Scientific Method. Circle of Lies? Truth Part 6
Baby Steps to Reality. To understand objective truths, we must first understand the steps that lead us to reality.
Baby Steps to Reality
“Whenever a theory appears to you as the only possible one, take this as a sign that you have neither understood the theory nor the problem which it was intended to solve.”
― Karl Popper
Not having a set of established rules for millennia eventually caused one separate member of society to come up with some instructions to follow. Around 1620, English Philosopher Francis Bacon devised a method that eliminates confirmation bias as much as possible. Bacon gave us what is called the scientific method.
The scientific method is a multistep process that gets us closer to objective truths by eliminating human opinion. Still, in the end, the peer-review jury-like scientists still get to decide whether the investigated matter is true or not. And wherever humans are involved, misinterpretations will always exist, even in the scientific community.
However, unlike religion which declares itself as universally true, science is not allowed to hold any determinations as sacred unchangeable truths. Instead, according to the scientific method, science must remain open and adaptable as new information reshapes previous knowledge of a specific subject. As physicist Richard Feynman once said about an idea or theory; “could never be proved right, because tomorrow’s experiment might succeed in proving wrong what you thought was right.” (Feynman, R. p.158)
Though, where does that leave science if it is allowed to be wrong? Science is a human-invented term, as are all the words and the definitions we assign to them. With that said, according to the philosophy of science, science does not always have to be true; it only has to be useful. And science has been very useful for the last 400 years since Francis Bacon provided us with a fair guideline to follow.
But then, what is objectively true if science is also in question? Remember, science is the pursuit of objective truth — it is not always objectively true. In other words, science is true until proven otherwise. But over time, science has discovered many objective truths, and math has been the savior that helps us see the natural world as it really exists.
An example of an objective truth is that a triangle always has three sides. Objective truths often rely on math and logic. For example, although color is an interpretation of the mind, color is also an arbitrary word for specific frequencies.
As we look at an object and see it as the color blue, nature is sending 600–670 terahertz to our eyes. A terahertz is a mathematical calculation that means 1 trillion hertz or cycles per second. So, in reality, blue light is a mathematical measurement of 600 trillion to 670 trillion cycles per second. To difficult to understand? Think of light as sound. Pluck a string on a guitar, and the string vibrates at a tune of x amount of cycles per second.
Light is similar to sound in this way. Essentially, when tiny/quantum particles get plucked at different frequencies, we see it as color instead of hearing it as sound. Therefore, we refer to blue as one specific string as it gets plucked toward our eyes. Similarly, we have named all colors/strings.
But because colors are electromagnetic radiation, they are no different than microwaves, radio waves, ultraviolet radiation, x-rays, and cosmic rays. All of this is the exact same stuff — electromagnetic radiation. Radiation, as in, radiates outward.
Although our eyes can’t see beyond the colors we imagine, it does not mean that all the other radiation does not exist. The next time you see a cell phone tower, just know that it radiates hundreds of watts of invisible radiation, carrying information we can use. Science gave us that.
Science gave us the ability to read this article on a glowing screen. But it was a long road to get here, which involved a lot of wrong information along the way. Many people still can’t agree if light is a wave or a particle because, at times, it acts like one or the other or sometimes both. So, for now, quantum physics gave us the “Wave-Particle Duality of Light.”
Light Duality works with the dual nature of light, and we know this because our technology works. So as I mentioned before, science does not always have to be true; it only has to be useful.
But there we go again. Humans often default to dualistic thinking because the physical laws of nature revolve around them. So we automatically assume human thought and behavior should as well. Specifically, we wrongfully assume everything is either true or false.
Circle of Lies
To complicate things further, human language has an unsolved mystery known as the Münchhausen or Agrippa’s trilemma. Agrippa’s trilemma is a thought experiment that reveals how it is impossible to prove any truth using our own invented language, which relies on assumptions of other truths.
For example, to say that a triangle has three sides, math relies on language to make that claim. The claim itself also relies on math. Therefore, the argument leans on assumptions from language to math and back to language in an infinite circle.
Therefore, the argument becomes circular. In essence, Agrippa’s trilemma exposes that nothing can ever be true without a belief in another concept. But belief is not an objective truth, so what the hell is objectively true then?
Ready to have your mind blown?
“Truth does not contain any atomic matter and only lives within the imagination of the human mind. This means that truth can’t be objectively true. This also means that truth is an illusion. And if truth is an illusion, then it is likewise a fiction. Making truth itself idealistically circular, null, and void, according to Agrippa’s trilemma. Meaning that truth does not really exist. Therefore, truth itself can only be held as high as a universal truth.”
— Joseph Allen Paine
Without a better understanding of reality, we are humanistically destined to believe we live here by design — as the god and simulation theories suggest. But how do we ever get past universal truth and advance to objective truth where reality exists? The good thing about truth, is it doesn’t have to be true, it only has to be useful. And thankfully, subjective truth still plays a major role in the operation of societies worldwide. Now, how do we get past this barrier?
As you can see by now, objective truths begin to appear complicated and will require additional steps of advanced logical thinking. That’s exactly why Karl Popper later recognized Francis Bacon had a flaw in his scientific theory and why he modified the scientific method approach to help us further understand “reality.” Popper specifically recognized Agrippa’s trilemma and came up with a solution. More on that solution in a bit.
For now, we still have to bear the deconstruction process of truth and get through a couple of technical points. I promise not to go too deep into science. However, we do have to dip our toes into the analytical process before we can lift the veil on reality and see what is underneath.
Humans often like to think in simple terms, so we take the path of least resistance in thought. Because objective reality demands complex logical steps to understand, people often fall back on personal, political, and universal truths to navigate their daily lives.
After all, it’s easier to say the color “blue” than it is to call that same color “600 Terahertz.” For now, we will leave the hertz talk to the FM radio and call colors by their names. Could you imagine calling your favorite radio station “Blue.Seven” FM instead of 96.7 Megahertz? Likewise, we don’t call the color blue “600 Terahertz.”
This is a series piece 6 of 9. Below is the next article.
Reality vs. Simulated Reality/Lies. Truth Part 7 >>
Reality vs. Simulated Reality/Lies. Truth Part 7
What is Really Real? Why is simulation theory of life gaining traction when it is all made up? Should we correlate…medium.com
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Reality Emerges. While most experiences are imagined fictions, they do still exist in the real world. Find out why…medium.com
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