Loving your child's mind: Thinking about causation

New Year! Welcome to 2021. I've been thinking about causation. Do either of you know what causation is? No.

I don't think so.

Okay, do you know what causation is, Sankara?

No.

Totally fine, totally fine. It's from the word to cause. So if we say that, um, so if I have my phone and I drop it, why did the phone fall?

Because maybe your hand slipped.

Okay, that's one explanation. Um, is that the only reason it fell?

No.

What other reasons might it have fallen?

Maybe it's just because your hands are sweaty from something. Or maybe you were tired and it was early in the morning.

Okay, and what do you think, Sankara? Why do you think— how would you explain when a phone falls?

Um, sometimes I think, um, so it's like, um, you look at it, but, um, I can't hear you very clearly, Sankara.

Could you get a little bit closer to the microphone and speak clearly, please? So you were saying, what were you explaining?

So sometimes when, when, um, see these, these signals in your brain and everything, and sometimes When, when you touch an electric object on a certain part of your body, while the new neurons, protons, and electrons are traveling, it can, it can like stunt or something, and then it causes you to drop or fall in most cases.

Okay, um, so it sounds like you're both giving different explanations for why a phone which was in my hand would go. And Alana, it sounds like you're focusing on what might be going on with my fingers, and it sounds like Sankara's going on about what may be going on in my brain. Is that correct? All of which could be true. And I want to go in a different direction. Have either of you ever heard of gravity?

Yeah.

Yeah. What is gravity? Go ahead, Sankara.

So it's just force that not all planets have and not all moons have. It keeps everything together. So like, if there was no gravity— even people think there's no gravity in space, but there is. But it's because the gravity that's in space is um, some kind of mass or something like that, and it keeps everything together. And, um, so basically gravity is something that keeps us on the ground.

And how would you— how— well, first of all, Alana, do you agree, disagree? Do you have a different explanation of gravity?

I agree.

Okay, so what if I were to say that the reason that the phone fell, it was because of gravity. Is that— do you think that's a true statement or false statement?

It could be a true statement.

What do you think, Sankara?

False.

Why do you say false?

Because, um, in, um, I don't know how to explain it.

So Alana, when you say it could be a true statement, what makes you think it could be a true statement?

It's because, um, since I know that, or I think that gravity is a force that pulls down, maybe if you just had a weak grip and then you maybe just lost your grip, the gravity would just pull it down. So maybe that could be part of the reason.

Okay, and Sankara, do you agree with Alana's analysis there or not?

Yeah, I think, yeah.

So did you change your mind or you did you see it in a different way or is it right in some ways and wrong in others?

Um, I was just thinking of it in a different way.

Okay, so suppose we said, um, You know, part of the reason that the phone fell was my fingers, either Alana, they slipped, or Sankara, something happened in my brain, and part of the reason was because of gravity. Are both, are those both involved in causing the phone to fall? Or is it half one and half the other? Or 80% one and 80% the other? How do we decide in a situation like this? Is it because of my hands or because of gravity or both together?

I'd say maybe a little, um, both together because, well, if there was zero gravity and if your hands on this planet, I mean, we would be floating around, but, and probably maybe in space too, but if you dropped your phone, then it would just be floating in the air, not actually touching the ground because gravity is a force that pulls down. So I think that gravity is maybe half or a little bit less of the reason.

What do you think of that analysis, Sankara?

Um, I don't— I think that's—

yeah, I think that's right.

So, you know, when Alana, you're saying maybe it would float, I'm thinking of like people in space stations, and sometimes— have you guys ever seen videos of astronauts in the space station where they like let go of something and it just floats in the air?

Yeah, like one time I saw this astronaut, he had, he had water floating around, so he just gulped it down after put it, after just swallowing it in the air.

He just let it go in the air and then he gulped it down? Yeah, that's funny. That must have been pretty funny to see. Uh, Sankara, have you seen astronauts letting go of things in space and they just float there?

Yeah, my dad got me a book about Tom Pears, and I can see, and I, I and he tells us and shows us what he saw and what he did on the International Space Station.

So, no, all of that's very cool. I think space videos are so cool. Um, so kind of cause— I'm going back to causation. So, you know, causation is how do we figure out what caused, you know, why something like this happens? And you're saying something in the brain— actually, now we've maybe got 3 kinds of causes. Something in the brain is a kind of a cause, something in the hand is a kind of a cause, and gravity is another kind of a cause. Um, would you say all three of those are in some ways involved?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Do we think that there may be other causes? Could there be four causes, five causes, six causes? Or do we think something like three causes is all that's involved there?

