A Brief Story of Success: The Manifestation of Knowledge and the Hydra of Ignorance

Abstract

It is tempting to declare the victory of the human mind over ignorance. By applying pure thought the workings of the universe are deciphered, from fundamental processes to complex phenomena. Uncertainty has been banished, or so it seems. With pride the insights the mind has uncovered are swiftly translated into technology, bearing witness to the powers of the human intellect. Yet, astonishingly, the grand narrative does not end here. Indeed, it only truly begins. What remains to be explained are still the same age-old questions vexing the human mind. Why is there anything at all? What can I really know? What is the true nature of reality? What exactly is consciousness? What about all the strange cosmic coincidences leading up to this moment? Confronting these questions evokes existential dilemmas, ontological paradoxes, and epistemic uncertainty. The foundations of the edifice of knowledge start to shift and cracks emerge. Level of mathematical formality: not applicable.