• Eugen
    702
    Is there an infinite number of layers of reality? With the time needed, are we at least in principle capable to understand everything with our current mind, or for each layer or number of layers we need a more evolved brain? Are there things that cannot be explained or understood not even in principle, no matter how evolved the brain is?
  • 8livesleft
    127
    Based on the fact that, apparently, 95% of the entire universe is made up of Dark Matter and Dark Energy, two things we have little knowledge of, it seems that we're still very far from understanding the totality of our reality. Plus, we barely even know our own oceans - which cover 3/4 of our planet.

    Besides that, we still barely know how our own brains work and can only detect specific frequencies of light/sound/smells as well as a limited touch detection. Plus, we can barely detect magnetic forces - something a lot of animals have already mastered and use for navigation.

    So yes, we need a heck of a lot more evolution or at least a lot more tools for detection.
  • JackBRotten
    15

    Based on the fact that, apparently, 95% of the entire universe is made up of Dark Matter and Dark Energy

    Not facts. Not even remotely close to facts. There is nothing at all within any kind of knowledge or technology to determine any aspect of such things as dark matter/energy as actually existing. Like much of astronomy and other fields of science it’s entirely perceptual in nature.
  • 8livesleft
    127
    At any rate, the point still stands that we don't exactly know what 95% of the universe is made of.
  • JackBRotten
    15
    lol, I’d be surprised if it were even only 99.999999999% that we didn’t know.
  • 8livesleft
    127
    haha yes. But what else can we expect when we just launched the first space telescope in the 60s?
  • Possibility
    2.8k
    Is there an infinite number of layers of reality? With the time needed, are we at least in principle capable to understand everything with our current mind, or for each layer or number of layers we need a more evolved brain? Are there things that cannot be explained or understood not even in principle, no matter how evolved the brain is?Eugen

    I think our capacity to understand everything is currently dependent more upon our relation to reality than any physical evolution of the human brain. Our mind is capable of restructuring its conception of reality in a myriad of possible ways, but any capacity to test that conception for accuracy is limited by its relation to that reality. The more we develop our methods of restructuring to maximise awareness, connection and collaboration beyond consolidated structures, the more our brains will evolve to accommodate the process.

    It’s no longer about how much information each brain can hold, but about how much information we have access to in our overall relation to reality, and how we re-structure that capacity across all of existence to maximise awareness, connection and collaboration in this moment of localised interaction.
  • Eugen
    702
    So in the end it's all about getting information. But what about understanding it?
  • Possibility
    2.8k
    So in the end it's all about getting information. But what about understanding it?Eugen

    No, it’s all about restructuring information. Understanding is the accuracy of a restructuring methodology in relation to reality.

    I should clarify: I don’t think of ‘information’ as merely data-level knowledge that we store up like a computer. For me, all of reality consists of information, but not in the idealist sense. Information is fundamental to the relational structure of reality, and has a quantitative/qualitative duality that is the key to integrated physical systems and consciousness.
  • Mr Bee
    630
    What exactly is a "layer" here? Do you mean like a difference of scale, like the difference between the microscopic quantum realm and the macroscopic world that we inhabit, or something more like parallel dimensions?

    I guess there are a number of different ways to respond to this. If by "infinitely complex" you mean something like space and time being infinitely divisible then I would buy into that as it seems to be our traditional way of understanding things. On the other hand if you mean that there are infinitely many layers to the constitution of what we call matter then that's more of an open question.
  • Gregory
    4.7k
    Is there an infinite number of layers of reality?Eugen

    Science generally works under the assumption that everything is inner-connected. This is seen as a good thing since it accords at least in language with what certain spiritual traditions have spoken of. It's possible inter-connectedness is a limiting thing though, that our environment is not put together in the right order. We don't know what kind of world would have been if the puzzle was put together correctly
  • Eugen
    702
    What exactly is a "layer" here? Do you mean like a difference of scale, like the difference between the microscopic quantum realm and the macroscopic world that we inhabit, or something more like parallel dimensions?Mr Bee

    Both things actually. E.g., now we have micro and macro, but tomorrow we discover new elements, new dimensions, new realms, etc..

    An infinite reality, with an infinite umber of different things, dimensions, laws.
bold
italic
underline
strike
code
quote
ulist
image
url
mention
reveal
youtube
tweet
Add a Comment

Welcome to The Philosophy Forum!

Get involved in philosophical discussions about knowledge, truth, language, consciousness, science, politics, religion, logic and mathematics, art, history, and lots more. No ads, no clutter, and very little agreement — just fascinating conversations.