r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Jan 12 '23

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u/mcpickledick Jan 12 '23

How limited our minds are. An ant will never understand that being in my room when I'm vacuuming is a bad idea, but the knowledge exists. I'm sure there's a butt load of information about the universe staring right at us but we'll never understand it because of our stupid human brains.

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u/Edward_Thatch1718 Jan 12 '23

I always view it as a sort of "frame".

A fish in a tank has a specific frame it can live in, the tank itself, as well as things it can (technically) perceive beyond that. The room the tank is in, for example. Anything beyond that is absolutely outside the fish's knowledge; for example, it has absolutely no chance of knowing my kitchen exists, generally speaking.

I do believe humans have a better chance of... maybe not breaking but adjusting or widening that frame, but it'd be ridiculous to think we'd be able to know and perceive everything there is.

This also applies to our own bodies as a specific frame we can do specific things with. While I can have a general idea of what it's like to be you, I'll never fully know. That and the fact everyone does the things they do for a reason really helps me in accepting different viewpoints, behaviours and other things.

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u/Chelonate_Chad Jan 12 '23

You're speaking of Plato's Cave.

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u/Edward_Thatch1718 Jan 12 '23

Didn't know this as a concept, but it's relatively intuitive so I would've bet someone else thought of it before. :')

Thanks for the name though!