Does Our Inability to Perceive Beyond the Universe Mean There's Nothing There?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the question of whether the inability to perceive or observe anything beyond the universe implies that there is nothing beyond it. Participants explore the implications of perception, the nature of existence, and the limits of scientific inquiry regarding unobservable phenomena.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • One participant questions if the lack of perception or observation of something beyond the universe definitively means that nothing exists there, suggesting that our perception may be incomplete.
  • Another participant emphasizes that science relies on observations and evidence, arguing that if something cannot interact with us or be indirectly observed, it cannot be meaningfully discussed in a scientific context, although they do not claim it absolutely does not exist.
  • The analogy of an invisible dragon is used to illustrate the point that without evidence or interaction, belief in such entities is unfounded, though not entirely dismissed.
  • Some participants express that the concept of "beyond" is still acknowledged, even if it cannot be perceived, indicating a belief that there may be something beyond our current understanding.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus; there are competing views regarding the implications of unobservable phenomena and the nature of scientific inquiry. Some argue for the possibility of existence beyond perception, while others maintain that without evidence, such discussions are meaningless.

Contextual Notes

The discussion highlights limitations in defining existence based solely on perception and the challenges of discussing entities that cannot be observed or interacted with. There are unresolved questions about the nature of evidence and the boundaries of scientific inquiry.

GADAMBA
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Excuse me men, Just to ask, does the fact that we can not perceive or say "see" beyond the universe mean that there's nothing beyond it. Ok may be mathematically it does. But I am asking from such point of view that: if we can not feel the effect of something and we can not see it does it put it FINAL that there is "nothing"?. But again I think we perceive an effect, everyone of us (before we learn astonomy or even after we do) is aware of the concept "beyond" or "besides" and we certainly have doubt that "something" is beyond the universe. "something we can not perceive" but it is still something because we can still think of it. May be our perception is incomplete. We just can't see in the dark without a torch, but nocturnals can. We might need to develop an additional sense in order to interact meaningfully with what we brush off as "infinity". Thanks.
 
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GADAMBA said:
Excuse me men, Just to ask, does the fact that we can not perceive or say "see" beyond the universe mean that there's nothing beyond it. Ok may be mathematically it does. But I am asking from such point of view that: if we can not feel the effect of something and we can not see it does it put it FINAL that there is "nothing"?. But again I think we perceive an effect, everyone of us (before we learn astonomy or even after we do) is aware of the concept "beyond" or "besides" and we certainly have doubt that "something" is beyond the universe. "something we can not perceive" but it is still something because we can still think of it. May be our perception is incomplete. We just can't see in the dark without a torch, but nocturnals can. We might need to develop an additional sense in order to interact meaningfully with what we brush off as "infinity". Thanks.

Do a forum search ... this topic has been beaten to death. Also, it's not nice to hijack another person's thread, you should start your own. By the way, I 'm not trying to be rude or harsh here. I see you're new to the forum. Welcome.
 


GADAMBA said:
Excuse me men, Just to ask, does the fact that we can not perceive or say "see" beyond the universe mean that there's nothing beyond it. Ok may be mathematically it does. But I am asking from such point of view that: if we can not feel the effect of something and we can not see it does it put it FINAL that there is "nothing"?. But again I think we perceive an effect, everyone of us (before we learn astonomy or even after we do) is aware of the concept "beyond" or "besides" and we certainly have doubt that "something" is beyond the universe. "something we can not perceive" but it is still something because we can still think of it. May be our perception is incomplete. We just can't see in the dark without a torch, but nocturnals can. We might need to develop an additional sense in order to interact meaningfully with what we brush off as "infinity". Thanks.
Science is based on observations and evidence. If something is not capable of interacting with us in any way whatsoever, and we cannot indirectly see its effects, then we can't discuss it in a scientific way. We aren't saying it doesn't exist, but we are saying that to science it is meaningless. If you told me that you had a dragon in your garage, but when I went to look at it you claimed that it was invisible, intangible, and couldn't be interacted with in any way, then to me I would say that there is zero reason for me to believe that your dragon exists. (But not saying that it absolutely doesn't exist) The only possible exceptions are effects that haven't been observed yet but are shown to possibly occur from math and our current knowledge.

Using your example, we cannot see in the dark but we can observe that some animals do and therefore we are indirectly observing something.
 
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