Absolute Zero
fon memories
Will Humans reach a limit as the title states ? Will we be able to surpass it through gene modes or some other technical marvel ?
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Will Humans reach a limit in knowledge/science etc ?
- Thread starter Absolute Zero
- Start date
Yes, there is a limit given that humans are finite creatures with finite capabilities and not omniscient, omnipotent forces.
TheKnight
Guardian of Life
The only way for us to reach a limit in knowledge is to know everything. In order to know that you know everything, somehow we'd have to already know where "knowing everything" was so that we could know when we've reached it.
More simply, no. We will ever reach such a limit. There's still much to be learnt. I mean the iPhone doesn't even have flash yet.
Reverend Richard
New Thought Minister
God will prevent us from knowing "everything". There are some things we were NOT meant to know.
(Okay, I'm kidding...). To some extent that was a cheap shot. Sorry...
jarofthoughts
Empirical Curmudgeon
This TED talk might be relevant to your question:
[youtube]1APOxsp1VFw[/youtube]
Richard Dawkins on our "queer" universe - YouTube
InformedIgnorance
Do you 'know' or believe?
There may well come a time in our intellectual and technological development that our understanding of the universe is able to accurately account for all phenomenon that we have encountered.
However, even were that stage ever reached, that does not mean that our knowledge is either complete or correct, because there exists the possibility that we have simply not had the opportunity to detect phenomenon which do occur but have to date escaped our detection. In this way we are limited by our capacity to observe nature, were we to further develop our sensory capabilities (natural or technological) perhaps our opportunities to observe phenomenon might be sufficient to identify some which do not conform to our current understanding of the natural laws.
Therefore, to answer the question specifically with regards to knowledge of the natural laws; it will depend upon the rate at which our understanding of the phenomenon we have encountered accounts for those phenomenon eclipses the rate at which we obtain the opportunity to detect phenomenon which defy that understanding.
However, even were that stage ever reached, that does not mean that our knowledge is either complete or correct, because there exists the possibility that we have simply not had the opportunity to detect phenomenon which do occur but have to date escaped our detection. In this way we are limited by our capacity to observe nature, were we to further develop our sensory capabilities (natural or technological) perhaps our opportunities to observe phenomenon might be sufficient to identify some which do not conform to our current understanding of the natural laws.
Therefore, to answer the question specifically with regards to knowledge of the natural laws; it will depend upon the rate at which our understanding of the phenomenon we have encountered accounts for those phenomenon eclipses the rate at which we obtain the opportunity to detect phenomenon which defy that understanding.
Absolute Zero
fon memories
So are you all saying that there is know upper limit that we cap at ?
Mr. Skittles
Active Member
We already reached it. Knowledge from henceforth must be introduced to us
Mr. Skittles
Active Member
I don't know about "end thread." I am very perplexed as to why folks think our knowledge is limitless when we are clearly limited biological creatures. I don't see how it is possible for something that is inherently limited to somehow have limitless capacity for knowledge. It makes no sense to me. I mean, it's like saying a mentally challenged person with an IQ of 50 is somehow going to grasp advanced physics (pardon the crude comparison).
Mr. Skittles
Active Member
I was being facetious when I mentioned the "end thread" but I agree, we are limited biologically, at least at this point.
Biologically, yes we do have our limits, and as far as understanding the Universe or proving the existence of what some call "God", how can we possibly attempt to understand the infinite when we haven't even explored the limits of our own solar system? I must be down-to-earth about all of this. The potential for obtaining limitless knowledge and understanding exists within us, but will we ever fully tap into it? It is doubtful. Maybe, if the human race survives the next 100 years without succumbing to our savage nature towards one another (thermal-nuclear annihilation comes to mind), then there may be hope.
s2a
Heretic and part-time (skinny) Santa impersonator
Thank goodness certain knowledge of any god concepts does not inhibit further experiment or investigation or curiosity...
Perhaps the problem is that you are approaching the issue in the wrong way. You are talking about individuals. Now, I don't know about you, but I didn't invent the alphabets I use. Abstract algebras, calculus, probability, statistics, etc., are all things I learned from work others had done. The logic and philosophy I know of comes from 2,500 years of work by those before me. I don't need a limitless capacity for knowledge in order to add some small piece to the picture that someone else can use. I know virtually nothing about cars, and even less about planes, yet I can drive a car and I fly. Because someone else built upon the work of someone else (ad infinitum) so that I don't have to know anything about cars or airplanes for the technology within these to continue to advance.
How many people today know how to make vellum, fashion chain mail without using steel wire and a dowel they bought at a hardware store, make dyes and inks from scratch and use them on cloth made from scratch or on papyri made from scratch? There is so much that people used to know that few if any know today because there is no need. People who are interested in making chain mail can buy stainless steel wire, coil it around a steel dowel bought from the same shop, and either saw (using a rotary blade) or snip the rings and "weave" them using pliers. I buy pens which come from a factory, and most of what I write never goes on paper. So where is the limit and what causes it? Knowledge doesn't just keep building and building such that someone always has to retain everything we've learned. Things become completely obselete. Some people advance one field, others some different field, and both without most of the world needing to contribute at all.
It's actually a good comparison. I would imagine that guys like Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, etc., Newton, Laplace., etc., were pretty bright. But before Weierstrauss, even calculus rested upon shakey grounds, and physics was still fundamentally incomplete without anybody realizing it. Your average undergrad majoring in mathematics knows far more about calculus than a genius like Newton, and learned it in a few semesters. Where's the limit? (pun intended).