The Enigma Of Perception

I'm going to set aside my godless ramblings this time and explore how we see the world around us. We don't think about this enough, but it is maybe the most important thing we can understand.

When we enlarge a photo on a computer we don't get a more detailed view. The image turns grainy at some point. I can shoot houses way off in the distance, and no matter how large I blow it up I will not see what is on the TV through a window. And in the dark room the result is the same, the image fuzzes out and there is a point at which no further detail can be ascertained.

This is an apt paradigm for our senses. Although reality seems smooth, it is actually pretty grainy. As a result, as we examine a thing, we are able to reach a limit at which point we cannot look any closer and see further meaning into the concept. Perhaps it is just too complicated for our minds to contain; perhaps our eyes or ears, aided by the best technology we have, cannot detect any more data from the background noise.

So is this a chicken-and-egg game, or a Russian Doll phenomenon? Is there an essential bottom layer of knowledge that simply lies beyond our perception, or if we had infinite perception would we find that the degree of detail we can tune in to is also infinite?

Either option is mind-blowing, actually. But the two systems imply vastly different sets of game rules.

If reality is finite, if we can arrive at a place where we can shout "Eureka" and show that there is no further to go, that we have broken things down to the point where they are no longer able to be broken down, then science will come to an end, being replaced by engineering based upon these essential rules of life, the universe and everything.

If reality is infinite, if we can never reach that point, then we can never really know anything 100%. Our understanding will always be hobbled by our inability to see more clearly. We will forever rely on estimates, guesses and our gut instincts to accomplish anything.

If we accept that quantum science shows us that the mental and physical realms are interconnected and indistinguishable, the latter argument holds sway. And it's very interesting, and perhaps ironic, that our millenia of scientific pursuit results in the suggestion that science is on an endless journey, and there can be no ETA because there is no place to arrive at.

To me, this stunning understanding is far more awesome than the idea that a watchmaker built this reality. To others, it seems to perfectly explains just why their super-physical deity is so cagey in our reality.

Either way, it makes one fact entirely clear. The quest for information, knowledge or enlightenment cannot be achieved with an expectation that you will ever be finished. As much as we try to apply laws and codes to reality, it is all merely a simple convention to organize chaos, to find a path of apparent sense through all the madness.

In other words, you can't get there from here. But you are journeying anyhow, so pick a route that takes you through interesting territory. The trip is not a waste of time just because we won't reach a final destination.