Reply #196: We cannot. Whats the big deal about that?

[patcox2]

All it means is that we are not omniscient. Don't take me, or Godel, too far. It is an interesting corollary to Godel's theorem, that you cannot see the limits of any system from within the system, which means that its inherently impossible to identify, observe, or explain those phenomena that cannot be explained by that system.

Too put that in simpler, and more human terms, consider this: person A has an IQ of 80. Person B has an IQ of 90. And Einstein has an IQ of 200. But from person A's perspective, Person B with his 90 IQ and Einstein with his 200 IQ are indistinguishable. Person A has a limited logical system. Since both person B and Einstein exceed A's ability to comprehend, person A cannot even perceive whether or to what extent Einstein exceeds person B in intelligence.

Its why I am sometimes called an idiot, right here on DU, usually when I make a statement that transcends someone's symbolic system (roughly, that would be there knowledge base and their vocabulary, kinda their information vocabulary). Since they are ignorant of the information in question, they are able to dismiss it as idiotic. And in their limited logical system, this makes perfect sense, because they perceive it as nonsense, because it exceeds their symbolic system.




I thought that was self-evident.