Reading the “Beginning of Infinity” was , looking back , one of those Red Pill Moments for me , like in the movie Matrix , when you entire perspective and worldview gets dramatically transformed , revealing an entirely new understanding of the true nature of reality.
Here are some of the key insights in this book :
Problems will always exist in this Universe. All problems in this Universe are solvable with the right understanding. In the words of Elon Musk “The Universe is the answer”. The Universe has the answers , we just need to come up with the right questions to better understand reality. The right understanding comes by creating good explanations. Good explanations are acts of creativity and can have infinite reach. Once you figure out a rule of physics that applies on our planet , you realize that it also applies on planets in other galaxies we have yet to discover. As far as we know, we humans are the only beings in the entire Universe that can create good explanations. We thus are of cosmic significance. Progress is inevitable as long as we keep creating good explanations. We can have infinite progress and always be at the beginning of infinity.
All animals have an intelligence of their own , as observed by looking at dolphins , dogs , bees , chimpanzees and other species . However , their intelligence is limited to that passed over to them by evolution/natural selection. A bee can let other members of it’s hive know the exact distance and position , quantity and quality of a food source , the bee can calculate at what degree the food source is to the Sun, but that skill is needed as part of it’s survival and passed over by evolution. It cannot look at the Sun, and figure out whether the Sun goes around the Earth or if the Earth goes around the Sun. It cannot create explanations. No species on our planet other than humans can. Perhaps , we are the only known species in the Universe capable of truly understanding it and therefore transforming it with the right knowledge.
We humans are therefore , a force of nature. We are not just another average species on an average planet in a distant forgotten corner of the Universe. Imagine planet Earth without humans. There would still be raw materials on the planet that had no particular use, and none of the millions of species , for over billions of years , would ever figure out that you can find uranium nuclei in some raw materials and that uranium can be used in a nuclear reactor to create huge amounts of nuclear energy ! Oil is useless unless you know how to use it for combustion , information in the universe is useless unless an entity such as a human can process it and make use of it. It would be like a puzzle with no one to solve it. Humans on the other hand , can explain what these raw materials can be transformed into , and then transform these raw materials into civilization! Just like gravity can pull the galaxy into a certain shape , knowledge gained by humanity will in time be able to shape the planet , the solar system , and eventually the galaxy. We can have a profound impact on the Universe !
Humanity as a whole , should aim to create good explanations. There is no final theory in physics or mathematics , just like Newton’s laws of gravity were replaced with Einstein’s laws of relativity, we will always continue to find better explanations as we progress along. Good explanations are acts of creativity , and they are both testifiable and falsifiable. If the theory cannot be tested , nor can be proven wrong by a test , it is not a true explanation. Saying “The Gods did it” is not a good explanation of why it’s hot in the Summer , cold in the Winter or rainy on a random day. It’s hot today / it’s rainy today because the Gods are mad at us for our sins and the sins of our fore-fathers is not a good explanation because it cannot be tested , nor can it be proven false.
It is not enough to come up with a creative theory such as “Eating grass will cure cancer and heart disease” , you need to come up a good explanation of why it would work. The idea that the Earth may be moving around the Sun and not the way around as most people believed , may have sounded utterly ridiculous when it was first proposed , but it was a theory that had a good explanation , and was both testifiable and falsifiable. Good explanations are risky and narrow and hard to vary.
Everything significant in science is about the unobserved. Most of science is not about experience. Nobody was alive during the Big Bang , nobody has seen dinosaurs , nobody has seen the inside of a star , no one has experiences one billion years , or a light year , yet we know all about them by building upon good explanations. One’s individual experience cannot be fully trusted , especially when it contradicts a good explanation. For instance , I experience the sky as blue in the morning , although it is pitch black out there and I only see it as blue because of the Sun. Room temperature water can feel hot if you’ve had your hand soaked in ice cold water just prior.
