On Insurance, Risk, and the Fragility of Being

[Al3x Lee]

Alex, I like a good existential crisis as much as the next guy, but I'm starting to worry about you. Are you OK bud?

When I feel like that (which happens more than I'd like), I try to think in terms of quantum mechanics, specifically particle/wave duality. It's a complicated subject, but the most popular example would be "Schrodinger's cat". That's where a cat in a box is both alive and dead until someone opens the box and finds out.

I'm sure most clients wonder if what they just paid for is real, sometimes for years on end. But when they file a claim, that box gets opened and they find out for sure.

And for me, I often question the reality of the things I do/say/sell every day. But that waveform collapses once the commissions come in.

I'm not having an existential crisis, @Policy Monkey , I'm just asking questions.

I see what you're getting at, but you're actually misusing Schrodinger's cat, and ironically, that's exactly what Schrodinger was trying to warn against.

So really, the question isn't whether insurance, or life itself work like Schrodinger's cat, it's why we get so uncomfortable with not knowing things until we have proof. Do we mistake our own uncertainty for reality being uncertain? And if a quantum system needs an observer to collapse into reality, then what (or who) is observing us? Is it @marindependent ?

 

[Policy Monkey]

Yes, I vastly oversimplified Schrodinger. My point was supposed to be that the questions are moot because the answer to all those contrasting questions is yes (and no, to continue misusing the metaphor), until it isn't.

 

[Policy Monkey]

And if a quantum system needs an observer to collapse into reality, then what (or who) is observing us?

Now that's a question worth asking! Frankly, I hope it's @marindependent. We could do a lot worse.

 

[Al3x Lee]

Yes, I vastly oversimplified Schrodinger. My point was supposed to be that the questions are moot because the answer to all those contrasting questions is yes (and no, to continue misusing the metaphor), until it isn't.

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that you oversimplified it, just that what you explained was the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics.

Now that's a question worth asking! Frankly, I hope it's @marindependent. We could do a lot worse.

Well.. we don't know that for a fact. Do we really understand his motivations? Is he God?
More importantly. He's supposedly in California. Did he start the fire?

 

[LostDollar]

Alex, I like a good existential crisis as much as the next guy, but I'm starting to worry about you. Are you OK bud?

When I feel like that (which happens more than I'd like), I try to think in terms of quantum mechanics, specifically particle/wave duality. It's a complicated subject, but the most popular example would be "Schrodinger's cat". That's where a cat in a box is both alive and dead until someone opens the box and finds out.

I'm sure most clients wonder if what they just paid for is real, sometimes for years on end. But when they file a claim, that box gets opened and they find out for sure.

And for me, I often question the reality of the things I do/say/sell every day. But that waveform collapses once the commissions come in.

After reading posts in the P&C forum, it sounds to me like when one files a P&C claim, it may get paid, but for next time either your premium will double and your coverage will halve, or you will become totally uninsurable.

 

[marindependent]

Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics.

I bet there are no other insurance forum on the planet where Quantum Mechanics are discussed.

 

[tikibarrister]

He's supposedly in California. Did he start the fire?

He didn't start the fire. It was always burning, since the world's been turning.

I bet there are no other insurance forum on the planet where Quantum Mechanics are discussed.

Physics, poetry, Billy Joel...this thread has everything. Should count as CE credits.

 

[scagnt83]

 

[shawnmwalker]

I can't stand philosophy majors!

 

[Al3x Lee]

I can't stand philosophy majors!

Ironic coming from the one they call 'Shawn the Great Philosopher', the beholder of indemnification