Unlike my story of the dust mites on the bolt thread I have come to wonder if I am indeed spiraling around in a general direction or if I am walking on a mental Möbius strip.
Perhaps the issue is that I lack the mental capacity to actually understand the problem.
Perhaps it is that I lack the information / evidence / data to advance my situation.
I can find people who can tell me there is a God, I can find people who tell me that there is life after death and I can find people who will tell me that all of that is a nonsense. No lacking in people convicted of diverse and mutually exclusive ideas out there to choose from that's for sure.
Indeed it is entirely possible that (say due to the quantum universe in which we see manifest) it is entirely an untestable proposition, and that no proof can ever be had. Perhaps it is such that the proof is beyond the capacity of humans (or at least me) to grasp. This article suggests that "incomprehensible to human" proofs may exist:
There are an infinite number of finite simple groups but a finite number of families to which they belong. Mathematicians have been studying groups since the 19th century, but the Enormous Theorem wasn't proposed until around 1971, when mathematician Daniel Gorenstein of Rutgers University in New Jersey devised a plan to identify all the finite simple groups, divide them into families and prove that no others could exist.
Gorenstein and his hundreds of collaborators spent a decade working on the proof. By 1981, Gorenstein could see the light at the end of the tunnel, though a few hurdles remained. The proof remained incomplete until the 2004 publication by Aschbacher and Smith, which completed the proof. It identified all the families – and showed no others could exist.
Solomon estimates that only a few mathematicians in the world (including Aschbacher) understand the complete proof.
So if such a proof can only be comprehended by a handful of the humans on the planet, then it becomes quite close to an act of faith for the rest of us to believe them. Which of course sort of brings me back along the Möbius strip to St Augustine again:
"Nisi credideritis, non intelligetis"Who knows, there may well be a teapot in the orbit between Earth and Mars. But personally I don't give a fuck about Russell's teapot, I only care about Anita, my love for her and knowledge of the love she had for me.
Of that point I have no doubt.
3 comments:
The nature and reason for a universe which supports life is always an interesting discussion. Aside from a Multiverse of an infinite number of universes, or an infinite number of multi-dimensional universes co existing, or even discussions about dark matter/energy contributing perhaps 85% of our somewhat observable universe there remain questions about the life of our observable universe.
Presently 14 billion years or so into our universe's life, it is now estimated stars will shine and support life for perhaps 100 Trillion years. In fact, future stars will be much more supportive of life and could individually shine for a trillion years. If our species were to survive for 100 Trillion years would we evolve? Would they look back at us as we look at the upright apes before they left the African Plains? Is out present magnificent brain power equivalent to less than a can of creamed corn in the universes scale?
I can see that my grand daughter, Emma (the turtle lover) has been using my computer.
Emma
thanks for your comment.
I think I understand what you're saying, however read this post of mine and see if that gels with what you're saying
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