The End of Knowledge?

[Kate]

A few days ago, as I was walking to my lecture theater in Uni, my thoughts came across something thatreally trarted to trouble me.

With each year going by, scientists need to learn more information in order to be able to make new discoveries. For example, only 50 years ago we didn't know what DNA was or whether it carried hereditary material at all. Now we learn about it at school as well as a lot of other stuff like Polymerase Chain Reaction that involved cloning of DNA etc. Does this mean that in 10 years time people could be learning my discoveries in school? If so, it'll take more time to learn, right? So, at some point people might have to spend their whole life learning something in order to make a discovery. What then? What if a human life won't be enough to learn everything in order to make a new discovery??? Will it be the end of Knowledge as we know it? Aaaahhh!

:znaika:

:ill:

You must think I'm crazy, but this really worries me. Lol. I need some sleep. :o

[TaTu^HeRo]

Nice thought buddy.. actually in ten years.. people will have 12 hours of school each day.. including weekends so they can discover anything.. actually i guess they'll have to cancel out the old theories u know like in chemistry.. the orbitals theory.. they'll be replaced by basic knowledge of the new theories.. and the rest is history :D

[forre]

Every new generation is more intellegent than the previous one. That was discovered through various scientific tests. So, I guess it will compensate some.

[TaTu^HeRo]

More intelligent hmm I doubt that :p No kiddin, but i feel the new generation that comes is always more self-centered, more selfish, and not willing to learn anything new :D

[Unplugged]

i feel the new generation that comes is always more self-centered, more selfish, and not willing to learn anything new
I feel that too :( It's not lack of intelligence, it's really just not giving a shit and wanting 'fortune and glory' as quick as they can

As for what Kate said, well I agree, that's kind of scary :eek: But, I don't think it will happen though, humans are always coming up with something. Hey, some people don't even need to learn much, they just get some inspiration and discover/invent something new :p Like that guy when an apple fell on his head and then he..... *can't recall what he invented, can't recall his name, runs out of the thread in shame* :lalala: I just woke up LOL (yeah, great excuse :rolleyes: )

[rosh]

staringelf -- > i think you mean sir isaac newton :) and it was the law of gravity :D

[haku]

It's not a problem because the Homo Sapiens species is not the final evolution of the Human genus, there were other Human species before us, there will be others after us.
Yes, the Homo Sapiens species will at some point reach an evolutive dead-end, but before that happens a new Human species will have appeared, and like with any new step in Human evolution the main characteristic of this new species will be an enhanced brain. The Homo Sapiens will then become extinct, too often we forget that one day we will be replaced by a new Human species, just like we replaced those before us.

[zack]

You don't need to cover the whole scientific knowledge in a specific field to discover something new. Scientific knowledge, be it in the various fields (medicine, biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics and so on) is all in sectors, specializations and subspecializations. Usually if you want to do scientific research you choose a specific (and usually very restricted) field because only in this way you will be able to study thouroughly a certain subject and to keep updated. Scientists who "discover" something may spend many years focusing only on one aspect of a bigger problem.Then actually "discovering" something new is really difficult and nowadays, right because of the extension of knowledge (as well as for economical factors!), is always more a team-work where different persons have each a specific task (especially in medical-biological research).

[nath]

I agree with you Zack...and even if you have to KNOW things , of course...I think present generation has a great help with the computers and Internet...It isn't in the same field and not such vaste but i remember when I made my memory , 15 years ago, I had to go to the library and search , often guided by "Hazard"...it took time....now you type a word in a search engine and you get immediately informations from all the world!...So you earn a lot of time, now...
When you think to the guys, 500 years ago, who needed to learn foreign, old langages..to wait long time to get the good books for their knowledge, who needed money 'cause the books were very expensive...they were great too!....
So may be , you'll have to study some years more before really beginning research, in the future years..but you will be helped!..Courage !
But you know too, this famous quote about scientific people : "A scientific is somebody who knows MORE & MORE about LESS & LESS things ...so ..at the end,...he knows EVERYTHING about NOTHING" ... :)

[TaTu^HeRo]

"A scientific is somebody who knows MORE & MORE about LESS & LESS things ...so ..at the end,...he knows EVERYTHING about NOTHING"

I like that sunwalk.. actually i was thinking.. maybe the end of the world will come soon... so it's like a gameover... when there isn't something more to learn.. it's the end :D

[haku]

maybe the end of the world will come soon... so it's like a gameover... when there isn't something more to learn.. it's the end
There is much more to learn! The current amount of our knowledge is very small, we are only at the very beginning of Human history.

As for the end of the world, well, even if Earth was to disappear tomorrow, it wouldn't be really the end. There are at least 100 billion stars in our galaxy and at least 100 billion galaxies in the universe, that's at least 10 trillion stars! Even if only a fraction of a percent of those stars harbor an intelligent species, that's still billions of planets with life.
So one more or one less world is not a big deal on a univeral scale.

[TaTu^HeRo]

So one more or one less world is not a big deal on a univeral scale.

That sentence makes me feel happy don't know why.. perhaps because i always believed if humans disappeared it isn't exactly the end of the world :D