The goal is to be God. The goal is to make universes, to make life. That seems to me to be the best possible guess as to our purpose here, if we have one; and if we don't, it still seems to me to be the best, most meaningful thing we can focus on trying to do as a species. That's what I've believed for as long as I can remember. I think it's why I'm a writer, a creator of fictional worlds, however ineptly. It's important to me, as the question of whether or not there is a god could never be. Whether we're growing up to be like Dad (or Mum), or just finding something to do that will survive when this universe has burned out, this seems the obvious choice, the only real choice.
This, to me, is what science is for. All the rest, all the technology, is just glorified survival behaviour: more food, more land, better spears, better cooking pots. This goal, to me, puts science on an equal footing with art, in the service of human creativity.
In order to achieve this goal, in order to make a universe, we have to understand how universes work. In order to understand how universes work, we have to start by understanding how this universe works. Therefore, for the goal to make sense, it has to be possible to understand how this universe works.
I will admit that the idea that this isn't possible--that we can only grope endlessly after an ever-receding horizon--upsets me, at a visceral level I can't reason away. I'm completely happy with the idea that it will take thousands of years, maybe hundreds of thousands, before we get to that level of understanding. That's not a problem.
But I can't accept that we never will, and I can't understand how anyone could accept that. It does in fact seem wrong to me, fundamentally wrong, an abdication of responsibility, almost a betrayal. Merely basking in the awe and wonder of it all and not wanting more, being content just to know some of it and content that that will never change, seems to me like a waste of our time and our potential, and makes me want to scream at people. I know that's unreasonable. I'm afraid I can't help it.
And that is why I come off the way I do on this subject. Sorry I caused upset.
Rounding off--a provisionally final attempt to explain myself
This, to me, is what science is for. All the rest, all the technology, is just glorified survival behaviour: more food, more land, better spears, better cooking pots. This goal, to me, puts science on an equal footing with art, in the service of human creativity.
In order to achieve this goal, in order to make a universe, we have to understand how universes work. In order to understand how universes work, we have to start by understanding how this universe works. Therefore, for the goal to make sense, it has to be possible to understand how this universe works.
I will admit that the idea that this isn't possible--that we can only grope endlessly after an ever-receding horizon--upsets me, at a visceral level I can't reason away. I'm completely happy with the idea that it will take thousands of years, maybe hundreds of thousands, before we get to that level of understanding. That's not a problem.
But I can't accept that we never will, and I can't understand how anyone could accept that. It does in fact seem wrong to me, fundamentally wrong, an abdication of responsibility, almost a betrayal. Merely basking in the awe and wonder of it all and not wanting more, being content just to know some of it and content that that will never change, seems to me like a waste of our time and our potential, and makes me want to scream at people. I know that's unreasonable. I'm afraid I can't help it.
And that is why I come off the way I do on this subject. Sorry I caused upset.