What we want to know retreats.

or The link between Cosmology, Quantum Theory and Neuroscience

I was thinking about this last night. In cosmology we try to understand to the limits of our science and then something changes and we have a whole new range of possibilities to examine. Witness the possibility of the creation of our universe from the interaction of extra dimensional entities (remember the 'Branes?). Just when we thought that the big bang was the first knowable thing, beyond which we could not speculate, along comes this new idea which opens up so many possibilities. In "Conversations with Starglider", the probe answers questions about the existence of God with the old Doctor Invinciblis routine ie if God created the Universe then who created God? ie Don't multiply entities beyond what is necessary. However it appears to me that the extra dimensional collisions which produce our universe have done just that and created a whole multitude of possible creations and Creators. Maybe this does not multiply the entities but instead just moves them along a little so we are not sure where the boundaries actually are. The boundaries of what we see are forever retreating from what we actually know.

I have this thought about neuroscience as well. We are looking for a link between the mechanics and chemistry of the operation of the brain and the existence of conscience or even 'soul'. We could look at the brain like we used to look at the Universe, as some giant piece of clockwork. If we know the position and behaviour of every particle, then we can run some sort of mega program which will predict how the whole universe and consequently all of us will behave in the future. Quantum theory blows this possibility away. The same possibility seems to have occurred to the creators of artificial intelligence; that the existence of our own intellect within a simple (well simplish) collection of organic matter, is proof that a properly designed and constructed artificial brain will eventually be able to think and learn and emote like ours. However, I suspect that at the heart of the investigations into brain structure and chemistry there is some neurological equivalent of Quantum theory which means we cannot know the link which creates real consciousness. I suppose at some point, consciousness must have developed but at what level of evolution? Anyway that is not really part of this line of thought. To take it further, at the sub-atomic level, we get the same retreating of reality from what we can either see or describe. I suppose it is possible that one day we will find the very point at which all of these fault lines actually come together. We will describe totally the creation of the Universe and any entities which are responsible for its creation and the reasons for their existence. We will see the fundemental link between brain structure and consciousness and we will be able to describe the existence and behaviour of all particles and forces. Maybe. This is almost turning into some giant "Unified Reality Theory". Maybe this is the real "Nine Billion Names of God". Do we think and observe our way out of existence or does it lead to a fundemental truth? And do we share that truth with anyone?