Understanding the nature of discovery

My goodness, people are terribly clever. Really, we must be the cleverest creatures ever born, anywhere! After all, it’s we who created the iPod, the microwave oven, the combustion engine, can openers, deodorant spray, pop-top soda cans, four-blade razors and disposable diapers…you can’t get more clever than that, right?
We are so self-important and impressed with ourselves that we often tend to forget the universe was created long before us. In fact, we humans create absolutely nothing; we merely “discover” and more fully understand aspects or character of universe that we can manipulate and organize into myriad useable forms. This is a fundamental point about the nature of things. Conversely, viewing ourselves as creators contributes to our egotistical “god complex” and all that it brings with it.
If one looks to the past, it is easy to clearly see our path of discovery, understanding, manipulation and invention. For example, gravity existed long before Sir Isaac Newton, but his observations and calculations are regarded as a great discovery. Of course, he “discovered” nothing; gravity was always there, it just had not been properly described before. Ironically, Einstein “discovered” fundamental qualities of time and space, and rendered Newton’s work obsolete when they were applied to celestial bodies; today Einstein’s work has in part been set aside by “discoveries” in sub-atomic quantum mechanics. All these things have led to new technologies and clever inventions, though I honestly think the H-Bomb is not so terribly clever, just terrible; my point is that all discoveries reveal the existing nature of the universe – right here, right now and always with us. Things are simply as they are, and over time, people get smart and clever enough to actually see things, and understand.
Accordingly, if one looks to the future and assumes that humanity survives, we will certainly continue to uncover ever-subtler qualities of universe. As the technology derived from our observations and calculations allows finer and finer levels of observation, the deepest subtleties of existence will reveal themselves to us. We will measure and calculate brainwave emotions and distribute them through quantum networks to other brains. We will refine our technologies to the point that we will be able to read the minds of others. We will most likely acquire the technology to directly control the thoughts and feelings of others as well, which is why I worry some about our “god complex.”
We will ultimately “discover” and understand everything, all of it, right down to the creation of matter from energy, the workings of time and the generation of life itself. This will not require 1,000 years, perhaps not even 100. The acceleration of the process of “discovery” is fueled by the very acceleration process itself. Each advance hastens the next, geometrically increasing step by step. What comparatively took 5,000 years will be accomplished in merely 50 and then in five.
Perhaps our “god complex” is not entirely misplaced. Perhaps we may also gain humility, modesty and deep wisdom that hopefully arrives with the knowledge and understanding of all things. One thing is for certain; baring some calamity, the acceleration process of “discovery” will go on, and as they say, “where it stops nobody knows.”
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