[presheaf]

> We can solve these problems because "Either a given technology is possible, or else there must be some reason (say, of physics or logic) why it isn’t possible". Knowledge is what allows us to develop solutions to all our problems.

This is very much like the law of excluded middle, (there is a solution) ∨ (there is no solution). The point here I think is that there is no reason to not try to solve problems because either the problem is solvable and we make progress or it isn't and we figure out why which is again a kind of progress. This is certainly a reasonable perspective but Hamming and Heisenberg have quotes that provide more nuanced perspectives.

Hamming: Just as there are odors that dogs can smell and we cannot, as well as sounds that dogs can hear and we cannot, so too there are wavelengths of light we cannot see and flavors we cannot taste. Why then, given our brains wired the way they are, does the remark, “Perhaps there are thoughts we cannot think,” surprise you? Evolution, so far, may possibly have blocked us from being able to think in some directions; there could be unthinkable thoughts.

Heisenberg: What we observe is not nature itself but nature exposed to our method of questioning.

[bibanez]

These are good citations. Specially Heisenberg's: it is now obvious to me that in noticing nature and trying to understand it, you subject it to a particular line of reasoning. Physicists particulary enjoy subjecting it to maths. I do too :)

[MoritzWall]

> Just as there are odors that dogs can smell and we cannot, as well as sounds that dogs can hear and we cannot, so too there are wavelengths of light we cannot see and flavors we cannot taste.

This is comparing ourselves with dogs lol. We are much more than that. We can build scientific instruments to smell what dogs smell or hear what they hear etc. See: https://publicism.info/science/infinity/7.html

[presheaf]

Going down this path then you might as well become a cyborg.

[MoritzWall]

Yes, I'm all-in for BCIs and cognitive augmentation.

[presheaf]

I figured. Good luck on becoming one.