Plato's Cave, Einstein's Dice, Darwin's Cage

If this thesis is solid, then it can't be overshadowed by anything else humanity is busy with. Alas, it is not falsifiable so according to Karl Popper it does not qualify as a theory of science. It does qualify though as the most important challenge facing humanity even only on its persistent prospect to be of claimable validity.

Plato described humanity as people in a cave watching moving shadows, interpreting these shadows as what reality has to offer. When one cave dweller leaves the cave he realizes that reality is comprising the things that cast those shadows. Plato attributed this insight to Socrates: the idea that reality is richer than we perceive it to be; richer not in mere refinements or details but richer in a profound notional way.

Albert Einstein parting legacy was "God does not play dice". He said it knowing very well that modern physics hinges on probabilities and randomness, having crashed the Newtonian deterministic view of the world.  Einstein argued that randomness more likely reflects the ignorance of the observer, than bearing witness to the source of the observed data. Like Plato Einstein believed that reality has a rich territory that spans way beyond the prevailing human's grasp.

Last month (October 2025) the respected Canadian journal "Applied Physics Research" has published an article entitled "Negotiating Darwin's Barrier" highlighting another angle leading to the same conclusion.

Both Plato and Einstein suggested that the unknown needs only to be aimed at, and in due course it will become known. The Darwin argument suggests that the unrecognized part of reality may be beyond reach. The article claims that our blindness vis-a-vis the unrecognized parts of reality is a result of the process that constructed the very brain we use to process what we see around. Our evolving ancestors encountered a particular series of mortal threats and evolved to withstand those threats. Our magnificent brain, Darwin argued, was built in tiny steps of survival of the fittest. We identify no mechanism for the evolution of human capabilities that were not critical for survival. Anything in reality that posed no survival threat was ignored by our evolving brain as it was busy meeting its mortal threats. We developed no eyes, no ears and no nose to detect an itch or an irritation that had no survival impact; we wired no neural system to process it, we evolved no imagination to imagine it. Darwin taught us that every capability that we possess, physical and mental, is a result of being attacked by a threat that was strong enough to kill the weaker specimen among us (to upgrade the average), and not too strong to kill too many (leaving no survivors to procreate). So only those particular threats are recognized by us, humans. We are totally blind to all other parts of reality. Who knows how much we are missing? Who knows how amazing, surprising, and unimaginable these parts are? Who knows whether we are locked into this "Darwin's Cage" and the keys are hopelessly lost?

In short, the old persistent vision raised by Plato, Einsten as well as by others, e.g. Emanuel Kant, of reality beyond what we know, has been stamped to be unreachable by following Darwin reasoning. The latter is further supported by the fact that despite all expectations we have not spotted extraterrestrials. They must be out there, countless civilizations, because planet earth is not unique. Half of those many civilizations would, statistically speaking, be more advanced than we are. Yet -- silence. Darwin explains: each civilization of life has evolved as a result of different, happenstance, series of threats, so while we are all neighboring civilizations we are mutually blind.

No matter how much logic one may pour on our fate to remain hopelessly locked in Darwin's cage, our curiosity will keep us trying. I know I did - and do. It led me to some possibilities mainly relying on artificial intelligence. Some of those ideas are presented in the above cited article "Negotiating Darwin's Barrier" alas, if this premise is solid then the mission to break out of this shared cage may be the most important life mission for humanity as a living entity.  And of course, it should engage more people than this old chap. Any joiners?

Gideon Samid   try@tryagain.com

Reference:

    1. Is this the Biggest Challenge Humanity Faces Today www.InnovationSP.net/challenge

            2. "Negotiating Darwin's Barrier: Evolution Limits Our View of Reality, AI Breaks Through"  Applied Physics Research, Vol 17 No 2. October 2025. https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/apr/article/view/0/52319