When we know everything?

[pioneer0333]

It's more of a philosophical question, but what is there left to do once we know everything there is to know of the universe? I know it will never happen any time soon, but what do when we reach a point like that?<br /><br /> This is the same question I asked my Philosophy teacher during the last week of school? We were having class discussions on the historical point of view of space and everything in space. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[astrokid14]

What was your teacher's answer?

 

[brellis]

At the time of its launch into orbit, a statement touting the potential of the Hubble Space Telescope described it as being able to reach the "theoretical limits of sight." That one really grabbed my attention, and sure enough HST has propelled us into a new era of discovery, since only 4% of the universe is visible: what exactly is the other 96% of the universe made of? The quest for knowledge continues... <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font size="2" color="#ff0000"><em><strong>I'm a recovering optimist - things could be better.</strong></em></font> </p> </div>

 

[qso1]

Pioneer0333:<br />It's more of a philosophical question, but what is there left to do once we know everything there is to know of the universe? I know it will never happen any time soon...<br /><br />Me:<br />How bout "Never happen at all. In our present state of existence as limited chemosynthetic beings. It is not possible to know everything. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[vogon13]

{from Asimov}<br /><br />The 'unknown' has fractal properties. You will never reach the point of knowing everything.<br /><br /><br />Correlating all facts with each other (think about it) would also take a long time.<br /><br /><br />{note for the newbies reading this: when I use the phrase 'long time' around here, it usually means something along the lines of 'till all the protons decay in all the cows that came home'.}<br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[qso1]

A simple example would be knowing each and every planet in the Universe. This would require us to visit each and every planet in the Universe in detail...infinite detail of its history, its present state, Jeez...<br /><br />Vogon13, whats the equivalent of Vodka where your from? I'm blowin my brain cells out thinkin this stuff! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[vogon13]

12-stepper for nearly 20 years at this point.<br /><br />All my posts here are 100% natural and totally chemical free.<br /><br /><img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[alokmohan]

We dont know who all live in biosphere.We dont know how to predict earth quake.And we cant make weather forecast accurately .Do you claim you know everything?1906 there was earthquake inSan Fransisco.Scientists are trying to predict earthquake for 100 years.They have not succeded so far.Back | Print EyeWitnesstoHistory.com<br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /> <br />The San Francisco Earthquake, 1906 <br /> The terrifying rumble of an earthquake shattered the early morning silence of April 18 at 5:15 AM. The quake lasted only a minute but caused the worst natural disaster in the nation's history. Modern analysis estimates it registered 8.25 on the Richter scale (By comparison, the quake that hit San Francisco on October 17, 1989 registered 6.7). <br />The greatest destruction came from the fires the quake ignited. These ravaged the city for three days before burning themselves out. The maelstrom destroyed 490 city blocks, a total of 25,000 buildings, made over 250,000 homeless and killed between 450 and 700. Damage estimates topped $350,000,000. <br /><br />Three eye witnesses described their experiences: "Of a sudden we had found ourselves staggering and reeling. It was as if the earth was slipping gently from under our feet. Then came the sickening swaying of the earth that threw us flat upon our faces. We struggled in the street. We could not get on our feet. Then it seemed as though my head were split with the roar that crashed into my ears. Big buildings were crumbling as one might crush a biscuit in one's hand. Ahead of me a great cornice crushed a man as if he were a maggot - a laborer in overalls on his way to the Union Iron Works with a dinner pail on his arm." (P. Barrett). <br /><br />"When the fire caught the Windsor Hotel at Fifth and Market Streets there were three men on the roof, and it was impossible to get them down. Rather than see the crazed men fall in with the roof and be roasted alive the military

 

[alokmohan]

Very interesting article indeed.

 

[pioneer0333]

He simply said that we should live in the bliss of it. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[pioneer0333]

You are letting time limit your perspective! I said that it will surely not happen in my life time, and with this I mean maybe millions or even billions of years of human civilization. With that amount of time, I'm sure our descendants will master space travel and will have mounted millions of scientific research missions into numerous other galaxies.<br /><br /> I know what man is capable of. Therefore, given enough time, our descendants will reach a point of "full knowledge". Though it may take an inconceivable amount of time, we would reach that point. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[pioneer0333]

You are thinking present times. Not humans today, only because man will surely not be the same as he is presently, but millions or billions of years from now. In the distant future "should we survive long enough", we will reach a point of full knowledge. And once this occurs, what is there left to do?<br /><br /> This is a philosophical question, not a question of statistics and probability. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[qso1]

