318 Self and the Phenomenon of Life
b2726 Self and the Phenomenon of Life: A Biologist Examines Life from Molecules to Humanity “9x6”limitation, or rather, uncertainty, to scientific inquiry. Perhaps it would
be prudent to assume that the curve of scientific progress is asymptotic,
ever increasing but never reaching an endpoint.
Figure 14.1 represents the totality of reality in terms of human
knowledge. Zone 1 encompasses knowledge of events we see in
everyday life. They are related by common sense and integrated with
scientific theories and equations. Zone 2 contains events that are known
and observable but not yet mathematically incorporated into Zone 1.
They are the currently unexplained entities such as the “dark matter,”
the “dark energy,” and the relation between quantum mechanics and
gravity.^3 Zone 3 contains knowledge unknown to us but potentially will
be known in the future. Since I cannot tell what it is, I can only provide
a hint. Stephen Hawking, the astrophysicist, when asked what would be
the greatest discovery in the next hundred years, predicted that it would
be something that we least expect to discover. There is also the famous
quotation, attributed to Isaac Newton, known to every high school stu-
dent: “I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and
Fig. 14.1. The sphere of knowledge. Zone 1 covers facts that are known and explain-
able (interconnected). Zone 2 covers known facts that are not explainable (no connection
to zone 1). Zone 3 covers facts that are currently unknown (but potentially knowable).
Zone 4 covers realities that, because of their fundamental nature, are unknowable and
unexplainable. (The circles are drawn to show only the relationship; no meaning is given
to the relative size of the areas.)