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by smanuel 3873 days ago
> They're real, like, but not really real, you know what I mean.

You mean.. the real reality? The reality that can't be easily explained through observation and empirical evidence? The reality that can't be perceived through our basic physical senses? The reality where causation and correlation don't mean a thing? If you mean that reality... there's no such thing, and even if there is, there's no point in talking about it, it's way beyond our reach.

If you mean the reality in which we've done most of the division and classification work very poorly due to lack of data... I know what you mean.
2 comments
armitron 3872 days ago
It's not way beyond our reach [1], how can you even say that?

As Celia Green says: "Only the impossible is worth attempting, in everything else one is sure to fail."

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahman

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darkerside 3873 days ago
> there's no point in talking about it, it's way beyond our reach

All of humanity's scientific progress has been a step-by-step widening of the circle of our knowledge into that vast universe of the unknown. There is certainly a point in acknowledging it, acknowledging its vastness in comparison to what we actually know, and looking for the next tiny pebble we can chip out of that wall of ignorance.

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smanuel 3873 days ago
All of humanity's scientific progress has been built gradually upon principles, that have been the same for ages. Start experimenting with the fundamentals and you start wandering in a sea of abstractness - holographic universe, multiverse, one-electron universe... you name it. Theories that you can either prove or disprove and theories that bring no progress.

That's just my opinion of course.

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TeMPOraL 3872 days ago
> Theories that you can either prove or disprove and theories that bring no progress.

Of course you can "prove"/"disprove" them, otherwise they wouldn't be discussed by scientists but by philosophers or theologians. For theories to be different, there must be an experiment that in principle could be done, for which each of them predicts different result. If we get around doing that expriment, we'll learn which theory is the right model.

This is an universal principle of science and applies at every level - both fundamentals and macro/practical.

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