Pioneer0333:<br />This is a philosophical question, not a question of statistics and probability.<br /><br />Me:<br />Even with possible progression over millions of years, I still don't think its possible to know everything about everything IMO. For one thing, what if we discover the Universe extends far far beyond that which we know today.<br /><br />From a philosophical perspective, the question seems to me to be unanswerable. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[derekmcd]

Maybe just playing the semantics game, but I think the question might be more plausible if you used "understand" instead of "know".<br /><br />For example: I not sure it is even possible to know what an neutrino looks like much less physically look at one, however, we certainly understand what it is. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div> </div><br /><div><span style="color:#0000ff" class="Apple-style-span">"If something's hard to do, then it's not worth doing." - Homer Simpson</span></div> </div>

 

[enigma10]

When you reach the level of knowing everything, you will create the unknown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"<font color="#333399">An organism at war with itself is a doomed organism." - Carl Sagan</font></em> </div>

 

[alokmohan]

Knowledge is dialectic. Scientific truth changes.Once we knew atoms are indivisible.Now we know they are divisible.The lower form of truth is a thesis.When in due course we find the opposite that truth is called antithesis.When you reach higher truth it is synthesis.In this case we learnt atoms are made of so many things.We dont have any absolute truth.The only thing that does not change is change itself.In a nutshell, as scientific truth is dialectic in nature we never know everything.Science is self critic and evolves.

 

[science_man]

In our present day we dont know anything. In a million years, we will KNOW that we dont know anything. (read carefully) <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br /><br />

 

[nexium]

I suppose we may know millions of times more stuff a million years from now, but we will still likely have some gaps in our understanding, wisdom, logic etc. It is also possible that we will know less, as humans become more nurotic and selfish. Collapse and slow recovery will likely occur many times in the coming million years. Neil

 

[dannyd]

Scenario: In our science-driven, far flung exponentially distant future, our knowledge and abilities allow us access to God. We hunt him down and capture him and his minions and put them on trial for "Crimes against humanity." -d

 

[alokmohan]

Interesting .Why you punish the nonexistent?

 

[nexium]

We accept as proven, many things less likely than God. alokmohan should be more open minded about the possible existance of God and the possible advantages of capitalism. Neil

 

[rfoshaug]

I am quite certain that the day humanity know everything, we will also have disproven the existence of god, the tooth fairey, superman and santa claus. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br /><br />If god exists, he is deliberately hiding from us (or else we should have seen him, right?). And being divine and all, he'll be able to do that forever, no matter how advanced we become. So we'll never prove the existence of god.<br /><br />We might never disprove his existence either, but as we gain more and more knowledge of how the universe came to be and how everything works (and especially the day we know more or less "everything"), god becomes more and more faint. There was a time - only a few hundred years ago - when god was believed to literally hover just above the clouds (or just above the blue dome of the sky on a clear day). They believed he literally created the world in 7 days, just a few thousand years ago.<br /><br />He has already retreated back in time and away from Earth as we explore and learn more and more about the universe. He has now been placed in another dimension (the modern perception of "heaven"), and his divine work must at least have taken place millions, if not billions of years ago. One day he will vanish completely from people's minds and will be forgotten long before humanity comes close to know everything.<br /><br />This is of course just my opinion, and everyone is entitled to believe what they want. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br /><br />I believe it's completely impossible to know everything. Of course it's practically impossible, but I also think it's theoretically and philosophically impossible. There's always something to learn or explore - if nothing else we would at least not know what to research next. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff9900">----------------------------------</font></p><p><font color="#ff9900">My minds have many opinions</font></p> </div>

 

[derekmcd]

Is it a crime to do absolutely nothing? God's defense would be, "I wasn't even there". The prosecution might produce a handful of people who claimed to have seen or spoken to God, but the defense would likely rip apart their credibility. We would lose. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div> </div><br /><div><span style="color:#0000ff" class="Apple-style-span">"If something's hard to do, then it's not worth doing." - Homer Simpson</span></div> </div>

 

[dannyd]

I was being factious about putting god on trial. But even if we manage to stave off death via science and humans lived for eons wouldn't "death" still be there - waiting? My comment about putting god on trial comes from the fact that if I were god even a dufus like myself would not allow the suffering, angst, and terror that death entails. -d

 

[enigma10]

some call those tests, but i'd hate to see the final exam<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"<font color="#333399">An organism at war with itself is a doomed organism." - Carl Sagan</font></em> </div>