Tasavvur qiling, kar va ko'r bo'lgan inson bor, uning atrof-muhitni o'rganishi uchun faqat tuyg'u sezgisi mavjud. Lekin vaziyat bundan ham og'irroq. Bu inson atrofidagi narsalarni faqat ignani ishlatib his qila oladi. U ignani ushlab, uni atrofidagi narsalarning sirtlari bo'ylab ishqalaydi. O'sha ignaning uchi uning dunyoga yagona derazasidir. Ana o'sha mayda igna uchi butun koinot haqidagi yagona ma'lumot manbaidir.

Imagine a deaf, blind person who only has his sense of touch available to learn about his surroundings. But it gets worse than that. This person can only feel his surroundings by using a needle. He holds the needle and rubs its tip over the surfaces of objects around him. The tip of that needle is his only window into the world. That tiny needle tip is his only source of information about the entire universe.

Shunday qilib, bu odam bizga borliqning mohiyati haqida gapira boshlaganda bizning hayratimizni tasavvur qiling. U bizga "bularning hammasi nimani anglatadi" deb tushuntira boshlaganda bizning chalkashligimizni tasavvur qiling. U dunyoda mavjud bo'lgan yagona narsa - bu uning ignasi orqali his qila oladigan narsalar, deb ta'kidlaganda bizning kulgimizni tasavvur qiling.

So imagine our surprise when this man tries to tell us about the nature of reality. Imagine our confusion as he explains to us what “it all means.” Imagine our amusement when he insists that the only things that exist in the world are what he can feel through his needle.

Endi tasavvur qiling, odam shu ignaning o'rniga atrofidagi narsalarni his qilib bilish uchun kichik bir ip parchasidan foydalanishi kerak, ipni atrofidagi buyumlar ustidan sudrab. Bu bizga ilmiy tadqiqot doirasini yanada aniqroq tushunishga yordam beradi.

Now imagine that instead of this needle, the man has to use a small piece of thread to feel out his environment by dragging the thread over surrounding objects. That will give you an even more accurate understanding of the scope of scientific inquiry.

Insanınızning elektromagnit spektrning juda kichik bir qismi, ya'ni biz ko'zimiz bilan qabul qiladigan ko'rinadigan yorug'likni sezishi haqida o'ylab ko'ring. Albatta, nisbatan zamonaviy texnologiya tufayli biz ajdodlarimiz hech qachon bilmagan boshqa turdagi elektromagnit nurlanishlarni, masalan, infraqizil, ultrabinafsha, rentgen nurlari, gamma nurlari va boshqalarni aniqlay olamiz. Shunday ekan, joriy texnik imkoniyatlarimiz cheklangani uchun biz hali bilmaydigan boshqa "kanallar" yoki "mavjudlik tekisliklari" yo'q deb nimaga asoslanamiz?

Consider that human beings are only privy to a very small sliver of the electromagnetic spectrum, i.e., visible light, that we perceive with our eyes. Of course, due to relatively modern technology, we can detect other kinds of electromagnetic radiation that our ancestors had no idea about, e.g., infrared, ultraviolet, x-rays, gamma rays, etc. What makes us think that there aren’t other “channels” of information or “planes of existence” that we as of yet, due to current technological limitations for example, have no idea about?

Biz idrok etish qobiliyatlarimizni hisobga olsak, bilmaganimizni qanday bilishning iloji yo‘q. Omadimiz kelsa, biror narsaga tasodifan duch kelishimiz mumkin. Ammo koinotning kengligini (kamida biz bilgan qismini) va hatto o‘z kichik sayyoramizning ham ko‘p qismi hali o‘rganilmaganini hisobga olsak, biz ko‘p narsalardan bexabar ekanimizga dalil ko‘p.

Just considering our faculties of perception, there is simply no way for us to know what we don’t know. If we get lucky, we might stumble upon something. But considering the vastness of the universe (the piece of it that we even know about, at least) and the fact that even so much of our own tiny planet has yet to be explored, there is plenty to suggest that we are in the dark on a whole lot.

Endi aql quvvatimizni ko‘rib chiqaylik. Idrok, axir, miyaning sezgi ma’lumotlarini “qayta ishlash” qobiliyati bilan uzviy bog‘liqdir. Va bu “qayta ishlash” ma’lumotni ongli ravishda qayd etishimiz uchun zaruriy shartdir. Agar miyamiz sezgi a’zolarimiz ilg‘ab olgan ayrim narsalarni “ko‘ra olmasa”-chi? Bu borada aniq xulosa chiqarishning iloji yo‘q, chunki biz, so‘zning to‘g‘ri ma’nosida, o‘z miyamizdan tashqariga chiqib, nimani o‘tkazib yuborayotganimizni ko‘ra olmaymiz.

Now consider our mental capacity. Perception, after all, is inexorably connected to the brain’s ability to “process” sensory information. And that “processing” is a prerequisite for our ability to consciously register that information. What if our brains can’t “see” certain things that our sensory organs nonetheless pick up? Again, there is no way to tell for sure because we cannot, as it were, step “outside” of our brains to see what we’re missing.

Ajablanarli tomoni shundaki, fan o'zi ham bu cheklovlarni nazarda tutib tan oladi. Ilmiy konsensusga ko'ra, axir, biz tarixi bo'yicha evolyutsion yo'l bosib o'tgan maymunlarmiz, xolos. Bizga aytilishicha, bizning idrok va bilish qobiliyatlarimiz daraxtlardan yeyiladigan meva topish va eng yaxshi issiq jinsiy sherik tanlash uchun moslashgan. Shunga qaramay, kundalik maymunlik hayotining o'sha funksiyalari koinot chuqurliklarini o'rganish, bu hammasining ma'nosi haqida mulohaza yuritish va inson tabiatidan tortib axloqning biologik kelib chiqishigacha bo'lgan hamma narsa haqida she'riy ravishda gapirish uchun ham yaroqli bo'lib chiqadi.

The ironic thing is that science itself implicitly acknowledges these extreme limitations. According to scientific consensus, after all, we are nothing but evolved apes. Our perceptual and cognitive capacities, we are told, are suited for finding edible fruit in trees and getting the best warm body to mate with. Yet, somehow those functions of day-to-day ape-hood are also amenable to probing the depths of the universe, pondering what it all means, and waxing poetic about everything from human nature to the biological origins of morality.

Biz barchamiz bunday ko'r-ko'rona, achinarli mag'rurlik oldida kulishimiz kerak.

We should all chuckle in the face of such blind, pathetic hubris.