The Island of Knowledge: The Limits of Science and the Search for Meaning
Categories: Science & Math
Physicist Marcelo Gleiser argues that science can never know everything because each answer reveals new questions. He compares human knowledge to an island in a sea of the unknown, whose shoreline grows as the island expands. Ranging across physics, cosmology, mathematics and philosophy, Gleiser explores the limits of what we can know and why the search for meaning continues despite them.
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- Shane Parrish: “Imagine the sum of our knowledge as an Island in a vast and endless ocean. This is the Island of Knowledge. The coastline represents the boundary between the known and unknown. As we grow our understanding of the world, the Island grows and with it so does the shores of our ignorance.”