Teaching an Ant How to Read

You have a goal; teach an ant, (sugar ant, fire ant, army ant, any one of them) how to read.  Here are some tips:

1.      First, get its attention.

2.      Show it some examples of reading sources.

3.      Read to the ant, pointing out the words as you go along.

4.      Point to specific words, pronouncing them clearly.

5.      Explain the alphabet, and discuss how words are formed.

           
The net result for all your careful effort is the ant doesn’t learn a thing.  The obvious reason is that it hasn’t the “brain-power” to learn reading.   Moreover, it isn’t interested even with your infinite patience. It can’t distinguish your sounds.  In short it simply can’t comprehend what you are doing.  Its brain is not wired for learning written and spoken language.  The ant’s communication is limited to smell via chemicals called pheromones.  Yet, to the ant, its world is complete and is comprehended to its max.

This silly example is to serve but one purpose – to illustrate that for the ant there is both knowledge and communication utterly beyond its comprehension.   One can construct a similar situation for every other animal on earth.

If you’re still reading, and wondering where we’re going, it is toward what are the limits of comprehension, most notably by us.  This begs the question: What is or what question is beyond our comprehension?   Let begin with an easy one.

1.   What is an electron cloud?  This one easy because it is taught in K-12 science classes.  Can’t be too hard, right? Basically, an electron cloud is a mathematical function that describes the wave-like behavior of either one electron or a pair of electrons in an atom.  It is used to describe the probability any electron of an atom can be found in any specified region. Understand that?  Possibly not.  If you are a physicist, perhaps you do, but mostly the understanding is mathematically based though the wave function.   When I was a student in the olden days, we used the Bohr atom which is something like a supped-up planetary model with electrons (e.g. planets) revolving around the nucleus (e.g. the sun).  This I believed I understood to the extent that many experiments could be conducted on the basis of this model.  But teaching an electron cloud concept for seventh graders, when even the teacher doesn’t understand it?  I do question the wisdom.  I rate this question near the edge of comprehension.

2.   Is the universe infinite?  Unresolved at this time, this question has cosmologists working furiously to give an answer, using a variety of mathematical tools, using dark matter, and other devices.  Now when you bump up against infinity, there are hundreds of genuine paradoxes* involving an assortment of logical tricks depending on how it is approached.  Some physicists claim physicists cannot (or should not) work with infinity.   Nowadays, the only folks comfortable with infinity are mathematicians, but they have it all sewn up with many mathematical constructs, and only marginal physical intuition.  In some sense this question is just at or a little beyond human comprehension.

3.   Who is God?  (Theist or Deist.) This one can be answered only through a model, through faith, and presented through a religion.  So many solutions to this have been offered, and since almost everyone has an opinion, we should let it go.  I cannot add a word, except to say this question may be well beyond human comprehension.

4.   Where did matter come from?  See the previous blog. Anyone got a non-theological answer?  Ditto: this one seems well beyond human comprehension.

We, there seem to be questions we can comprehend but whose answer we cannot. There must be other questions we can’t even comprehend.  Examples cannot be logically possible.

We come to a fork in the road.  Let’s take it.  (A) We make models of almost everything so we can understand it within the context of our experience and to the limits of our ability.  When the model breaks down, that is it predicts something that cannot be so, we improve the model.  Examples: Newton’s physics gave way to Einstein’s physics.  Bloodletting has given way to more effective treatments.  (B) One school of thought believes the brain has evolved so completely that every question can be given satisfactory answers.  In short, the human mind has no limits on its comprehension.   Which is it? (C) What happens if knowing something changes it?  For example, if I knew how to play the stock market with 100% accuracy, my using this information would affect how the market acts.

* Google up “Hilbert’s Hotel” or just “paradoxes of infinity.”  You may come away confused, maybe horrified, or maybe terrified.  There’s even a cute paradox that arises if you assume the universe is finite.