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Infinite Knowledge

31st January 2010

Infinite Knowledge

posted in Ideas |

Consider a small thought experiment — well, maybe not.

Consider that technology advances so much that we are able to hold a piece of information (call it a bit, call it a byte, call it anything you want) in a single molecule/atom/electron/whatever.

Since we believe (I believe, anyway) that there are a finite number of molecules/atoms/electrons/whatevers in this universe, will there be only a finite amount of knowledge that we can hold as human beings ? Rather, are we destined to know only so much and not keep learning for ever ?

Is that suffocating yet ?

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There are currently 3 responses to “Infinite Knowledge”

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  1. 1 On February 1st, 2010, Viswanath said:

    Well, I can say that we can only store finite amount of information according to your thought experiment. Knowledge may be totally different. Knowledge is how we interpret information. Its almost like information is on a hard disk and knowledge is something that a program creates out of that information. Information is a static resource and knowledge is generated at runtime by doing something with information. In real world, the most efficient knowledge creator is the brain. What are the limits of the brain? Well we dont know yet. May be it has its limits too. But it may just be enough for us to continue expansion of our knowledge until our species is wiped off the planet.

    posted on February 1st, 2010 at 5:13 am

  2. 2 On February 1st, 2010, Viswanath said:

    My comment reminds me of the Von Neumann computer architecture used in modern computers. Data and programs are stored in memory and a processor executes them. It also reminds me of LISP, a really fascinating programming language that doesn’t differentiate between data and program and treats them as the same !!
    (My knowledge of LISP is limited, so I may be wrong here. But LISP allows you to write a program that can modify itself I think !!)

    posted on February 1st, 2010 at 5:16 am

  3. 3 On May 4th, 2010, Kylie Batt said:

    ??????????)))…

    Since we believe (I believe, anyway) that there are a finite number of molecules/atoms/electrons/whatevers in […….

    posted on May 4th, 2010 at 9:02 pm

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