Earth’s reality and the limits of human sensors

Philosophically, one can dive as deep as one wants on human perception vs reality. In a world filled with human engineered and binary coded sensors, the physical world (reality) seems scientifically ‘known’. I am not confident with that knowledge. I propose a distinction between ‘earth’s reality’ and ‘human’s knowledge of earth’s reality’ (regardless of scientific aids to that view).

Philosophers since at least Plato (remember the cave allegory and ‘things in themselves’?) seemed to acknowledge that there is a distinction, and worked on resolving the gap, philosophically. More recently, Phenomenology attempted the same.

Phenomenology is the philosophical study of objectivity and reality (more generally) as subjectively lived and experienced.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenomenology_(philosophy)

Experienced. Human comprehension of reality is created as it’s experienced or observed. A constraint of those experiences and observations are those 5 human senses. Those senses constrain what we are able to experience or observe. Even scientific ’empirical knowledge’ is derived through our senses, regardless of the technological amplification; else, that knowledge remains theoretical.

An odd inference, but too common, would be, ‘if humans cannot sense it (naturally or technologically), it does not exist’ – or it exists theoretically. (I refuse to comment on oft attributed divine sources)

As an alternative inference, earth’s reality exceeds current human capability to experience or observe – and perhaps beyond our empirical knowledge (as commonly defined).

Counter-intuitively, science keeps coming up with more gaps in human experiential comprehension.

Dolphins

A recent study with dolphins found another sensory experience beyond humans. Electroreception.

The newest animal discovered to have electroreception is the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops). Already known for being one of the smartest animals on the planet, these golden retrievers of the sea can indeed perceive the weak electric fields surrounding them, and researchers demonstrated this remarkable ability in a study published today in the Journal of Experimental Biology. This finding further enriches our understanding of these brainy porpoises that use electroreception for both hunting and migrating.

https://www.inverse.com/science/bottlenose-dolphins-sense-electroreception-electric-fields-perception

Scientist ‘knew’ about this

They knew this sensory interaction might exist – conceptually they could describe the phenomenon. They could not, however, experience it themselves. They needed the dolphins’ help even to demonstrate that it exists.

How much more of our world (reality) is outside our human experience? I find this question fascinating and filled with implications to explore, learn about, and to help challenge base assumptions and mental models.