Our senses only capture a sliver of what truly goes on around us.
Trillions of neutrinos racing all the way from the heart of the Sun zip
across our bodies each second; electromagnetic waves of all sorts,
microwaves, radio waves, infrared, carry information we don't capture
with our eyes; sounds beyond the range of our ears go unheard; dust and
bacteria go unseen. Our instruments and tools greatly extend our view,
whether of the very small or of the very large.
Still,
any technology has limits, even if these limits change in time. As a
consequence, large portions of the world will always remain unseen. What
we know depends on what we can measure and detect. Who, then, can
legitimately claim to have a true sense of reality? The individual who
perceives reality only through his/her senses? Or the one who amplifies
his/her perception through the use of instrumentation?
