It’s that time of year again! In one of this blog’s yearly traditions, I’m posting a poem mixing physics and romance. For those who’d like to see more, you can find past years’ poems here.

Modeling Together

Together, we set out to model the world, and learn something new.

The Physicist said,
“My model is simple, the model of fundamental things. Particles go in, particles go out. For each configuration, a probability. For each calculation, an approximation. I can see the path, clear as day. I just need to fix the parameters.”

The Engineer responded,
“I will trust you, because you are a Physicist. You dream of greater things, and have given me marvels. But my models are the models of everything else. Their parameters are countless as waves of the ocean, and all complex things are their purview. Their only path is to learn, and learn more, and see where learning takes you.”

The Physicist followed his model, and the Engineer followed along. With their money and sweat, cajoling and wheedling, they built a grand machine, all to the Physicist’s specifications. And according to the Physicist’s path, parameters begun to be fixed.

But something was missing.

The Engineer asked,
“What are we learning, following your path? We have spent and spent, but all I see is your machine. What marvels will it give us? What children will it feed?”

The Physicist considered, and said,
“You must wait for the marvels, and wait for the learning. New things take time. But my path is clear, my model is the only choice.”

The Engineer, with patience, responded,
“I will trust you, because you are a Physicist, and know the laws of your world. But my models are the models of everything else, and there is always another choice.”

Months went by, and they fed more to the machine. More energy, more time, more insight, more passion. Parameters tightened, and they hoped for marvels.

And they learned, one by one, that the marvels would not come. The machine would not spare them toil, would not fill the Engineer’s pockets or feed the starving, would not fill the world with art and mystery and value.

And the Engineer asked,
“Without these marvels, must we keep following your path? Should we not go out into the world, and learn another?”

And the Physicist thought, and answered,
“You must wait a little longer. For my model is the only model I have known, the only path I know to follow, and I am loathe to abandon it.”

And the Engineer, generously, responded,
“I will trust you, because you are a Physicist, down to the bone. But my models are the models of everything else, of chattering voices and adaptable answers. And you can always learn another path.”

More months went by. The machine gave less and less, and took more and more for the giving. Energy was dear, and time more so, and the waiting was its own kind of emptiness.

The Engineer, silently, looked to the Physicist.

The Physicist said,
“I will trust you. Because you are an Engineer, yes, and your models are the models of everything else. And because, through these months, you have trusted me. I am ready to learn, and learn more, and try something new. Let us try a new model, and see where it leads.”

The simplest model says that one and one is two, and two is greater. We are billions of parameters, and can miss the simple things. But time,
                                                           And learning,
	Can fix parameters,
				And us.