Sunday, April 13, 2008

Is Knowledge Finite?

G: Simply put. I would like to know if knowledge is finite ?
P: Isn’t that the type of question that only a higher power can answer ?
G: Maybe in truth. But its worth speculating about. To begin with we have to ask what is knowledge ?

Is it the sum of everything knowable ? ie. Everything that can be understood. Or does it include the unknowable ? ie. Those ‘facts’ if indeed ‘fact’ is the right word that we are incapable of understanding.

For convenience and because to not do so would open up a giant can of worms. I have chosen knowledge to be that which is knowable. So the question we need answer then is whether body of knowledge we define as knowable is static or dynamic. Since nothing in the universe is truly static (it is only static within the narrow dimensions in which we define or limit it a such), it is safe to assume that knowledge is not static either ie. It fluctuates over time. Since it is always in a state of flux knowledge can never truly be measured. It therefore takes on the form of being infinite and unreachable. However what happens if we reduce the delta in time between single units of knowledge to as close to zero as possible (without of course reaching zero), could we reduce knowledge change to zero itself. In other words is it possible to hypothetically flash freeze the knowledge available at a time to create a snapshot of what total knowledge looks like, in a moment of no change ? Another one for the higher power I guess. But since all mass and energy can be reduced ultimately to quanta ie. they break down into discrete units, then knowledge change which is some function of both mass and energy (certainly the knowable portion) cannot be reduced to a size below that of the knowledge quanta. Ie. zero knowledge change is impossible. Therefore knowledge is always, even at the most infinitesimally small time scale always changing, Hence it cannot be measured and is by definition infinite.

1 comment:

VKM said...

Your argument is intuitively appealing. If we broke down knowledge creation (simplistically, of course) into establising "theories" within say the Kuhnian framework, then the minute any theory breaks down, we have to start hunting for alternatives...and given our poor understanding of things small and big, I think we are bound to keep looking for more theories.
I also think it's a basic human trait to i.e., looking for greater "knowledge". The quest will be indefinite and infinite.