We are counting ourselves to death

Possibly the greatest human achievement is counting. While there is plenty of evidence that some animals can count individual objects, humans are the only species we know of that have not only taken the art of counting things to a level no other species can even come close to, we have even learned how to create abstractions of numbers through algebra and calculus.

But here’s the thing: numbers do not create reality, they only blearily reflect a small part of it.

Numbers allow us to better understand and describe reality, but to think that we can “count reality” to fully understand it or even that these numbers are reality itself is not only a fool’s errand, it is killing us.

We rely on counting everyday, and have even created marvelous machines to help and even surpass our own ability with all of this counting. And yet, how can you count an infinite reality? From an infinite number of angles? At an infinite number of times?

There is a famous story which is used way too often to illustrate the point of human narcissistic ignorance (we are so sure in our ignorance) of several philosophers standing around an elephant blindfolded (turn your willing suspension of disbelief filter on), each holding a different part.

The first holding the trunk says, “This is a snake”.

The second holding a leg says, “No, this is a tree”.

The third holding an ear says, “No, this is a banana leaf.”

When we think measurements of reality tell us the absolute truth, we fool ourselves into believing we understand the truth of our reality when we really only have the smallest distorted fraction of a piece of the truth, and this reliance on counting reality is killing the human species.