The classification we overlay on what we perceive might (or might not) relate to physical reality. One is objectively real, one is theoretical.
We can have all sorts of theories about how things have come to be, but again these might (or might not) relate to reality.
We do not and cannot achieve a theory of everything, even if we kid ourselves that we can be papering over the cracks. Physical reality just isn't that sort of thing that we can know as well as all that.
And this doesn't even mention how our data perception in only on a narrow range. Nor the fact that our theories drive the observations, rather than observations driving the theories.
We can certainly hack bits, and get them to do things, understand nature's tricks and re-implement them in a different context. But really understanding it? Not so much.
PS very interesting that the author mentions 'neoteny'. This is where a 'species' stays in a prolonged juvenile state.
I've long thought that this sounds like modern life, where people do not want to take personal responsibility for their lives, but instead look to various authorities (government, corporations, their mum) to do it for them.
The classification we overlay on what we perceive might (or might not) relate to physical reality. One is objectively real, one is theoretical.
We can have all sorts of theories about how things have come to be, but again these might (or might not) relate to reality.
We do not and cannot achieve a theory of everything, even if we kid ourselves that we can be papering over the cracks. Physical reality just isn't that sort of thing that we can know as well as all that.
And this doesn't even mention how our data perception in only on a narrow range. Nor the fact that our theories drive the observations, rather than observations driving the theories.
We can certainly hack bits, and get them to do things, understand nature's tricks and re-implement them in a different context. But really understanding it? Not so much.
PS very interesting that the author mentions 'neoteny'. This is where a 'species' stays in a prolonged juvenile state.
I've long thought that this sounds like modern life, where people do not want to take personal responsibility for their lives, but instead look to various authorities (government, corporations, their mum) to do it for them.