>where does the world of an ant begin and end?? Where did the world of the first Christians end who climbed up a hill so they could see all the kingdoms of the world?<
That opens an ontological can o'worms. The ant (and on a larger scale, a pre-industrial human) lived in a small and rather circumscribed existence. It is unlikely that the ant was self-aware, which means that the ant's world began and ended with the ant. People are self-aware and ask questions like, Who am I? What do I matter?
Even though we have this deep compelling reflex to search for meaning, the answers as to what that meaning may be are all over the map, with a non-ignorable minority of thinkers concluding "I am no different from the ant. Self-awareness gives me the capacity to ask questions but does not give or show me clear meaning." (This is unavoidably circular but) I believe that the answer to the question of personal meaning is addressed only by faith, not necessarily religious faith mind you! I count myself as a hard-limit agnostic, one who does not see divine agency in the world of perception. Mine is a faith of doubt, of minimalism.
Regarding the Big Bang as a beginning ... it reduces to a matter of definition. The commonest definition for the Universe includes its nascence in the Big Bang. Would you agree that the segment of time implied by the Big Bang event is the only one that is meaningful or relevant in this universe of our existence? That seems obvious to me, but ... fry me for a porkchop, I still can't prove it! (smile)
"just another door" If I understand this correctly, a door into other dimensions? Wormholes? Warp drive? Tasty concepts, especially since I am endeavoring to write sf. But I consider them "cheats" used by many sf writers. They are very useful in reducing a stage of interstellar scale to one travelable by people in their lifetimes, very good for storytellers. But I don't think that wormholes, warps or time travel will yield a real technology. To me, Einstein's limit is a door that won't be opened, barring a technology that is beyond Clarke's limit - indistinguishable from magic.
cheers js |
