In Defense of the Unquantifiable

Humanity has gained a lot through using the scientific method, but we must not allow hubris to reduce the whole of existence to what is quantifiable.

The subjective experience, inherent at the very least to humans, and possibly inherent to matter itself, does not lend itself entirely to measurement. Mental experiences may be correlated with brain activity, but, perhaps, the extent to which one causes the other may not be knowable.

Unfortunately, many things may not be knowable. Take a look at mathematics, particularly logic. While math is often taught as methods to solve problems involving numbers, at its core, it is built upon proofs, carried out by using axioms and inferences. As phrased by Gödel in his famous Incompleteness theorems, math is incomplete – in a consistent formal system, there are statements which cannot be proven nor disproven, including proving that the system is, in fact, consistent.

In other words, there are mathematical problems which can be clearly articulated which cannot be solved, at least not by using mathematical techniques. Logic and math being of the utmost importance in the realm of science leaves open the possibility that there exists scientific problems which can be articulated and not proven – that there more in the universe than conceivable to the human mind. Scientists, at least in part, already agree that the nature of reality we experience is constructed mentally – why assume that what we perceive is the fundamental truth?

To paraphrase the astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, the universe is not obligated to make sense to us. Everyday ideas, like time, might have more to do with how we as a species experience reality rather than being an actual aspect of it. A understanding of time without respect to human perception may exist, but it is an open question as to whether or not this is knowable. What else falls into this same category?

Simply put, we do not know what we do not know. Maybe someday, there will be a rigorous scientific understanding of luck, of “bad juju,” etc. Maybe someday, there will not be. Whether or not we have this rigorous understanding does not mean that these events do not occur, if nowhere else, in our minds.

Part Four of Nine Months of Non-Fiction.