Most people think using induction. This is how it always happened , so it will continue to happen. The Sun always rises once every 24 hours so it will continue to do so. Gold has been a store of value for 5000 years so no way Bitcoin is going to replace it as a store of value. Perhaps this is why it is difficult to internalize that we will die one day. After all , I’ve always lived as far as I can remember, why should I not expect to continue to live on forever ? Induction is the idea that you can predict the future from the past. For someone who is dead sure that the Sun only rises once a day, it would be quite a perplexing experience to go to Antarctica and observe the Sun not rise for a few months , or to go to the International Space Station and notice and notice the Sun rise and set multiple times a day ! Or think about someone , who argues by induction that since the cup of boiling water on the stove has been steadily increasing it’s temperature at roughly 10 degree Celsius every minute or so , it should be at 1000 degree Celsius given enough time .. and yet once water boils at 100 degree Celsius , it stays at that temperature. These things can be figured out in advance , only by coming up with good explanations. A turkey that is fed the best food in the world , argues by induction that it’s owners are it’s slaves , until Thanksgiving day. A lot of people throughout history assumed by induction that humans will never be able to fly because we have never been able to do so in the past. However , a few people dreamed about flying and fewer still came up with good explanatory theories about flying , and then they flew – in that order !
Knowledge does not come from an authority. Religious authorities do not have ownership of the truth. The idea that everything knowable has already been found and is enshrined in authoritative sources such as ancient religious writings is ridiculous ! Equally insane is the belief in science. I’ve heard people say “I wear a mask/take a vaccine because I believe in science” – which is another way to say I believe in the scientific authorities such as Dr. Fauci and the CDC. This statement is ironical , because science by it’s very definition is Nullis Verba – take no one’s word for it, but think for yourself. Science is not a person or an organization that cannot be understood by humans and therefore worshiped like a deity, science is a way of thinking , to come up with good explanations.
What is needed for a sustained , rapid growth of knowledge is a tradition of criticism – this is the essence of science. The point of tradition and religion on the other hand is to keep things the same. To seek knowledge , we must try not to rely on authority of any kind , but to think it out for ourselves. To critique an idea and test if it is falsifiable , if it can be explained. Solving a problem requires an explanation – a statement of the underlying reality that accounts for what happens. Solving a problem means creating an explanation that does not have the conflict.
When you figure out something about reality using a good explanation , that explanation reaches out from its finite origins inside one brain on one person on one planet – to infinity because that theory will hold throughout the Universe. This reach of explanations is another meaning of the “Beginning of Infinity”. When we solve a problem – like what causes an apple to fall , it can be applied to much more phenomenon in the Universe than what it was originally intended to solve.
People are significant in the cosmic scheme of things. The Earth’s biosphere is incapable of supporting human life. From the onset , it was only human knowledge that made the planet marginally habitable by humans. When a non-human species is in an environment where it does not get Vitamin C it dies of scurvy, but humans can with the right knowledge synthesize vitamin C and survive. If the Earth is a spaceship , we are not just it’s passengers , we are its designers and builders. Before the designs created by humans , this planet was not a vehicle but only a heap of dangerous raw materials.
The idea that humans lived without issues before the modern age is ridiculous. We had to solve a ton of problems to just survive and thrive. There are very few fossils of old people ! It was not easy. The idea that humans need to be more grateful for mother Earth taking care of humans does not make sense , 99.99% of all species that lived on Earth are now extinct, the vast majority of them prior to issues related to human civilizations. The idea that humans are responsible for destroying the planet and that life would thrive if only humans were extinguished off the planet is a common belief , albeit wrong. Humans can save this planet, and bring life to many planets in the Universe that are currently “lifeless”. The place you live now was inhospitable to humans in the past , but now you turn on a tap and get water , turn on a switch and you get electricity. We now think of Earth as hospitable and Mars as a death trap , but that is how our ancestors in Africa may have thought of the United States back then if they knew of such a place ! The difference between a hospitable Mars and an unhospitable one is the knowledge we create.
The religious idea that the world is created by God , and that therefore science cannot understand the true nature of reality is dangerous because it can only lead to bad explanations. It is our highest duty to create explanatory knowledge. There is an intimate connection between explaining the world and controlling it, shaping it for the better(or worse). Everything in the Universe is either impossible because it is forbidden by the laws of nature , or achievable given the right knowledge. To quote Elon Musk again “Physics is the law , everything else is just a recommendation”.
Though any particular problem is transient , the condition of having problems in order to survive and continue to create knowledge is permanent. We will never run out of problems to solve. Solving one problem gives us better problems to solve. The idea is not to solve one problem and then do nothing. The idea is to solve one problem so that you can now solve a better problem. Problems are inevitable. Problems are solvable.
Think about the many distant corners of our Universe , that are currently cold and lifeless , that will be completely transformed by the spark of our knowledge. We are today and we always will be at the Beginning of Infinity!