The possible boundaries of knowledge

[ALine]

In this thread I would like to discuss what the title describes, the possible boundaries in which knowledge can analogously extend towards. By this I mean what are the limitations in how much we can learn about the observable world in which surrounds an intelligent system, an intelligent system being one which can combine previous observations in order to develop new models and systems which can better describe that said observed world. 

I would like to begin by define a few postulates I have used in order to develop this understanding.

 

Postulate 1) matter in this universe, no matter of scale, can neither be created nor destroy. Only changed

Postulate 2) matter can be combined into what I am defining as "linear processes" or "linear configurations" in which I am also defining as "information" by either an intelligent system or through natural phenomena.

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I would also like to define what I am meaning when I say "knowledge." Knowledge, in the understandings definition, is the storage of independent linear processes, or how independent systems are themselves combined. 

Now that that has been cleared up I will begin my argument on why there may be limits to the boundary of knowledge in which we can develop and cultivate over time.

Technological development in itself is define as the application of the sciences in order to develop useful systems or resources in which further research can be accomplished in order to develop new technologies. As this feed back loop progresses one can form an argument stating that the limitations of technological development are thereby bound to the environment in which one is preforming their said research. As the cycle continues, in order to develop a research model which is more and more accurate, previous research models are either thrown away or analogously "recycled." Where elements of the initial idea is then deconstructed and reused to develop other ideas.

The more and more this occurs the more and more useful technologies can be developed because, in essence, the more and more efficient the research models become the better and better they describe that environment. 

However, if one where to consider the fact that in order for technology to become developed more and more you must use previously existing physical resources. Whether it be materials like wood or iron, you will be continuously utilizing these resources in order to better and better advance the technologies in which you utilize to complete further and further research. As this progresses, however, more and more energy is used. The energy in which is used to cause these interactions for these technologies/systems to be even considered technologies/system. Now granted this will not happen in the foreseeable future. However, over time the more linearity you introduce into the development of a technology through a given process, the more and more entropy you introduce as well. This is caused by the technologies themselves interacting with the researched environment in order to in turn advance the said technology. 

This can be caused from both intelligence and non-intelligence system. 

Unless new environments with new resources can be discovered which can in turn reverse the processes of entropy, then eventually the development of technology will in turn be prevented by the same environment in which on is researching. The research itself using the technology in a given environment, if the research and technology are both present within the environment, will in turn cause the entropy of independent systems within the environment to increase, thus reducing the overall "efficiency" of research and will thus reduce the progression of technological develop. 

Analogously this can be thought of as being analogous to chopping down wood to build better axes to chop down wood faster, except with a sort of "research and development twist." 

I believe that this understanding of technological research resource depletion can be direct applied to things such as our current understanding of science as a whole. In the beginning it was very simple and easy to discover new scientific principles and research different environments. However over time the linearization of different processes caused a sort of analogous "entropy increase" within the scientific community. Where things become so linearized that one can no longer fully understand the environment in which they are attempting to observe due to the "technological resources" being used up, sorry if I said this incorrectly hopefully the overall point can still be extracted from my messy wording, causing larger and larger machines needing to be build in order to discover more and more fundamental laws of nature. 

I may have gotten a little to much off track, bringing it back to the topic of knowledge.

Let us, for a moment, assume that the above in which I have written is correct, that it is the linearization and organization of systems which eventually causes sort of "technological research resource depletion" affect to occur, what would this mean for our understanding of knowledge and how if this a sort of boundary?

Well, if you were to use the definition of knowledge in which I have previously defined at the beginning of this thread, " the storage of independent linear processes" and this eventual research resource limitation then one can make the claim that "if a new environment/boundary space is not defined, and the research and technological development are within that environment, then there will be an eventual hault on both said research and technological development. And due to the linear processes which are "discovered" within the said environment are stored within knowledge then knowledge itself would be bounded as well."

This however is only an idea.

I would like to thank you for taking the time to read through this.

P.S. Sorry for the possible spelling errors, did not fully do an "error check" just wrote the first thing that came to mind.

P.S.S. There is a lot more I could go into however because this is just a quick jot down of my ideas it would take me a while to fully and accurately detail everything else.

P.S.S. I would also like to apologize for such the long read.