Are there things we can never understand?

Question

Ive seen this question asked before but I think some things were left out. It starts out the same...With the analogy of some animal never being able to learn calculus or algebra. (Say, a dog) Are we humans the same? One thing I think people leave out is perhaps there is a point of intelligence where you are capable of understanding everything in the universe. (Assuming it is not infinitely complex) There is some point of intelligence where all can be comprehended. Are humans at this point? Or are we below it just as a dog is? Also, I dont want answers such as "Yes because we cant comprehend what 4 dimensions are like" or something like that. I understand that, but we can come up with the IDEA of more than 3 dimensions and perhaps prove they exist even if we cannot comprehend them physically. (Just like we have discovered new geometries that we cannot physically comprehend...Only mathematically)

Also, is this even a legitimate question? If we reach a point of understanding the most we can possibly understand (Whether or not we understand everything), does it even make sense to wonder if there is anything else we dont know? We already know everything we possibly can so the question seems trivial. We couldnt even ask about other things because everything we can ask, we know the answer to because we have reached our max. Its kind of like how scientists claim it is pointless to ask question about what happened before the big bang. (for those of you who read a little about theoretical physics) So in other words you could never truly know if you know everything...Only if you know the answer to every question you can think up.

Just because we dont understand something NOW doesnt mean we wont ever understand it. If that were true we would be nowehere. READ please.

Thanks for the answers so far. Just to clarify, I dont mean a human as an individual. I mean the Human Race. We can record what we learn so others can learn after us. I know no single human can know everything. (on the shoulder of giants, remember?)

And I think we all agree we arent at our current limit. I was just wonering if there IS a limit before having aquired all knowledge.

And you can know when you know all there is to know. (Weird sentence) Its when EVERY question we as human beings can imagine has been asnwered and proved with evidence. (Or it is proved that we cannot prove it) This may not truly be all there is to know, but its all we could ever know (assuming the human mind has a limit of understanding) - this goes back to the first details I added.

Answer 1

My understanding of your question is more about the intelligence level we are currently at and what our intelligence levels could be.

NO..We are not at the max of our understanding. We are able to addapt and contue to learn. What we are not able to understand at current is only a matter of time before we do. At the minute we could not understand in no way how life could live as engery alone but as we learn more our minds open up and then one day we notice we understand. We will never be able to hold all the infomation in our small brains but we do not need to. You can remember part of it and take notes and I will remember part of it and I will take notes. This allows others to follow and quickly catchup to the point where we left off and they can take it a step and their children can take it the next step.

As we move along in life we are using our brain more and more. This intern evolves our brain and it will grow in the areas that are repuired. It addapts. Arms smaller, longer fingers, weak legs and a large head to hold our brain with a large tummy to hold the required fuel to keep that large brain working.

So the abilty to understand is limitless as long as we are able to fuel the thinking machine it would require. Remembering the infomation is not required. If you are smart enough to look at things and solve the problem you have no need to remember everything that has ever happened. Some people are not able to understand how a storm is created. Which is simple for a weather man. Cold air here and hot air there and the jet stream is pushing one in to the other at set speed and bring most air into it and you have a big rain storm and it will happen on a set day and time in a set place.

Answer 2

This is a very good and interesting question.

My answer would need to be in the form of an analogy, think of a computer that has an indexing file searching system, first the computer will build the index out of all the files (think of knowledge in its replacement) then it will be able to search them, now unlike with computer memory I do not know yet if the mind has a limit to the data it can hold, now to know everything, you would need to put every single bit of knowledge onto that system and index it, but then how can you really say that you have all the knowledge there is to know? New sciences come out all the time, so DO new things to learn, even if the concepts are not based on a form of logic (thinks such as love, life experiences, how you can understand the concept of having a child but until you do you don't understand what it feels like).

So to answer your question, I could not give a yes or no answer, because I do not know the answer. You would need to gain the entire array of knowledge (and that's a **** load of information, if that would be even possible) and then be able to retain all of it in your human brain which brings up the possibility that you would forget some of it.

Perhaps one day I can give you a better answer, until then I must go by the theory that there is always more to learn.

Answer 3

we have not even touched what we as humans understand. we are still trying to find out how the pasted did what they did. we do not understand space and how to travel in it or the ocean we should be farming it and saving it but we do not understand it all. there is so many thing that just need answers. i thought that when 2000 came along we would be in space and we would have more peace in the world and illness like the flu or a cold or cancer would be gone. but look at were we are. in the health field we don't know how the brain work. we have cars that use too much gas. we have too much trash. we don't even understand that. there is so much we don't know it would take a life time of people wanting to know how to change the thing. but most of the kids of today just want to play games not look deeper in to what puzzles there are to solve in the world. the world should not have people going hunger but we do. there are so many whys and so few answers like we should be saying oh ya that how to fix it.. DNA should tell so much more than it does why because we don't understand. for that matter what i don't understand the most is women how do they think? why do they do some of the things they do? oh my yes that is a question that need answers. LOL

Answer 4

There is a beautiful story in the Upanishad about Svetaketu who comes home after learning from the Gurukula all that was to be learnt. Due to his vast knowledge he had become arrogant. His father Aruni asked him have you known the science by knowing which everything is known. Svetaketu was surprised by this question and asked his father what is that science. It was never taught by the teachers. Then his father replied by knowing your real nature in this existence, you can know the nature of the entire universe.

Thus we can understand everything in this world provided we know our real nature which always create dynamism in the form of ideation, logic and so that each one of us get lost in the labyrinth of those ideations. The beauty of the real nature is that it reveals itself in consciousness in itself because consciousness cires in consciousness.

Answer 5

There are so many things humans do not understand. For exampel we can't seem to totally understand or agree on what "God" is.

Answer 6

i think that god is an example of the highest complexity that humans cannot understand.

Answer 7

those things are called "The Republicans"