Re: We have to respect the limits of human knowledge!

On 6 Dec, 00:55, Einar <eina...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Dec 5, 4:57 pm, Harold Saxon <saxon.har...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:





On 5 Dec, 00:51, Einar <eina...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Dec 4, 1:24 pm, Harold Saxon <saxon.har...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On 2 Dec, 01:48, Einar <eina...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Dec 1, 4:31 pm, Jim Willemin <jim***willemin@hot***mail.com> wrote:

Einar <eina...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote innews:0256bf96-4153-4643-a6db-194bfd404a3a@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:

On Dec 1, 10:39 am, Ferrous Patella <FerrousPate...@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Einar <eina...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in news:0524cf16-1869-483c-910a-
dccc767e4...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:

By definition explane it all theories
are an impossibility, because simply everything canït be known.

If you are so sure you cannot know everything, how is it that you can
know this?

Logically, the only way that explane it all theory is possible, is
that totality of what can be discovered is finite, and, moreover, that
a way can be found to fully predict behaviour of all systems, wether
it be biological systems or nonbiological ones.

Sounds pretty darn impossible to me, but feel free to disagree :)

It seems to me that the things to be learned are almost limitless - and,
oddly enough, the steady chipping away at the unknown has not yet
reached a boundary that more chipping cannot bring down. As long as we
are able to record and communicate, so that each new generation of
curious people can stand on the shoulders of giants that have gone
before, I really don't see any effective limit on what we can eventually
understand (taking the body of human knowledge as 'we' here - certainly
no one human can encompass that vast and ever-growing corpus of
experience and thought). That there are gaps is nothing to be ashamed
of at all, nor do those gaps present insurmoutable barriers to further
understanding. We are still children in the cosmos, despite some truly
astonishing achievements. And understanding how something works need
not lead to successful prediction - indeed, for many systems detailed
prediction is impossible (consider grains of sand in an hourglass: it is
impossible to predict exactly when a specific grain will fall, or when
or where it will tumble down the pile at the bottom, though we
understand the overall mechanics of the system and can,with some
confidence, predict how things will behave on average). Understanding
that some things are unpredictable is part of understanding the system,
and not, in my view, a failure or incompleteness in human knowledge.

I think I can discern stumbling blocks, likely to prove
insurmountable.

How do we find out the true status of those objects at the present
that we are viewing in far away galaxies, to name one?

How do we find out wether the universe does really have a limit, or
not?

To make a perfect record of a human mind, in order to successfully
make a working copy, one of the holy grails of popular science
fiction.

Now, as we can be sure that some things will ever be unknown, that
does not mean that our search for knowledge is without use. Let´s
remember Einstein´s words to the effects "that the more he learned the
better he understood how litle he really knew"?

I am convinched that eventually we will travel out there to the stars.
We may even encounter some others out there, share stories. But so
wast is the space out there, that we may only ever manage to surwey a
small tiny corner of the Milky Way, which does presumably contain
something on the order of 400.000 million stars...and moreover is only
a galaxy among millions observed to exist out there in the far depths
of space.

In this truly titanic ocean of stars, there will truly never be a time
when all things have been seen, observed, touched or discovered.

Einar

Here is some food for thought, that may make you see things
differently:

****Start of quote****

"I can't believe that!" said Alice.

"Can't you?" the queen said in a pitying tone. "Try again, draw a long
breath, and shut your eyes."

Alice laughed. "There's no use trying," she said. "One can't believe
impossible things."

"I dare say you haven't had much practice," said the queen. "When I
was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes
I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

****End of quote****

Sounds like an useful exersize for the mind. It´s a good idea to have
a flexible outlook on life.

Then perhaps you should give it a try.

Einar-

Indeed I do :) Intend to keep doing that.

You have decided that certain things are impossible, and you dismiss
the challenge of overcoming what you see as insurmountable stumbling
blocks.

Yet now you are suggesting that you have a flexible outlook on life?

Let me point out a few things that others of a narrow point of view
dismissed as impossible.

In the 1600's it was believed that it was impossible to travel faster
than a horse.

In the 1890's it was believed that it was impossible to travel
underwater.

In 1902 it was believed that powered flight was impossible for at
least another 100 years.

In 1926 it was believed that space flight was impossible.

In the early 1940's it was believed that breaking the sound barrier in
a plane was impossible.

There are many more "impossible" things that mankind has achieved
sometimes very shortly after some eminent scientist has declared them
impossible.

Perhaps you should not be so quick to dismiss other things as
impossible, just because they are beyond your ability to imagine.

Einar- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


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Relevant Pages

  • Re: We have to respect the limits of human knowledge!
    ... are an impossibility, because simply everything canït be known. ... And understanding how something works need ... prediction is impossible (consider grains of sand in an hourglass: ... and not, in my view, a failure or incompleteness in human knowledge. ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: We have to respect the limits of human knowledge!
    ... are an impossibility, because simply everything canït be known. ... And understanding how something works need ... and not, in my view, a failure or incompleteness in human knowledge. ... I am convinched that eventually we will travel out there to the stars. ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: We have to respect the limits of human knowledge!
    ... are an impossibility, because simply everything canït be known. ... And understanding how something works need ... prediction is impossible (consider grains of sand in an hourglass: ... and not, in my view, a failure or incompleteness in human knowledge. ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: We have to respect the limits of human knowledge!
    ... are an impossibility, because simply everything canït be known. ... And understanding how something works need ... prediction is impossible (consider grains of sand in an hourglass: ... and not, in my view, a failure or incompleteness in human knowledge. ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: We have to respect the limits of human knowledge!
    ... are an impossibility, because simply everything canït be known. ... And understanding how something works need ... and not, in my view, a failure or incompleteness in human knowledge. ... You have decided that certain things are impossible, and you dismiss ...
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