Afterword
Last updated
Last updated
I started writing this book for personal reasons, as I have explained at the beginning of the book.
But while doing research for the book, I came across many interesting quotes from well-known people expressing thoughts very similar to mine. One of my favorites is the following quote by Arthur C. Clarke:
“Perhaps it is better to be un-sane and happy, than sane and un-happy. But it is the best of all to be sane and happy. Whether our descendants can achieve that goal will be the greatest challenge of the future. Indeed, it may well decide whether we have any future.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, British science fiction writer, in “3001: A Space Odyssey”
Arthur C. Clarke is one of my favorite sci-fi writers. It was his writing that instilled in me the love and respect for the "hard" in "hard sci-fi". He conjures up amazing visions, scenes and plots while staying within the bounds of the known laws of nature and what may even become real someday.
Maybe it was his writing, coupled with the number of times I have had my mind blown due to some scientific phenomenon or technological wonder, that has led me to realize that the real world itself contains all the wonder and magic we seek in our lives. There is really no need to come up with complete fabrications.
In fact, it was Arthur C. Clarke who said "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." I would actually go one step further and say that all our so-called advanced technologies absolutely pale in comparison to some of the existing natural phenomena, and thus, are even more magical. We have gone over many of these phenomena in this book, such as the incredibly complex inner workings of living cells or nervous systems or ecosystems.
Still, I have a nit to pick about the quote included above. I really wish the author had chosen some other words than sane / un-sane. It conveys a sense that people who believe in supernatural phenomena are somehow not sane.
I believe that both religions and science have the same goals: A better understanding of our reality, ourselves and how the two fit together to create meaning, purpose and hope. I don't see anything un-sane about this endeavor.
Insanity enters the picture only when people become zealous about their beliefs or try to impose them on others.
I don't take part in the religion vs science debate, because the debaters often fall prey to such zealotry. In fact, if one thinks hard about it, zealotry starts to look both unscientific as well as irreligious. It should have no place in either type of thought. Also, one should always be free to honestly decide which way they want to go, and change their mind as many times as they want to.
But it’s not just that.
Ultimately, the truth is that there is only one Ultimate Reality.
Fortunately or unfortunately, this Ultimate Reality keeps eluding us in spite of our relentless multi-directional and multi-layered efforts trying to figure it out.
While we might occasionally be able to vaguely sense its outlines, we are not really able to understand it or capture it fully in terms of human thought. Or even intuitions or feelings, for that matter.
It seems to be beyond that.
This reminds me of another one of my favorite quotes:
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
There is a field. I’ll meet you there."
― Rumi, a 13th century Persian poet
Here, Rumi is supposedly talking about love, which, in his opinion, is the Ultimate Reality.
(Scientists would probably agree with him on the "field" part - as in quantum fields, of course! As far as we understand today, reality is ultimately a quantum field, it seems to be beyond our ability to understand fully, and we all do exist in it. There is clearly some common ground there.)
I guess one point of difference is that poets sometimes claim to have access to this ultimate reality, but scientists or evidence-and-reason-driven knowledge-seekers such as myself need proof. And we have none. (Neither do poets, to be sure. But, unfairly, in my opinion, no one holds them to the same standard!)
Irrespective of that, the fact that none of us is able to reach this field doesn’t have to mean that all of our struggles are meaningless.
To the contrary, this struggle itself may be the essence of life. We can argue that our inherent desire for meaning is really just this struggle to grasp some vague outline of this Ultimate Reality.
And, as we have seen in this book, this is not just a poetic or religious thought. It is a scientifically explainable process. We know that all living entities must perform Active Inference in order to continue to exist in a dynamic environment, which necessarily requires building an incrementally better model of Ultimate Reality. Without this struggle, living organisms can't survive.
What is truly incredible is that even as hard-headed followers of evidence and reason, we have been successful in capturing at least some aspects of this field beyond all fields. We didn't have to resort to taking leaps of faith to do so. And we are humble enough to accept that we may not have captured all of it. And yet, we have some reliable methods to keep making progress.
Most importantly, what I am trying to say is that if you are on the path of evidence and reason, and if those other approaches aren't working for you, then that does not mean you are out of luck. There is a way for people like us, too.
I am trying to fight the pervasive dogma that things like meaning, purpose and hope can only be captured via faith or poetry.
The less traveled path of evidence and reason has been denied access to the big table of meaning, purpose and hope that faith and poetry have occupied for a long time. While this might have been fine in the past because we didn't really know a lot of the things we know today, I believe the time has now come for evidence and reason to also get a seat at the same table.
And again, this is not to say that things like poetry, art, literature, music etc. are meaningless or less important. I myself am often moved by them and I consider them to be an indispensable part of living a rich life.
In fact, as I have stated in the chapter on Consciousness, trying to enrich and expand one's conscious experience is very much a part of the 6CED Tendencies. And human endeavors such as art, music, literature, etc. are certainly a part of enriching and expanding one's consciousness.
But what is unreasonable is to then take a leap of faith from there and claim that those endeavors or the experiences they lead to are, in fact, the Ultimate Truth. There is no basis for saying that.
The way I have built the MSE Framework in the book follows the First Principles approach - start from the absolute bottom and go step by step to the ultimate objective.
But that may not be how people actually experience how their own thoughts evolve. Let me give an example to explain how this evolution may occur, and hopefully, that provides another way to understand the ideas in the book.
