4 ms·

How about this: we live in a rare oasis in the Universe where the things are more or less 'stable', and due to this, we can form more or less consistent concept

How about this: we live in a rare oasis in the Universe where the things are more or less 'stable', and due to this, we can form more or less consistent concepts (not 100% consistent, but enough for most practical purposes). Beyond this oasis - who knows, maybe the notions of space and time themselves become fuzzy (not unlike ice, by the way - though you objected to comparison). And this view is not that far-fetched - look no further than quantum mechanics, which is an example of what happens when we cross the boundaries of the 'oasis'. We still can write formulas, but we don't understand the meaning. I personally believe that just everything we "know" - applies only in the vicinity of our habitat. Won't be surprised if all our observations about the Universe turn out to be illusions resulting from infinite warping of just everything :)

stareatgoats 9y ago
yes, I actually subscribe to this view too. We are observing things at the borders of the capacity of our instruments that is so far removed from our natural habitat as humans that we may never understand much more. I don't think we should give up however, and the distinction between appearances and reality is fundamental to proceeding further IMO. To clarify, it seems to me probable that real space itself (and time for that matter) is/are exempt from such localized notions. They probably 'permeate' or 'contain' everything, have always done and will always do, regardless of location and scale. It is obviously possible that they may lose relevance at a certain scale, but that scale is nowhere near our current horizon AFAICT.
- resource0x 9y ago
  I'm not so sure about this exemption. It's just very difficult for us to reason about it. And even formulating a counter-argument in a meaningful way requires some notions we don't have. Tangentially related: http://www.paradise.caltech.edu/cook/Workshop/Physics/QMQuestion.html http://www.paradise.caltech.edu/cook/Workshop/Physics/QMQues...

stareatgoats 9y ago

yes, I actually subscribe to this view too. We are observing things at the borders of the capacity of our instruments that is so far removed from our natural habitat as humans that we may never understand much more. I don't think we should give up however, and the distinction between appearances and reality is fundamental to proceeding further IMO. To clarify, it seems to me probable that real space itself (and time for that matter) is/are exempt from such localized notions. They probably 'permeate' or 'contain' everything, have always done and will always do, regardless of location and scale. It is obviously possible that they may lose relevance at a certain scale, but that scale is nowhere near our current horizon AFAICT.

resource0x 9y ago
I'm not so sure about this exemption. It's just very difficult for us to reason about it. And even formulating a counter-argument in a meaningful way requires some notions we don't have. Tangentially related: http://www.paradise.caltech.edu/cook/Workshop/Physics/QMQuestion.html http://www.paradise.caltech.edu/cook/Workshop/Physics/QMQues...