Gonçalo Ribeiro
Mallory's Musings & MischiefA very strange idea to think about is that any one of us might be aware of a truth about the world that literally no human has ever noticed before — some concept, perception, or perspective that is genuinely new and valuable — but because we aren't of its significance that idea is never articulated or shared
An example from my own life is one time when I was a child I was compelled by my parents to wash some dishes by hand. I didn't want to, and instead of just simply doing it, I was distractedly playing with the soapy water. The thing I noticed was that if you observe a soap bubble closely you see swirls of color, and as the bubble sits there, you can see the colors go through the rainbow until the bubble seems to become invisible (but intact) for a fraction of a second and pops.
It wasn't until I was taking a college-level optics course before I learned that I wasn't seeing things. I had noticed the optical properties of thin films as a child, and retained it, but never felt the need to actually tell anyone about it.
That wasn't a particularly world-changing thing for me to notice, but it makes me wonder what (if anything) I might have learned in my life that *is* special. How would I know?
It's in the same vein as thinking about known unknowns and unknown unknowns — you can be aware of your own ignorance, but your own ignorance might be so deep that you literally cannot be aware of it.
Likewise, there may be unknown knowns — things you know but have no awareness of knowing.
In short, epistemology is a mindfuck
KrazyKat
SpaceLifeFormI have noticed. This is why I say that Mother Nature will solve the problem by killing every Homo sapien.
It is just a matter of time.
Lona Theartlav@malcircuit Or we are but we assume that, as usual, it is something that was though of long ago. After all, the odds of coming up with a unique idea or observation are incredibly low.