Are some things unknowable?

 Krzysztof Sierocki

With the scientific method and increasingly more complex new technologies we discover  more and more things about the world around us. Is it, however, possible for some things to be  unknowable? This exhibition explores three objects that are by some considered unknowable,  but others are tirelessly trying to prove them wrong. 

Object I – Cat in a box 

“Cat in a box” by chispita_666, CC BY 2.0  

(retrieved 06.06.21)

Placing a cat in a sealed box with an instrument designed to have an exact 50% probability  to kill the animal, is a part of a famous thought experiment designed by Erwin Schrödinger¹.  According to his theory, which is now agreed to be a part of modern physics, the cat is in a  superposition of being dead and alive at the same time. It is impossible to determine the state  of the animal, unless the box is opened and the cat directly observed. This collapses the  superposition and the cat falls into one of the two possible states. It has been confirmed  experimentally, that many quantum particles behave this way – they have no exact state until  observed, with each state having a certain probability, just like the cat. This idea has been  opposed by many famous physicists, including Einstein, who said “God does not play dice with  the universe.”² Many have been searching for “hidden variables” which would indicate a state  of a particle before observing. This way with sufficient information, predicting the future would  be possible, but all experiments suggest that the universe isn’t deterministic.  

1 Trimmer, John D. (1980). “The Present Situation in Quantum Mechanics: A Translation of Schrödinger’s  “Cat Paradox” Paper” 

2 https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/God_does_not_play_dice_with_the_universe (retrieved 16.05.21) 

Unless something fundamental in our understanding of the world changes, which is very  much possible, as we have not yet developed a concise theory of everything, we will never have  a deterministic model of the universe and some phenomena will remain unknowable 

Object II – The Eye of Providence 

US one dollar bill, public domain  

(retrieved 06.06.21)

If we invent a hypothetical entity, define it as supernatural and claim that it is impossible to  prove its existence by mere humans, it can become something unknowable. It will be equally  likely for someone to believe that this idea is a part of our world, as for another to claim that it  is just a thought. Such an idea is symbolized by the eye of providence – a god that watches over  humanity. The only way we can “know” that this kind of god exists, is by stating that we believe  this fact to be true, which will be a purely personal experience. However, as during nearly the  whole of our history, there have been fruitless attempts to prove and disprove the existence of  such a god, Blaise Pascal argues that regardless if God exists, it is worth believing. This belief,  if it were to be considered as a way of knowing, would make God be known to the believer. His  argument is based on the infinite consequences of God existing – either eternal damnation if  one does not believe, or heaven if one does. This reasoning however is flawed, as it is possible  to invent countless antigods, for whom the consequences are exactly opposite, cancelling out  the infinities. 

Faith is the only way to make the existence of a god knowable, but as there are no clear  arguments to make one believe, there will always be people claiming they do not believe and  therefore do not know. For some people, however, their belief is enough evidence to make the  existence of their god a fact. 

Object III – Reflection of a dog in a mirror 

“Mirror Curiosity” by Andrew Dobrow, CC BY 2.0  

(retrieved 06.06.21)

According to some theories, there exist levels of consciousness³ that we are able to measure.  One of the simpler levels is that a being is aware that it exists. An example experiment would  be to test whether an animal recognizes itself in a mirror. Another, more advanced level, is to  recognize that other beings exist, each their information about the world. Others argue however,  that these experiments simply measure advancement of the brain from which we reason that the  being is conscious or not and consciousness isn’t measured directly. In this case, there is no  experiment that would prove something is conscious and so, only the being in question can tell  us if it “feels” conscious using its intuitive definition. Another example which puts our  definition of consciousness in question, would be an artificial intelligence that was trained to  perfectly mimic human interactions and that is indistinguishable from humans. Will it be  conscious? It will be able to talk about itself and how there are other beings, it may be able to  claim that it is conscious, but it still will be a set of relatively simple mathematical equations  trained to behave like a human. It may be even possible that our idea of consciousness is a  placeholder term for something we don’t understand, like a god was a term for processes that  humans didn’t understand like weather or stars. Then consciousness may become a term for  something more advanced, like a living brain. But what happens, when we find out exactly how  brains work? Will humans stop being considered conscious? 

3 Morin, Alain (2006). “Levels of Consciousness and Self-Awareness: A Comparison and Integration of  Various Views” 

It is very hard to measure something as complex as consciousness, for which we have many  definitions that do not agree with each other. With our current technology, another being’s  consciousness is definitely unknowable, but with the scientific progression, in the future we  may define this term differently, so it could be unknowable with that technology. For something  to be knowable, we would have to have a precise definition. Otherwise there will always be  people who do not agree and claim that we still do not know what consciousness is. 

The question if there are unknowable things with our current technology is easy to answer – yes, there are, but as it is impossible to predict the future, it is impossible to say whether these  things will remain such. However, according to our best theories and predictions, we will never  know everything about the universe.