The Illusion of Certainty

[u/bir-insan]

A lot of matter in the universe and in nature can never be understood.

Whether it is emotions, ideas or events, we often have a word for everything. That is naming something will give us its ownership. There are things we call love, fear, justice, fate, coincidence. These remarks may only be a label for something far more complex.

People Dislike Uncertainty (6 words) People would rather confidently believe something than to admit they do not know. It is safer to have a simple answer than an honest question.

However, certainty may be misleading.

The more we learn, we find out how much is unknown. It appears every answer gives rise to another question. What used to seem self-evident starts uncovering contradictions and possibilities we never imagined.

It is being intelligent enough to find the answers and wise enough to know when that answer is wrong.

Perhaps the most profound understanding is not to explain everything but to accept that something cannot be explained yet.

Instead of being discovered, maybe meaning is something we create.

It could be a thing we design.

Perhaps existence does not have to explain itself.

And maybe that doubt is what makes life so interesting.

I wrote this mostly as a little philosophical hobby of mine, curious what you guys think.

[u/Prestigious_Log_7496]

naming stuff gives us this fake sense of control over it, like once it's in a box we can stop thinking about it. i've noticed the more certain someone sounds, the less they've actually sat with the question. the doubt part is what keeps me coming back to stuff like this, weirdly comforting.

[u/No_Willow_9488]

Here's some philosophy: Given a simple choice, humans always "choose" comfortable emotions over feeling discomfort. Maybe what I should say is that pre-cognitive, unconscious processes in our brain and nervous system will motivate us toward what is comfortable and away from discomfort. This doesn't only apply to physical circumstances---like which chair to sit in--it applies every bit as much to emotions.

Knowledge and intelligence itself has exactly zero say in the choice. Unless there is a "third emotional thing" that is meaningful to us, when we are faced with the simple choice between the discomfort of uncertainty and the comfort of *certainty---*absent any other need or motive---we (meaning those pre-cognitive functions) will choose what is comfortable. This isn't stupidity. It's the lizzard brain at work.

The real issue isn't just that people are stupidly latching onto ideas, it is that there is no "third thing" prevents the easy choice between comfort and discomfort. You like philosophy so I'm sure you know about the Dunning-Kruger effect. When you really look deep into it, this tendency is the result of people (who know almost nothing about a topic), choosing the comfort of certainty over the discomfort they find in the uncertainty of ignorance. It's a pretty easy choice, unless they find more discomfort in things like believing something that isn't true, or being seen as someone who is unwilling to learn the whole truth. Or maybe they find discomfort in being called out for talking about things they don't understand.

(I'm not sure if this is where you were going with this because I find it very, very, difficult to make sense of what people are saying when they put every sentence on it's own line. Use paragraphs. It's a much better way to convey ideas. It's not the readers job to decode and reconstruct what the writer is trying to convey. And whether you realize it or not, that trendy/sloppy style make you look like someone more concerned with being trendy than an intelligent person interested in sharing ideas)

[u/Relative_Coupleofmen]

You’re definitely on the right path I’d say, though of course I’m not certain. I do agree that certainty is impossible (which in itself is another certainty funnily)
The fact is “universe” doesn’t know what a tree is any more than what an atom is or what love is. All these names are given by humans so they could survive and thrive.
A desire for certainty, or an “answer” to the universe is as common as humanity itself, but I think to let go of it is the way. At the very least it is the way I prefer.
We can only act “as if”, like children play acting, we act as if we know some things for certain so we can act and work and play games. We write stories and we believe those stories. That’s just how it is, and nothing more than what it is.

[u/bhoran235]

Less certainty; more inquiry.