On Being

On Being

REX LUI·WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2019·READING TIME: 2 MINUTES

Four friends gather in a jazz bar. They are Physicist, Neuroscientist, Philosopher and Pianist.

The physicist says: “I’m the greatest scholar on Earth. I study the entire universe(s). Those human invention such as gods, ghosts, and whatnots are outdated as monarchy or feudalism.”

The neuroscientist says: “No matter how objective the universes are, we are still bounded by our own brains’ cognition. The knowledge we could access are limited by as large as our brains’ capacity. And in the age of AI, neuroscientists rewrite the history of epistemology nights and days. Gods, ghosts, and whatnots are meaningless.”

The philosopher says: “Science is the most rigid and successful institution for knowledge acquiring and institution development for human evolution. But we are bounded by our own species (Homo sapiens) and our own place (The Earth). Once we find another species on another planet, philosopher will retake the knowledge discourse. At that time, those alien intelligence for us stupid Homo sapiens will then be our new gods, ghosts, and whatnots inside our mind.”

The pianist says: “with all those gigantic buzzwords of universes, brains, knowledge, species, civilization, evolution, intelligence, learning, folks would rather listen to me playing Mozart. Gods, ghosts, and whatnots is not meaningless. Mozart is indeed the “gods, ghosts, and whatnots.”

The pianist walks towards the piano and start playing K265/300e. The universe(s), the brains, and the folks listen.

RL

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