What if everything we know was in vain!?

Me and my friend were chilling the other night blazing, and such.
And the question suddenly came into conversation "what if everything we know was in vain"
My friends argument was basically that if it happened if somehow scientists found a way to prove that everything we knew was in vain then there would be total global meltdown,
however my comeback to this was that what if that scientists finding was found to also be in vain, also that it shouldn't matter too much as life, or the way we live life so far seems to work, but i did understand where he was coming from with the global meltdown part, i mean imagine how much it would confuse people and make them paranoid
it all eventually led to us coming the conclusion that life is strange and theres not much that can be done about us knowing, but what if there was! know wouldn't that be special! since then i've been doing a spot of research on the question and found a few peoples responses/their own take on the question. i quite like the idea that is made in "link 1" found below
Link 1

So from here i urge you, ask yourself this question? the only problem i geuss is there is not one single answer because there isn't one single question, and thats what i really like about this idea, so please check it out and add to this thread/link me to some simalar ones
thanks for reading.

Not entirely sure what you mean by "everything we know is in vain". Can you elaborate a bit?

reply to post by rogerstigers

Like language, the way we live, scientific breakthroughs, absolutely everything imagine if it was all just not correct, and even as far as what if the proof that backs up scientific breakthroughs was a lie,

i apolagise for the weirdness, i have started to think it may be better for belowtopsecret, but as it is quite a sci-fi subject i felt i would put it here x

Ah, ok, I get what you are saying. My understanding of the universe is that everything is centered around understanding and learning. If we find that everything we know is wrong, then I view that as a fantastic thing. It would be like finishing a great book only to discover another book by the same author with a slightly differant point of view.

As an atheist, i already belive that everything we do is ultimately in vain, as there is in my opinion no after-life, no judgement, nothing after death.
But i feel i enjoy my life more because of this, and do as many different things as possible. I still live by good morals and abide by most laws most of the time. I havent as yet descended into wanton murder rape madness as some fundermentalist religious types have concluded people would without the fear of god to keep them in check!

peace be with you

reply to post by loglady


i am myself too a strong athiest, so i feel very simalar to you, but still, even as an athiest imagine suddenly bein told that your main field of knowlege was all wrong! haha x

reply to post by stephenwephentephen


Hmm, yes would be pretty weird!!

like a previous poster said, i would be happy to live in such changing times, and would go on any evidence that presents itself. What a ride it would be....

There's several movies like you describe where someone comes to the sudden realization that there reality is a farce, obviously the Matrix comes to mind, but also Dark City, The Island. Maybe these do not go exactly to the degree you are thinking of - if all of knowledge is a lie? It's hard to comprehend a world like that.

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

~ John Lennon

[edit on 31-3-2010 by mvirata]

In the long run, and from an absolutely detached perspective, everything - not just everything we know, but everything - is in vain.

But human beings are short-lived and prone to attachment. So life and knowledge have meaning for us and always will.

Besides, there's nothing to worry about really, either way.

From my own personal opinion, I do not believe a global melt-down would occur if everything we "know" was proven false.

Simply going through the Public Education system, later in life I've found time and time again things that I've learned and come to accept as fact were actually false. Many times I've had to re-educate myself, especially in the fields of science and history. Also the Main Stream Media feeds us tons of propaganda and lies that must be sorted through. Even my religious and spiritual beliefs have been tested, and changed several times. I have not experienced any melt-down due to being taught things that I now see as "vain" or incorrect.

Also, at one time people believed the world was flat! When it was discovered and proven to be round there was no social melt-down.

Our perception and reality is ever changing. As long as we can keep open minds to change and new discoveries, we will be ok.

"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing." [Socrates]

the Tychonic System... (notice the earth is at the center)



"let me not seem to have lived in vain, let me seem to have not lived in vain"

-Tycho Brahe

the reality is that we already live in this reality

we already know that all religion are fiction, they are just histories to make us limited to a box as our life;

but most of the people cant accept it and they will continue to live as if their box is their world;

::
I am not saying that there is no creator to our universe or any higher meaning, I mean, anything could be true, but I am just saying that to believe in a book and a god with our face that created everything in 7 days or whatever is just delusional in my opinion;
::

but even if we dont know who created us, doesnt mean we dont mean anything; and what we know is not in vain since we need to evolve to be able to survive in the future

what really surprises me is that there are actually people in this world who think they are so enlightened and actually have god-like knowledge... the big problem with this is well... every single person on the planet is not like these enlightened one think they are. There are tons of places in the world where they need religion and the support which goes along with it, education/food drives/medical drives/ect...

why can't the enlightened ones understand the necessity ? maybe because they can't understand the Word.