Infinite

By Jeremy Robinson

Cognata might be an Earth-like planet, snugly located in the sun-like Kepler 452’s habitable zone. It has an atmosphere, water, soil, acceptable temperatures, and a gravity twice as powerful than we’re designed for. But no one really knows what we’ll find, or if we can survive on the surface. Our voyage to the planet is what people used to call a ‘Hail Mary.’ I don’t know the source of the term, but I know it means the odds are against us.

(Robinson 2017, Chapter 2)

What is reality?

The answer should be simple: the physical world humanity experiences through its five senses.

But is it really that easy?

The first problem is that not everyone experiences reality in the same way. Some experience less. The blind. The deaf. And some experience more, seeing hallucinations or feeling phantom limbs after they’ve been amputated. People with synesthesia can see sounds, hear tastes, and feel what they see. Not every mind is the same, and so the definition of reality can shift depending on the observer.

In a way, the ability for the same reality to vary drastically between different people was probably the root cause for some of history’s greatest wars. If everyone on Earth experienced reality in the same way, there would be very little to disagree about.

But people disagree about everything—even facts.

Does God exist?

The answer to what seems like a yes or no question can actually branch out in hundreds of different directions, each with thousands of caveats, disclaimers, and belief systems. For me, the question has always been moot and brings me to the same cosmic question: where did reality come from? I have a hard time believing that an all-powerful being beyond human comprehension willed the universe into existence. But I find it equally preposterous that everything came from nothing, and random chance and chaos led to the creation of a universe full of laws. Granted, ‘nothing’ isn’t the term generally used. It’s closer to ‘everything came from something infinitesimally small and dense,’ which is science-speak for ‘nothing,’ as long as it doesn’t break the laws of physics and does less than nothing. Which is also not scientifically possible.

The debate used to keep me up at night, in part because of the mystery, but also because everyone else around me seemed so certain about the reality they’d decided to back. Choosing to narrow reality into a single belief system, based solely on human experience, seems insane to me.

And perfectly rational. Belief brings order to chaos. Without God, humanity would have never left the trees, or caves, or wherever our ancient ancestors used to hang out. Belief in a higher power came paired with the mind’s evolution. Questioning life and the development of morality is what separated people from the beasts.

(Robinson 2017, Chapter 14)

“Reality is dependent on someone to perceive it.”

“What happens to reality when there is no one left to perceive it?” she asks. “If you are right…if you are the last surviving human being, aside from Capria, who is currently perceiving nothing, then if you forget the real world exists, and no longer experience it, will reality stop?”

(Robinson 2017, Chapter 15)

The human race couldn’t be saved if it was armed. Odds of violent death increase significantly when there are weapons around. The more powerful the weapon, the more detached people become from the killing, the more people that die. That’s history. That’s fact.

(Robinson 2017, Chapter 18)

I decide my duty is to admire it while it’s still around to be admired. What good is a work of art if no one sees it, a song if no one hears it, or a book if no one reads it?