Everything We Don't Know

This is green. This is red. And this is blue. But how can you tell that what you’re seeing as blue is the exact same thing as what I see as blue? We’ve named the colors to give us a way to communicate and reference them, but in reality, there’s no way of knowing that what you see is the same as what another person sees.

Even with the small steps and the giant leaps we’ve made as a species, there is still a lot to learn about earth, life, and the human condition. There’s still everything we don’t know. On the 26th of February 2015, one picture of a dress divided the internet. While some saw it as gold and white, others saw it as blue and black. Since then, there have been a number of repetitions of the same experiment either using the same sense, in this case, sight, or even other senses, like hearing in the famous “yanny” or “laurel” debate.

These experiments remind us that there’s no way for us to tell that you and I sense the same things. What I call red might just be what you call blue, and there might be someone out there who sees human beings with purple teeth but just refers to it as white.

71% of the surface of the earth is covered by water. Humans are made up of about 60% water, potatoes 80%, watermelons 93%, and cucumbers 95%. It’s very clear that water is essential for life on earth, but we don’t really know much about water. Not even about the very oceans we came from.

In fact, we’ve only explored 5 to 10 percent of Earth’s oceans; the rest, well, who knows what’s down there? It’s even scarier when you realize that fish like the blobfish and the barrel-eyed fish belong to this slim percent of things we’ve discovered. The deeper you go, the crazier things seem to get.

What’s at the bottom of the ocean? For the most part, we just don’t know. But back on the surface, countries that are bordered by water use something called “coastlines” to mark their territory. The coast is the land along the sea, and the boundary between the coast and the sea is known as a coastline.

So, how long is the US coastline or any other coastline in the world? The answer is… well, we don’t really know. Coastlines constantly curve and cut in and out. Even the smallest deviations from a straight line can add distance, and over time, these small distances add up. Some of these features are massive, like bays, while others are minuscule.

Now, measuring each and every little crevasse isn’t really efficient, so surveyors cut corners and straighten rough edges into easily manageable lines. If you do a quick Google search of the measurement of any coastline, you’ll find a lot of different answers. They all cut corners, just differently.

Humanity as a species though… well, we’ve done well for ourselves. When in a pinch, we invent something to push us through. We made clothes when the weather was harsh, shelter so we could be safe from wildlife to rest and recuperate, weapons to hunt for food, money to replace pure bartering.

But what about fire? Was fire a “discovery” or an “invention”? And music? Music has been described by scientists as a relatively recent invention by humans. It’s believed that music helped our ancestors to help bring together a close-knit community.

But did humans really invent music? Or did we just discover that certain sounds sound nice with other sounds? Birds sing, whales sing, even tree frogs have a nice rich baritone sometimes. So can we really say man invented music? If we did, then what is the true definition of music? I guess we’ll never know.

On the list of man’s greatest inventions has to be tools. In fact, for a really long time, scientists were sure that this is pretty much what made us human. We were the only animals who, through the use of such a variety of tools, were able to expand and grow so quickly.

Except… we aren’t the only ones who use tools. In fact, a lot of animals, mainly primates, use tools for all kinds of reasons. A study by Jane Goodall on African chimpanzees would change the definition of m...