From the recording Frequently Unanswered Questions
As a service to the listener, please allow me to provide some provisional answers to a few Frequently Unasked Questions referenced in the lyrics.
What is the Heisenberg uncertainty principle? The precept that we cannot simultaneously determine the position and momentum of a particle. The more we know about where it is, the less we know about where it is going.
What is ontology? The branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of being.
What is epistemology? The branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of knowing.
What is the unified field theory (theory of everything)? A term coined by Albert Einstein, describing any attempt to unify the fundamental forces of physics between elementary particles into a single theoretical framework.
What are bosons and fermions? The two types of elementary particles, differing in spin, symmetry, and statistical properties, that comprise the building blocks of matter and force.
What is superstring theory? A model aspiring to explain the behavior of all particles and fundamental forces as vibrations of tiny supersymmetric strings.
What is a Damascene conversion? A sudden and complete change in beliefs (derived from St. Paul’s conversion to Christianity on the road to Damascus).
What is dazzle camouflage? A technique developed during the first World War of painting ships so that, rather than blending into the background, there were starkly contrasted geometric patterns designed to create optical illusions and make it difficult for enemy artillery rangefinders to determine the target’s distance, speed, and heading. The cover art for this song is taken from Edward Wadsworth’s 1919 painting Dazzle-ships in Drydock at Liverpool.
Lyrics
I performed a Google search
to ask the question “why?”.
I got 3.65 trillion hits.
That seems like TMI.
There are too many alternatives
among which to choose
for Frequently Unanswered Questions
AKA FUQs.
Has anyone seen Heisenberg,
or know where he is at?
According to Schrödinger,
curiosity may have killed the cat.
You’ll need to reconsider
everything you thought you knew,
if the principle of uncertainty
just might be true.
This isn’t how I planned it,
but it’ll have to do.
And if I’m being candid,
I never had a clue.
If you want to know the answer
to “what does life mean?”,
you’re not going to find it
by looking at a screen.
Make a leap of disbelief.
Unlearn by unrote.
Science is not the plural form
of anecdote.
Knowledge is unknowable.
Only fools think they are wise.
We can only speculate
and hypothesize.
Ontology. Epistemology.
Can we know if we exist?
Should we believe the pragmatist
or the existentialist?
Can we solve the unified
field theory of everything?
Are bosons and fermions
vibrations of superstring?
This isn’t how I planned it,
I was off the mark.
And if I’m being candid,
I was shooting in the dark.
If you are wondering
“what is reality?”,
you won’t find the answer
on an answer key.
Forever isn’t long enough.
Infinity’s too few.
The universe cannot contain
the stuff we never knew.
The data are equivocal.
Their meaning is obscure.
This might be reality,
but we really can’t be sure.
If you don’t know what you’re looking for
the view is in the way.
A Damascene conversion
could happen any day.
Although it seems ephemeral
and might be a mirage,
the truth is right in front of you
in dazzle camouflage.
This isn’t how I planned it,
back when I began.
And if I’m being candid,
there really was no plan.
If you want to know the difference
between right and wrong,
you won’t find the answer
in the lyrics of a song.