It is interesting the new atheists know so much about matter. It seems all human experience can be accounted for by matter alone. It is interesting that matter, which is perceived, accounts for consciousness, that perceives. It is sort of counter-intuitive - but then that's the nature of faith.
But how do we know what we know about matter? We perceive it through our senses. We see it, hear it, feel it (when it falls on our foot), smell it and taste it. So, obviously we know all there is to know about matter.
Except that some animals perceive aspects of matter we can only glimpse through our machines. Ultra violet? No problem. Magnetic and electric fields? None at all.
Our senses have evolved through human evolution. It is possible to perceive matter in other ways. If electric eels could describe matter, what would they perceive, that we don't?
The problem is, we don't know what we don't perceive. Our senses are a gift because they filter out what is distracting - we pick up only that which is important to us (or was important during human evolution). If our senses picked up everything, it would be a confusing meaningless morass. And our senses are only part of the story; what they pick up is interpreted by the brain.
Apparently the image on our retina is upsidedown, compared with what we normally perceive. How much of what is coherent about the world, is the interpretation laid on the world by our brains? Most of what we perceive hangs together and our science depends upon this. But how can we be sure that the picture of reality we see through science is all that is there?
It hangs together and I'm in no way suggesting we can know nothing of reality. Our senses filter what is there, they don't fabricate it, at least not usually. The results of experiments are corroborated by other scientists. There is consistency.
Perhaps quantum mechanics makes little sense because science has been able to pierce beyond the veil of the senses. Perhaps it gives us a taste of what we would find, were we to perceive all things.
There is another thing we can rely upon and that is scientists are in conversation with matter. Through science, human consciousness has entered into conversation with the universe. Ask matter and it responds. Sometimes it needs close interrogation but as we question, our understanding deepens. As far as we can tell, the predictive power of science is firm.
I do wonder. All that dark matter and dark energy. We can't perceive it - apparently it is all around us and passes through us all the time. What secrets does it hold? Perhaps all manner of things the atheist would rather deny. Or perhaps there is no dark matter or dark energy - consensus has yet to be reached.
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