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In this first chapter of Part II, we shift methodology from the objectivity of physics to the subjectivity of metaphysics. This is necessary because we humans possess neither the tools nor, possibly, the mental ability to confirm speculations about the structure of the universe.
In this part of the book, I present ideas about the universe that form a symmetrical, dual model to which ongoing empirical evidence over the years seems to point more and more. After all, before the work of Paul Dirac and Carl Anderson, the idea of the reality of antimatter was considered to be absurd. Now, we must consider that the reality of antimatter is on a par with that of matter. In essence, we formulate a model of the universe that is inspired by both past discoveries in the discipline of physics and plausible extrapolations of the discoveries that I revealed in Part I of this book.
Do limits exist to the extent that the human species can understand its environment? Does each species of animal possess a limit of knowledge beyond which it can no longer learn?
We wonder how far we can advance in this understanding. We know much about phenomena that occur within a human scale of measures, yet most of the quantum- and cosmic-scale phenomena remain mysterious. How many of them are we ultimately capable of comprehending? We can continue to gather empirical evidence and ponder about the unknown, yet, some point of complexity must exist beyond which we, as a species, are mentally lost.
Before we can obtain and understand the answers, we must pose the right questions. Questions exist that are beyond our comprehension. Answers for many of these questions that we do understand remain ever elusive.
For example, a dog can perform many tasks better than we. Yet, questions exist of which it is not aware and to which the answers affect its survival: From where does its food come? Will its master survive it so to protect it from the vagaries of other humans? What are the pet ordinances of the community within which it lives? A dog not only knows nothing about the answers to these questions, it knows nothing of the questions, themselves--it lacks the necessary intelligence to formulate them, much less understand them.
One might believe that the reason behind this frailty is lack of information. No! The information exists, but a dog is oblivious to it. We might take a dog on a tour of the slaughter houses, the pet-food plants, and the grocery stores to show it from where its food comes, and, yet, it would learn nothing. It would be as ignorant after, as before.
Fifteen million years ago, circumstances, very well, could have been that the ancestor of today's dogs possessed the greatest intelligence on earth.
Conversely, on a hypothetical earth fifteen million years into the future, the dominant beings could be descendants of humans or, perhaps, of dolphins. In any case, they might look upon the human of today as we do upon a dog.
Therefore, in our quest for knowledge, like for dogs, the evidence surrounds us, but our minds cannot detect it, much less think about it. Also, like dogs, we do not possess the mental faculties to answer the questions that we have posed for ourselves since antiquity. Further, like dogs, we cannot conceive of the pertinent questions in the first place. Our species, then, also is limited to a particular level of knowledge. When will we arrive at that limit? Soon, perhaps?
Possibly, the species that follows ours will raise that limit. Nonetheless, even if a few of the mysteries of the universe are possible to solve, to do so, a new biological form existing fifteen million years into the future might be necessary.
| Title Page | Table of Contents | Preface | <<<< | >>>> | Appendixes | References | To Order This Book | WritWord Homepage |