Todd Nova: Topic 7: Are There Limits to Science?

	Group seven was dealt a difficult hand.  The 
question of whether limits to science exist is an age 
old debate with no end in sight.  Though this is, on 
the surface, no different from any of the other 
topics, I believe the difference lies in the degree 
of the unknown in the question.  This topic is not a 
problem of morals, ethics or technology; it is a 
problem of basic human knowledge and the limits that 
our minds, not our universe, may present.
	The group’s discussion of limited and unlimited 
exploration presents this point well.  If science is 
indeed limited in what it can attain, the question 
must be asked; what is the limiting factor?  Is it 
the human mind or the aggregate amount of information 
in the universe.  Though I would like to believe that 
a finite amount of information exists and that the 
eternal questions will eventually be solved, I am 
forced to consider that human intellectual capacity 
may run dry far before the mysteries of the universe 
do.  Such a consideration, I believe, is difficult 
because it forces humans to contemplate their own 
shortcomings and limits.  An appropriate example, I 
believe, is the dog.  Though fairly intelligent for 
an animal, it is quite evident that they will not be 
performing quantum physics… ever.  They simply do not 
have the intellectual capacity for the task.   It is 
clear to me that the human mind is similarly 
constrained by intellectual limits.  
	While the group’s discussions of the various 
aspects of this topic were interesting, my mind 
remained relatively unchanged.  Though I am 
constantly amazed by scientific advances, I do 
believe that a limit exists.  Perhaps this limit will 
not be reached for the next million years.  Still, I 
do not believe in the infinite capacity of scientific 
discovery based on the human mind.  
	There has been a consistent theme running through 
the presentations thus far.  That is; no ultimate 
truth exists and everything is affected by 
subjectivity.  Even historical analysis is an ever 
changing realm.  Considering this, I do believe that 
science is limited by either our own minds or a 
finite amount of information.  Nonetheless, I do not 
believe that knowledge and intellectual evolution are 
synonymous terms.