But I’ll tell you anyway.

When I turned 47, I compiled a collection of pithy life observations masquerading as advice. You can find it here. At that time, I naively believed that I knew a thing or two. It turns out that I didn’t. Fast forward 3 years. At fifty, I began writing down my “big questions.”  I’m now 58 years old. The list has grown to 50 questions. Most are self explanatory. For some, I have added context. Here they are, in particular order. Make of them what you will. 

I. Mortality, Time, and Legacy

1. How would we live our lives and what would we care about if we knew the exact date on which we were going to die?
   This is a trick question. We all do know definitively that we are going to die. How would having that extra piece of information (the timing of our death) make a difference to how we live our lives? Who would we love? What would our worst fears be? There’s more to this question than meets the eye.
2. Why do humans care so much about how they will be remembered after they die?
   That people care about how they are remembered after they die is one of the most mystifying human emotions. It’s one thing to be immersed in the illusion and be seduced by it when you’re alive. It’s quite another to care about what happens after you’re gone. What advantage (either in evolutionary or spiritual terms) does caring about our legacy confer on us?
3. Is it possible to create an immersive simulation of non-linear time so we can experience it?
   Imagine experiencing a world in which time does not inexorably move from the past into the future that is more than an expected set of events based on a present set of circumstances. What if we could view time as not a line but a web of possibilities? What if we could rise above time itself and see the past, present, and future simultaneously? What if we could choose from infinite choices in the present? What if we always stayed in the now?
4. Is the connection between the past and the future purely a concoction of the human mind?
   Will we ever have objective evidence that the future is created and rises from the past?
5. What happens to us when we die?
6. Has the baby who will never die already been born?
7. If you had the opportunity, would you persuade a deceased loved one to return to their life on earth?
   What would your reasons be? I can’t think of any reasons, to be honest.

II. Consciousness, Truth, and the Nature of Reality

1. What came first—Matter (brain) or consciousness?
   Can anything be created or exist without consciousness? Can anything exist in an inscrutable void, independent of matter? What does it mean when we say something exists? Did consciousness arise before everything else did, as the Vedic era Hindus offered? Are matter, energy, and their manifestations like mass, gravity, and life itself but perturbations in an ocean of consciousness?
2. Is there such a thing as an objective and absolute truth?
   We perceive the truth in contrast to what is not the truth. Is there such a thing as a truth that does not have a mirror opposite, which exists independently of untruths? If yes, what is it?
3. What is the difference between an original and an exact replica?
   How would you and an exact clone of yourself differ, if at all? What is the difference between the real and the virtual? We are entering an era in which these questions will no longer remain academic.
4. What evidence can I provide that would prove that we are living in a simulation, if I knew that for a fact?
5. What would our view of the world and outlook on life be, if we saw it only 20% of the time?
   That is, if it appeared for a second and disappeared for the next four. Does the fact we observe it all the time make it appear more real and less ephemeral? The world, we’ve been told, is quantum in nature. It doesn’t exist at any given moment, then it appears as though it were there all the time, and then it disappears like it never existed. There’s no guarantee that it will reappear the next moment. But it does. Or does it? We experience the world continuously, which makes us believe that it’s there all the time. What if we experienced the world discontinuously? Would we be more inclined to believe that it is unreal?
6. Where did the laws of the universe reside before the universe was born?
   Or, is the birth of a universe contingent on the miraculously simultaneous and independent appearance of laws and the things that obey such laws? I’ve used words like before and simultaneous in my question, which implies that it is framed in the reference of linear time. This question is just another way of asking: do words like before, after, and now even make sense?
7. Is my/our ability to understand fundamentally limited in some way?

III. Physics, Biology, and Perception

1. Is there a line that separates the physical (material) world from the biological one? Will physics ever explain life and its workings?
   What is the connection between (organic) life as we know it and the laws of the universe? In the answer to this question lies the answer to the age-old questions: Who are we and what is our place in the grand scheme of things?
2. Is it any coincidence that we humans, a visually oriented species dependent on light to observe the world, have a set of scientific laws in which the speed of light is constant?
   We humans are a visually centric species. Much of the work we’ve done in the short time we’ve been around has been driven by the fact that we can see and observe by virtue of light entering through our eyes, which then is interpreted by the brain. What would our laws of the universe be, if we had never been able to see in the first place? Does the mechanism by which we observe the world introduce biases in the way we see it?
3. What would the laws of the universe look like for a species that has no power of sight or an ability to detect electromagnetic radiation?
4. Do we possess senses other than those that we already know of? Will we ever evolve a vocabulary to describe their effect on us?
   We all sense things within and outside of us that we can’t express in words. Will we ever understand these latent abilities (what we call intuition) to discern the world around us? What is the next frontier in human language? Will we develop a vocabulary that helps express our deepest thoughts and most profound anxieties and hopes? Will we evolve human communication beyond its present transactional and utilitarian nature?
5. Will we ever have a way to experience the existence of another living entity—another human, animal, bird, or tree?