There maybe could be more because maybe like you just woke up or something and you were really tired, so your brain wasn't fully up yet.

Okay, go Sankara.

Um, there could be more because, um, maybe you tripped over, um, a, um, maybe the one The floor was slippery. I mean, you fell over, but when you stand— I mean, when you fall over, you drop your phone.

So you're both suggesting other ways, other things that might cause the phone— me to drop the phone. But I would say in some ways— so what happens in the brain seems different than what happens in the hand. It's related, I assume. Actually, do we know how what happens in the brain is what hap— is related to what happens in the hand?

I think so, because the brain controls everything in your body, or the body— like nerves send messages to the brain, which makes things in your body do stuff. So yeah, like maybe if— yeah, maybe if the brain, like you said, just maybe wasn't fully up, then yeah, something could happen.

So there's— I would call that a system, that the brain and the hand are part of a system. Do you guys know what I mean by a system?

I don't think so.

Have either of you ever heard the word system before?

I have.

How do— what is it? What is a system?

Like if you're in a machine, or if like it's a— if you have a machine, it has a system in, or yeah, just like a system or something that happens to make it move or something like that. Or maybe if in another meaning, maybe if you had to clean your room, you would do it in maybe a systematic fashion or just like in a system that you've gotten used to.

Okay, and what's the first one where you say there's, you know, like in a machine, there's something that makes it move? I see that as a little bit like the brain and the hand. Do you see why I'm describing the brain as a hand, as a system, a little bit the way you're talking about a machine system?

No idea. Yeah.

Okay. Does it make sense, Sankara? And then my question is, is gravity a part of that system, or is gravity not part of that system?

It maybe could be part of that system, because when your hand— or when it just lets— or when it gets out of your grip, it would just fall down because of gravity. So maybe it is.

Okay, what do you think, Sankara?

I don't think it's part of the system because, um, um, it's, it's basically your brain's fault that you accidentally dropped the phone. So, um, and then, like, I, I don't know how to explain it.

Okay, no problem. These are hard things to figure out. I would say that we're talking about trying to understand causation. Remember I asked what causation was? And so causation is what causes what, and how do we figure out what causes what? Does it make sense that in any situation you can try to understand what causes what?

Yeah, you could.

Yeah.

And then I would say that a lot of science is the study of causation. Does that make sense or does that seem like a strange thing to say?

It could make sense because a lot of forces are kind of in science and sometimes they make things happen. Like for instance, like gravity, they make things or they pull things, it pulls things down. I really don't know if that's part of science, but I think I, but, but I think it is.

Okay. Um, Sankara, you have any idea of whether it makes sense to say that causation is an important part of science, or the study of causation is an important part of science?

Yeah, because, yeah, some, like, something happened, like, something has to be the cause of something that has to be cause of something else, or something like that.

So I think that causation and trying to figure out what causes what is really interesting. And so I want to keep these relatively short for now, but I want both of you as you go through the world, you know, the next week and beyond, to try to figure out what's causing what. Is it the brain? Is it the gravity? Is it the broken swing set? Is it, you know, the hungry animal? Is it the sunshine? You— can you imagine that everything— so I think what Sankara is saying, let me check to see if I got you, is that kind of Everything— well, let's ask this: does everything have a cause? Does everything that happens have a cause?

Yeah.

In which case, imagine trying to figure out of all the things that are happening what caused them. Can you imagine knowing the causes of everything that happens? Probably not. It's huge. It's, you know, humongous. Um, but is it interesting to try to understand the causes of some things at least?

Yeah, it is.

Okay, what do you think, Sankara?

I think it is.

Okay, well again, for now this is enough, but I want you to both to kind of begin observing causes in the world, and where you can— a lot of times you won't, we won't be able to understand causes for sure, but sometimes you will. And so you might just start observing the world and thinking, hmm, I wonder what caused that. Sometimes it'll be super simple, like whoops, my fingers dropped it, and super simple in a different way, gravity caused it. But there are other things that are very complicated with respect to causation. Does that make sense?

Yeah.

Yeah, it does.

Okay, so I hope you have a wonderful week, the first week of the new year, the first full week of the new year. And we'll continue to explore many interesting things, but one of them will be causation. Sound good?

Okay.

All right. Have a wonderful day, and we'll see you next week. Bye-bye.