The Greek philosopher Socrates (c.470–399 BC) once wrote: “For I was conscious that I knew practically nothing…”. Later, Plato changed that into: I know that I know nothing (Wiki). Probably, Artificial Intelligence aims to know (most of) everything.
Is it even possible to know everything??
In my view, the expansion of the Universe is related to storing ALL (historical) data and information of ALL times (ie, Space Time dimension). To some extent, data must be a form of matter; not energy. If and when my view would be correct then the answer to my earlier question must be a NO.
I suppose that the (scientifically still missing) existence of dark matter is actually related to the storage of all data of all times in our Universe . Theoretical scientists claim that information cannot disappear, which scientific concept is also known as the no-hiding theorem.
My answer must have important consequences. Today, the energy consumption of Artificial Intelligence is already enormous (eg, SA-2023, the Verge-2024, WSJ-2023). Nevertheless, Socrates’ remark must still be valid: “For I was conscious that I knew practically nothing…”.
Hence, there must come a time that we will (finally) realise that it’s impossible to know everything, despite tools like Artificial Intelligence. Even polymaths, like Leonardo da Vinci, must have realised Aristotle’s truth: “The more you know, the more you know you don’t know”.
However, I suppose that humans are too arrogant and/or too ignorant to know that we (almost) know nothing. We did not learn (much) from teachers like Aristotle, Confucius, Plato and Socrates.
To know is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge.
A quote by the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius (c. 551 – c. 479 BCE)
I know nothing by Manuel in Fawlty Towers (1979, Se2Ep1)
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Note: all markings (bold, italic, underlining) by LO unless in quotes or stated otherwise.
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