There are several words in our lives for which we have no precise definition, like consciousness, friendship, life, and love. Still, we know what we mean with those words. Another word for unknown knowns is instinct or intuition.
No scientist can explain consciousness. In my view, our individual consciousness might well relate to a universal mind or universal consciousness. A related concept is panpsychism (eg, Wiki).
Friendship seems a simple concept. Nevertheless, following a crisis (eg, burnout, divorce) we will (finally) realise that most of our alleged friends were actually acquaintances. Friendship supersedes the dimensions of space and time.
All life-forms have simple features: eating, digesting, and pooping. Based on those, viruses are not part of biology’s Tree of Life, while bacteria are (Wiki). In my view, something that can kill many lifeforms, must be part of life.
In her 2024 book, Life as No One Knows It: The Physics of Life’s Emergence, theoretical physicist and astro-biologist Sara Imari Walker “argues that assembly theory can explain what life is, and even help scientists create new forms of it” (NYT).
“Assembly theory is a framework for quantifying selection and evolution. When applied to molecule complexity, its authors show it to be the first technique that is experimentally verifiable, unlike other molecular complexity algorithms that lack experimental measures.”
Source: Wikipedia
I have no clue what the above implies. My point is quite simple: life – and thus lifeforms – must be complex. Nevertheless, it might well be possible that the blueprint of Life, including extraterrestrial life, is universal.
My final example is about Love. Nobody knows its precise definition. The Ancient Greek philosophers used different words for the (many) different types of Love, like: Agape (divine), Eros (sexual), Philia (brotherly, sisterly), Storge (family), Philautia (self-love), and Xenia (strangers). There are many more types.
In my view, it remains weird that we use very familiar words for which we do not have a clear definition. Actually, we may not even have a clear understanding for consciousness, life, and love. Perhaps, the reason relates to this famous quote:
“And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth. And for two and a half thousand years, the ring passed out of all knowledge.”
A quote from J.R.R. Tolkien’s trilogy The Lord of the Rings
There are probably other unknown known words. Feel free to give me those examples by commenting on today’s blog.
Life’s What You Make It (1985) by Talk Talk
band, lyrics, video, Wiki-band, Wiki-song
Note: all markings (bold, italic, underlining) by LO unless in quotes or stated otherwise.
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