Someone might say that looking at the smiling face of their child is all the meaning, purpose and hope they need in their life. This is perfectly understandable.
Others might go a little deeper and say, the love, hope and wonder they see in the child’s smiling face is all the meaning, purpose and hope they need in their life.
Others might go even deeper and say that seeing the love, hope and wonder in the eyes of a child makes them feel that they are in the presence of a supernatural power (or Love itself, as Rumi might have said). And that is all the meaning, purpose and hope they need in their life.
Still others might go deeper and say that seeing the love and hope in a child’s eyes reminds them of how unimaginably improbable and unbelievably complex this seemingly simple and commonplace event is.
They might say that, right here and right now, the Ultimate Reality of existence, which is inaccessible to us directly, is somehow creating particles out of quantum fog, atoms and molecules out of particles, mind-bogglingly complex, self-sustaining living cells out of those atoms and molecules, entire smiling children out of those cells, and ultimately the mysterious phenomenon of consciousness, in both you and the child, that allows both of you to experience this magical moment together.
Just close your eyes and imagine what is going on inside the child’s or your own body. You are both made of trillions of self-organized cells, containing complex structures and processes that are many orders of magnitude higher than the most advanced man-made structures we have built so far. All these cells are simply going about their business, building and dismantling structures, moving things around, acquiring and consuming sources of energy and other resources, hunting down parasites, repairing themselves when needed, communicating with each other using electrical and chemical signals, growing and dividing, ultimately giving rise to the feeling that there is a “you” inside of you and there is a “reality” that you are a part of, and you both get to experience all of this just by being present.
Not only that, but today it is possible for us to come up with sound explanations for the vast majority of these phenomena, from the ground up, in all their glory.
Moreover, you can gather an overwhelming amount of evidence that there appears to be an inherent direction to all of it. You and every other part of the universe are on an amazing journey in that direction, even if you are completely unaware of it.
This journey started billions of years ago, has continued unbroken since then, and as far as we can predict, will continue for billions of years more.
Knowing all of this, how it may have come about, and the fact that we have been able to discover so much of it all by ourselves from this tiny corner of the universe with an even tinier brain, gives me a far more satisfying feeling of meaning, purpose and hope in my life than anything else I have ever encountered.
And that is all the meaning, purpose and hope I need in my life. (And, by now, I hope you feel the same way!)
Still, trying to convince you that any of these approaches or perspectives or levels is better or worse than others is not the point of this book.
This book is only trying to make the point that it is absolutely possible to find meaning, purpose and hope in our lives even if we take the relatively less traveled path of evidence and reason. Armed with that knowledge, one can confidently pull their chair up to the big "meaning table" and party along with all the other approaches.
When one looks at what makes us uniquely human, as compared to all other animals or even other apes, we usually point to our big and complex brains. A few may point to our opposable thumbs, or our upright posture, or our mostly hairless bodies and so on.
But I think one of our most interesting features is that we are born totally helpless and helplessly cute, which means we are cared for by willing adults for a long time. Most other animals become independent comparatively quite quickly after being born, but we take years. And we even keep maturing well past adulthood (or even midlife, for that matter!)
I believe that this uniquely long period of maturation leads to some unique, deep and lifelong side effects.
For example, ever since our childhood, we are conditioned to look for help and guidance from others. In the beginning, we look to our parents, then add teachers to that, and then maybe a boss, or spouse, or some influencers or leaders of some type.
Our desire for meaning and purpose may just be a generalization of this neverending need for guidance. And our desire for hope may just be a need for the reassurance we felt as children when adults took care of us no matter how much trouble we put ourselves into.
A lucky few get an opportunity to have a midlife crisis where they get to ask what's really going on and who they should now look to for guidance. And even fewer ones get to ask why and pursue that thread as far as they possibly can. I am one of these fortunate ones.
And what's even more fortunate is that we are finally at a point in our scientific and technological development where we can start to piece together some pretty good answers to these questions.
We can answer the first question, about what's going on, by looking at the tremendous amount of knowledge gathered via science and engineering.
We can answer the second question, about who we should look to for guidance, with: Reality itself. It is the ultimate adult in the room and it is continuously providing ample guidance for us if we just know how to look for it. Needless to say, this guidance comes in the form of the ubiquitous and omnipresent "6CED" Tendencies we have identified.
And we can answer the third question, about why we should look to the universe for guidance, with: Because there is no way around it. Even if you are completely unaware of the guidance the universe is providing, or willfully trying to ignore it, you are still a product of it and continue to be bound by it. It is a lot easier and actually more fulfilling, to go along and even ride its powerful waves to great heights.
Of course, with the approach we have taken in this book, we may not have perfect and final answers, but we have good enough answers, have sufficient reason to believe that they are more trustworthy and explainable than the alternatives, and we have ways of improving them as we learn more.
I am going to close by quoting from the Upanishads, which are some of the oldest recorded human thoughts and capture this whole endeavor perfectly:
“ॐ असतो मा सद्गमय ।
तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय ।
मृत्योर्मा अमृतं गमय ।
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥”
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“Lead me from ignorance to the truth,
Lead me from darkness to light,
Lead me from death to immortality,
Peace, peace, peace.”
― Pavamana Mantra, an Ancient Vedic chant
Thank you for your time and attention.
