Quake Discoveries

2026-03-14

Here is a question I am sometimes pondering: Can there be discoveries which completely shatter our worldview and our understanding of ourselves and the universe we live in? For lack of a better term, I will call such discoveries “quake discoveries” in the following.¹

To be clear: I am not talking about discoveries which simply question or change our worldview. I am talking about experiences which shatter it altogether, which break it apart irreparably and leave behind nothing but debris.

Take, for instance, the discovery of the theory of relativity, or of quantum theory: These were certainly discoveries which adjusted our worldview. Suddenly, it was clear that the universe was completely different than we thought – at least in certain aspects. Many people were probably confused, maybe even aghast when they first heard about these theories. Maybe they did not want to believe them and were thinking that they could not be true. Yet, most likely, this is what happend to most people after having digested the initial shock: At the end of the day, they went to bed. The next day, they got up and went to work. And that was it.²

These are not the kinds of discoveries I am talking about here. I am talking about discoveries which will not allow one to just get up the next morning and go to work. I am talking about discoveries which throw us out of our world, of our universe; discoveries which render it impossible to get up as the same person as the day before. Discoveries which, from one moment to another, change everything. Discoveries after which nothing will ever be as it was.

I am talking about discoveries which mankind has never made before, never in its entire history. Sure, most people were shocked and upset when they learned that the sun does not revolve around the earth, that the earth is not the center of the universe. But did that stop them from meeting friends, playing games, chatting with each other? Most likely not. Shortly after this discovery, they went on with their lives as usual.³

So, I am talking about discoveries of a whole different kind. But what could such discoveries look like? I do not know; after all, there are no examples to be found in history. What I usually imagine is something like the discovery in the film “The Matrix” that what people believed to be their real life was actually nothing but a simulation. I guess that would be a discovery which would not allow you to simply get up and go to work the next day. But then, who knows?

Possible future discoveries with respect to the nature of time might also be candidates for discoveries of this kind. Then again, discoveries cannot be predicted, and their kind or nature can be predicted even less.

The point is this: So far, all discoveries mankind has ever made in its history have at most shaken our worldview, leaving us back confused, but still within our universe. They may have thrown us on the floor, but they left us in our familiar environment. Our perspective has changed, but only momentarily.

Quake discoveries, on the other hand, would kick us out of our universe and destroy every bridge which might enable us to ever return to it. It would throw us into another universe altogether, into a distant and foreign place. It would leave us completely disoriented.

Will we ever make such discoveries? Is that even possible, given that our direct experience and perception of the world can probably never be changed by any discovery whatsoever? After all, even if we found out that we live in a gigantic simulation, we would still feel the warmth of the sun on our skin; we would still get hungry and tired, and we would still have wishes and desires. And even if we knew that we live in a gigantic simulation, it would still feel like the real world. So, can mere knowledge ever have these effects I am talking about?

I do not know the answer, but I find this a fascinating question.