Page 15 of 18
Forever Unintelligible Gardner allows that humans have wonderful brains, that we can invent thinking machines, microscopes and any number of intelligence-enhancers, but he says there are still limits, hard limits. Just as "there is no way to teach calculus to a chimp, or even make it understand the square root of 2," he writes, "surely there are truths as far beyond our grasp as our grasp is beyond that of a cow." He concedes that once upon a time humans were chimp-like and over time developed brains that cracked the "square root of 2" problem — but that doesn't faze him. There are properties of our universe so profoundly complex that no sentient mind, no matter how enhanced, will ever understand them fully. Gardner was a fine …show more content…
Infinity: Some things are beyond the mind, thus beyond understanding. The mind has to realize it has limitations. All infinite and never-ending things are beyond the mind, and the essence of everything is infinite and never-ending. Example: we cannot comprehend that the universe goes out forever, but we can understand that it has to. It is impossible for the universe to stop going out. Something has to keep going out, even if it is just empty space. This tells us infinity exists. We can understand infinity exists without understanding infinity. Outer space is the easiest place to see infinity, but it is actually the nature of everything in one way or another. The amazing thing is, it has to be true. It is a certain truth, and it is impossible to comprehend. That is mind blowing, but it's one of those things that brings magic to knowing the truth and life. It is a perfect example of knowing the unknowable. Inner space: There is no end to inner space either. The truth is, there has to be an infinite number of universes inside every atom in our body. If you take a piece of cheese and cut it in half, and cut the half in half and keep going, you could cut forever, and you will never run out of something to cut. You cannot make nothing out of something; it is impossible. Energy cannot be created or destroyed, and all matter is a form of energy. If you could make nothing out of something, you would be …show more content…
Using this method, we can be almost certain the sun will rise in the morning. The earth will keep turning, and the sun will keep burning a while longer. The known universe: The known universe is about thirteen and a half billion light years out, and at the level of subatomic particles in. This is what we can see and understand using current instruments and/or math. It is Newton’s universe; he explains it perfectly. Einstein’s work was on the edges, the edge of the universe, and the edge of what our minds can understand and know for certain. One of the goals of this book is to say all we can know and check about the big picture of life. When something involves infinity or immortality, I say as little as possible. It is a waste of time, of life, to think about something that is unknowable. The way to know the unknowable is to know all you can know about what can be known. The edge is not a place to dwell too long, or go to very often. I just touch on it from time to time, just to know where it is, to know the boundaries of the mind. All we need to know: We do not need to know anything other than the known universe, and we never will, because we can only exist in the known universe. Life lives only in the known universe, and it would not be possible anywhere else. Since we can only be conscious of life in the known universe, there is no point
Forever Unintelligible Gardner allows that humans have wonderful brains, that we can invent thinking machines, microscopes and any number of intelligence-enhancers, but he says there are still limits, hard limits. Just as "there is no way to teach calculus to a chimp, or even make it understand the square root of 2," he writes, "surely there are truths as far beyond our grasp as our grasp is beyond that of a cow." He concedes that once upon a time humans were chimp-like and over time developed brains that cracked the "square root of 2" problem — but that doesn't faze him. There are properties of our universe so profoundly complex that no sentient mind, no matter how enhanced, will ever understand them fully. Gardner was a fine …show more content…
Infinity: Some things are beyond the mind, thus beyond understanding. The mind has to realize it has limitations. All infinite and never-ending things are beyond the mind, and the essence of everything is infinite and never-ending. Example: we cannot comprehend that the universe goes out forever, but we can understand that it has to. It is impossible for the universe to stop going out. Something has to keep going out, even if it is just empty space. This tells us infinity exists. We can understand infinity exists without understanding infinity. Outer space is the easiest place to see infinity, but it is actually the nature of everything in one way or another. The amazing thing is, it has to be true. It is a certain truth, and it is impossible to comprehend. That is mind blowing, but it's one of those things that brings magic to knowing the truth and life. It is a perfect example of knowing the unknowable. Inner space: There is no end to inner space either. The truth is, there has to be an infinite number of universes inside every atom in our body. If you take a piece of cheese and cut it in half, and cut the half in half and keep going, you could cut forever, and you will never run out of something to cut. You cannot make nothing out of something; it is impossible. Energy cannot be created or destroyed, and all matter is a form of energy. If you could make nothing out of something, you would be …show more content…
Using this method, we can be almost certain the sun will rise in the morning. The earth will keep turning, and the sun will keep burning a while longer. The known universe: The known universe is about thirteen and a half billion light years out, and at the level of subatomic particles in. This is what we can see and understand using current instruments and/or math. It is Newton’s universe; he explains it perfectly. Einstein’s work was on the edges, the edge of the universe, and the edge of what our minds can understand and know for certain. One of the goals of this book is to say all we can know and check about the big picture of life. When something involves infinity or immortality, I say as little as possible. It is a waste of time, of life, to think about something that is unknowable. The way to know the unknowable is to know all you can know about what can be known. The edge is not a place to dwell too long, or go to very often. I just touch on it from time to time, just to know where it is, to know the boundaries of the mind. All we need to know: We do not need to know anything other than the known universe, and we never will, because we can only exist in the known universe. Life lives only in the known universe, and it would not be possible anywhere else. Since we can only be conscious of life in the known universe, there is no point