The Personal Website of Mark W. Dawson
Decision Points in Life
Michael Lindell is an American inventor, businessman, and entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of My Pillow, Inc., and is sometimes referred to as "the My Pillow guy". He has been promoting his biography, "What Are The Odds? From Crack Addict to CEO" that is now available. The profits from this book will be used to help launch the Lindell Recovery Network, which is dedicated to helping addicts across the country.
Addiction is nothing new for Lindell. The MyPillow CEO was a cocaine and crack addict for decades. In a bit of irony, he invented MyPillow while addicted to crack cocaine. Lindell's addictions also included compulsive gambling. The story of Michael Lindell and his many near-death experiences are all regaled in the book, but so is his recovery, one he calls a miracle granted after a prayer.
However, during the promotion of this book, he makes several statements that should be examined. Statements such as “use mathematics to prove the existence of God’ and “What are the odds?” need to be examined. First, it is not possible to utilize mathematics or science to prove or disprove the existence of God, as God is outside the bounds of math or science. Then, his understanding of probabilities and statistics is limited, as most peoples are, and it is easy to misunderstand or misuse probabilities and statistics.
Mathematics is the pursuit of knowledge unconstrained by the physical properties of the universe. Much of mathematics has no foundation in reality, but much mathematics is needed to explain reality. Mathematical Theorems are a rigorous pursuit of mathematical truths that require strict standards for the proofs. Less strict standards for Mathematical Conjectures are allowed, but such conjectures are not proofs, but speculations that require a proof to be developed to be accepted as a Mathematical Theorem. Mathematics, therefore, cannot be utilized to prove anything except that the mathematics is correct. Scientific Theories are the best explanation of physical phenomena that fits all the known facts, and much science requires a mathematical foundation to be proven correct. Also, scientific theories cannot be “proven”, as new facts are often discovered, which requires that the Scientific Theory be modified or replaced, as outlined in my Science Article “On the Nature of Scientific Inquiry“.
As God is not a mathematical theorem nor a physical phenomenon, the existence or nonexistence of God is beyond the scope of mathematics or science. Consequently, a Mathematician or Scientist is free to believe or not believe in the existence of God, but they cannot claim that Mathematics or Science proves nor disproves the existence of God. I am a firm believer that science is the best way of explaining the physical properties and physical laws of the universe. I also am a firm believer that God created our universe and established its physical properties and physical laws. And I see no conflict between the views of Science and Religion, as I have explained in my Article “Science versus Religion “. Science is the explanation of how God created the universe, and God is the explanation of why we have “The Fundamental Properties and Constants of the Universe“.
As for probabilities and statistics, Mike makes the common mistake of only examining the beginning and end states to determine the probability of an event occurring. However, this is not the proper way to determine the probability of the end state. You must examine all the numerous intermediate state probabilities to determine the end state probability. A Dendrogram of this process makes this visually apparent. This Dendrogram is very basic, as it assumes only good or bad decisions, and each decision has equal weight in your life. It also only shows a few levels of decision points, but the decisions points of your life are of many levels. Life is very messy, and this is often not the case, but the general principle holds – better decisions make for a better life.
As Mike, or any person, makes an important decision in their life, they can be good, bad, or indifferent decisions. The more good decisions you make, the more you traverse this dendrogram to a good life. Conversely, the more bad decisions you make, the more you traverse this dendrogram to a bad life. During the course of your life, you can change from making bad to good decisions that will redirect your life to the good life. Of course, the opposite holds true, and if you start making bad decisions, then you will redirect your life to a bad life. As life is messy, you will often make both good and bad decisions, which makes traversing this dendrogram more of a zig-zag path than a direct path. This zig-zag will occur during your life, but if you reduce the zigging of a bad decision and increasing the zagging of good decisions, then you will end up with a better life.
To determine the probability of reaching an end state requires that you not consider just the start and endpoints. You must examine the probability of each intermediate state, which often have a much higher probability. When you aggregate the probabilities of the intermediate states, this aggregation makes for a more probable end state.
Therefore, the statements Mike makes about mathematics and odds are inaccurate. However, his life story is inspirational and can be helpful in guiding others to a better life. The main message about Mike’s life is that if you make bad decisions, then bad results will follow. Making a good decision does not always lead to a better life, but it does help avoid a bad life. In Mike’s case, his rediscovery of God and God’s wisdom and teachings allowed him to make better decisions. If he utilized the wisdom and teachings of the Biblical God in making his decisions, then his individual and aggregate decisions were for the better, which led to a better life for Mike. For the better of not only himself but for his family and those that surrounded him.
Consequently, the most important thing to learn from Mike’s life is to make better decisions. And one of the best ways to make better decisions is to utilize the wisdom and teachings of the Biblical God in making your decisions.