I already know I may catch some crap for this one, but trust me, I’m using nothing but reasoning here.
I LOVE science. It’s the reason why I loved Nova when I was younger and it’s the reason why I love Brain Games now. I was just watching an episode about the paranormal and it got me thinking .
So what, so what, so what’s the scenario?
In this episode, the focus du jour was the paranormal. In one of the experiments, people were checking out a $1.5 million house that was on sale for about $650,000. Quite the steal, right? Well, eventually the people were told someone was murdered in the bedroom. Without fail, people were like, “Oh hell nah!”
I would be too.
What was more interesting was the scientific explanation for this response. Per the show, even if you aren’t superstitious, your brain applies the idea of transitive properties to many things. It can start with something as simple as “fire is hot, therefore if I touch it, I will get hot.” Our brains apply this transitive feeling to events, which is what caused most people to freak out.
Oh science, you so smart.
But here’s the thing: are we actually smarter for knowing what the brain is doing, or is there a valid reason the brain acts this way, but we’re just unaware of what it is.
Everything we know of is based on our awareness. EVERYTHING. Even science. Why? Because science isn’t as unbiased as we’d like to think. This is totally science from a human perspective. If you really want me to break it down, science is nothing more than the understanding of the things of which we are aware. From that understanding, we can create advancements and progress as a species, but we will always have a limit, which is our awareness.
When we are unaware of something, but we have an educated idea, we have a theory. People much smarter than me debate, discuss, and maybe even agree. Some theories even get proven right because we figure out ways to use technology to expand our awareness. Suddenly humanity is jerking itself off at how awesome we are at science. But what about the things of which we are aware, but they don’t fit any logical explanation. Is that just phenomena? Where things get tricky are things people become aware of that can’t possibly be confirmed by anyone else.
Now, I’m not going to take that next leap in logic because I want to make sure I stay focused. I notice humanity has an odd association with things that have been staples in the majority of our collective culture. For example, people look at money as being valuable instead of something that just represents value. Language is thought of as the be all, end all of communication (even for your inner “voice”). Math is seen as this concept of numbers instead of a means of translating ideas and concepts. The same thing happens with science.
For ages, people smarter than the rest of humanity have been making sense of this world. They observe, calculate, invent, and do all their sciencey duties in order to create a truth. Science is boundless by nature, but rules are placed. Some ideas are accepted while others are accepted. But for the rest of us, we depend on the people smarter than us. Someone created science so it has to be right… right?
Who created the word twerk? It exists as a word only because many of us acknowledge it. These rules apply to science as well; consensus equals truth. But there is so much we may NEVER be aware of simply because we don’t have the ability. Or there are things only one person can be aware of. One is a product of a lack of ability while the other is a personal experience. But one sounds more credible than the other, doesn’t it?
Hmmmm…
I don’t know… I’m not writing this because I want to prove a point. I just want to present an idea. Math, language and science are awesome tools, but much like religion, we place a lot of faith in them as if what we have right now is infallible. Some things may honestly be pretty rock solid, but humans have been discovering for god knows how long. And we’ve been wrong… a lot. All I’m saying is, let’s not totally write off possibilities. You never know what we may become aware of in the future.
Previously: Are Modular Jobs a Possibility?
Andre C Griffiths 