond to, but actually is, the physical and psychological forces at work in its here-and-now space and time. It wouldn't matter if the system used to predict the winner worked for 100 per cent of the races. Not the system but the conditions outside the opened gate determine the winner.
Life's a bitch.
posted by Benedict S. at 9:35 AM
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