What are the limits of our minds?

...there are several conjectures about prime numbers which are yet to be proven. For instance, the twin prime conjecture states there are an infinite number of prime pairs that are only two numbers apart ( example 11 and 13). Is it possible that this is true and a proof exists that is outside our understanding? Or do we have the potential to understand any mathematical proof or logical argument?

Well slaga, if you are referring to science, then you surely know that it is "a work in progress"! Look at how fast-paced our technology is going.... The sad part (as I see it), is that we are still emotionally primitive e.g. look at the state of the world...
wars etc. (This I guess would be another thread though, i.e. what are the limits of the heart!)

That's not entirely unrelated, ad our selfish desires may be another limitation on our ability to reason.

[Louisa]

I think there are many things we are not capable of intellectually understanding - emotions, love or cruelty, laziness or enthusiasm and motivation, various moral conscience feelings and values, relative degrees of insanity, biases of all sorts, intuition, the "supernatural", and of course, limits of our own intelligence... all these things are boundaries to how far our intellectual mind can make sense of things.

Sometimes, I think we try to put these things into words, but there's an element missing there, because these things are largely experiential knowledge, and you have to experience it to understand it. Some people can't understand some of these things at all. And we all have our unique set of understandings, memories, and trust based on experience.

I know because I fall outside the norms in some of the areas or have experienced states of time where I couldn't recall the norms and they didn't make sense or seem real, and my logical mind could no longer really believe in them (temporary lapses in things like empathy, motivation, sanity, mental functioning, "brain fogginess"... ) and also I experienced things that others would call me crazy for that I find to be fully real (supernatural and precognitive, intuitive experiences, vague insights that I can't explain clearly in a way most people would understand, but that I see are correct, etc)

[Miss Hepburn]

I had a guru for years. I believed his words. So one time when I
was very jet lagged and resting
I concentrated on his words..."I had the key that would take me from the finite
world to the infinite.'
I smiled inside and remembered he said, "in the twinkling of an eye you can cross that bridge
Into the infinite..."
I can't describe what exactly happened inside me...it was like bubbles I remember and
So much joy and laughing...the whole Universe seemed to be inside me...galaxies swirling...Haha....I'm smiling now remembering, thank you. It wasn't just sights it was a soul experience....and wow.

I do believe anything is possible...we have paper chains on us...that's all...whatever we believe we can achieve...I believe this...anticipating questions...I do mean anything....my awareness or ability to expand my consciousness is limitless, boundless...if I desire it, focus, believe and maybe ask and wait and expect it to 'happen'...There is a formula, from my experience.
Miss Hepburn

What are we incapable if comprehending? Our perceptions only show us a certain aspect of reality. But there may be so much out there that influences our reality that we are unaware of. If you consider a plant, it has no perception of the sun, the soil, or water, yet those are all important parts of its reality. So likewise our brains may be incapable of understanding certain aspects of reality that are actually very relevant to us. There may also be certain logical truths we are incapable of understanding, such as in mathematics.




our brains can only perceive a very small percentage of the light and sound spectrum, so i would say there is a lot that we do not comprehend.

It occurred to me that we can know things in a flash intuitively, i.e. not thought of/worked out. So there's more than one way that knowledge is attained.

Originally Posted by slaga

...there are several conjectures about prime numbers which are yet to be proven. For instance, the twin prime conjecture states there are an
infinite number of prime pairs that are only two numbers apart ( example 11 and 13). Is it possible that this is true and a proof exists that is outside our understanding?

I would say yes, that something like this is possible and likely. It's just that we cannot prove it conclusively.

Or do we have the potential to understand any mathematical proof or logical argument?

If something has been proven, this in itself indicates that it's within human potential.

[H:O:R:A:C:E]

Originally Posted by slaga

...there are several conjectures about prime numbers which are yet to be proven. For instance, the twin prime conjecture states there are an infinite number of prime pairs that are only two numbers apart ( example 11 and 13). Is it possible that this is true and a proof exists that is outside our understanding? Or do we have the potential to understand any mathematical proof or logical argument?

I've worked on that one!
pm if you wanna discuss it