On Human Progress

It is common sense to imagine that as the history of mankind unfolds, and new dicoveries are made, the realm of what is known increases and that this must therefore mean that the realm of what is unknown decreases. If you have put a rat in a maze it will eventually map out the entire maze by trial and error and convert the unknown into known until there is nothing less to learn ( until the scientist replaces the maze with a new one. )

When we map out areas of our planet, discover and classify the elements that make up all molecules, or look further and further into space at the universe around us, we are undeniably increasing, at least at a superficial level, what we as humans know. Is this progress? Again, in a common sense view, of course this is progress. Using our increased knowledge of geography, chemistry and physics, we can now do things like send people outside the protective zone of the atmosphere and then bring them back with a modest degree of success. On a more practical level, we can easily see progress in medicine, agriculture and the automating influence of industrialization.

What we don't always see, or think too long about is the unknown. Do we recognize and ignore that each new discovery opens a whole new maze of yet to be discovered or understood knowledge? Or do we blindly believe the unspoken understanding that as the encylopedia of human knowledge grows, it grows ever closer to completion? Can we see that much, if not most, of the things we even consider progress do not so much contstitute progress as they do convenience.

If we take an honest look at the course of human knowledge and discovery, we will see that progress always spawns more areas of research and investigation than it solves. As we progress, the boundries themselves progress; and they progress in every direction. The mysteries of the universe grow exponentially compared to the distance we are able to see out into the stars, and the structure of the atom continues to show smaller and smaller particles, the finer we are able to slice it. In many respects it is as though we are floating on a lake of quicksand. The more we look around and move to save ourselves, the deeper we sink into the lake.

Either we ignore the possibility of infinite wisdom, that is pointed to by science itself, or we recognize that no matter how hard we try, we can not ever begin to scratch the surface of understanding.