Discussion with an ecologist
Q: I can understand some of what you say about cause and effect. Only yesterday I lectured my third year class about "sources" and "sinks", saying how they were completely nominal.
A: I am saying a lot more about cause and effect than that! Not only are causes and effects nominal, but they cannot be said to exist! You don't understand the meaning of "nominal". By saying, something is nominal, we are really saying it does not exist outside our imaginations. You can see that branches are connected to the trunk, but you can't see where the trunk comes from.