IV. Mind, Identity, and the Self

1. What causes the brain – which has fundamentally the same architecture across all humans – to create unique minds?
   You are unique like everyone else, as a wag observed. What makes us unique, when we have essentially the same hardware and architecture?
2. What is the line that separates you from me?
   Can we swap minds, bodies, or memories at will? Can I ever learn to see the world through your eyes? What does the world look like through your eyes?
3. What happens in the interlude between a thought arising and a feeling forming?
4. What causes me to be depressed, when I have no apparent reason to be so? Is it perhaps time to admit to ourselves that being on the spectrum of depression and experiencing anxiety is normal? And that those who don’t exhibit any signs of depression are the outliers – to be treated with caution and studied?
5. Why do we experience the need to know our life’s purpose when it clearly plays no role in our survival?
6. How can I tell if I am happy?
7. Who am I?

V. Ethics, Morality, and Evolution

1. Why are we not kinder?
   We are arguably living in a Golden Age of humankind. Life spans are getting longer. Infectious diseases have been rooted out. Living conditions have improved. Fewer people go without food every day. So, why are we not becoming kinder? In general, people are becoming meaner, not kinder. Why?
2. Can we create a system that makes rational choices without dehumanizing people into mathematical or statistical constructs?
   Is it possible to pursue the greater good of all without having to “sacrifice” a few? Will we ever escape the momentum and destiny of our evolution and redefine survival? Will the age of big data remove any vestiges of emotion in our decisions and make us ruthless automatons? Or will it offer us an opportunity to make things better for every human on earth? Will the appearance of a new species – artificially intelligent machines – make humans more or less moral?
3. If it is proved that we do not possess free will (as relativistic mechanics suggests), then how and why was an illusion of free will created?
4. How can we overcome the momentum of evolution if we do not possess free will?
5. What does faith need? Facts or morals? For faith to work, do we have to believe morals to be facts?
6. What makes us believe?
7. Why be good?
8. Is pain inevitable?
9. Is there a God or Gods?

VI. Knowledge, Imagination, and Human Purpose

1. What really are the fundamental differences between fact, knowledge, intuition, and imagination?
   Is imagination the surest way to find the ultimate answers to all questions? Or is it intuition? Or knowledge? The differences today are defined in terms of what’s shareable versus what’s not. If I can share my imagination with you, would that make it a fact? This goes back to the nature of truth.
2. Can we create an educational system that rewards the asking of questions rather than the provision of (the right) answers? When will we begin giving free rein to our imagination? When will we stop pursuing facts and knowledge, which not only are proven wrong and imperfect but steadily destroy our creativity and ability to imagine a world of much more exciting possibilities? Writing an exam to demonstrate knowledge of a bounded domain is possibly one of the most soulless things a child can do. When will we begin encouraging children to be idle daydreamers?
3. Are stories good or bad for us?
4. Is knowledge our most valuable possession as a species?
5. Is the amount of knowledge available in our universe finite or infinite? Is anything, for that matter, finite or infinite?
6. Why and when did we evolve to be able to do something as abstract (and amazing) as pure mathematics?
7. Why is the world so beautiful? Why does it evoke wonder and awe?
8. What would love mean if we lived to be ten thousand years old?
9. Is love all we really need?
10. Can we create technology that will eliminate the need for wars?
11. Is it possible to change another person’s mind?
12. What are the questions that are not worth answering?
13. What question(s), if answered definitively, will change the way I live my life?
14. Why do I have the ability to ask questions at all?
15. What does it mean to be human?
16. Why even ask why?

As you might have gathered, which I too am discovering from my own questions, I tend to think in terms of “Systems” and “Paradoxes.” Paradoxes are my way of thinking about truth, and nature’s way of countering them. I resonate very strongly with Eastern thought, specifically the philosophy of the Upanishads. I’m preoccupied, maybe even obsessed, with how empathy works. I am very comfortable with “the uncomfortable.” I have stopped chasing the answers and have begun admiring the mystery. To live like a scientist with awe and a philosopher with empathy – what could be better than that, right? 

Have a great weekend!