September 2, 2026
The idea for this writing series came to me a while back. Much of my online time is spent either trying to determine why something came to be, posting why I do a certain thing, or answering why an opinion exists. The natural conclusion is that—at least for a few posts—I would like to answer “whys” which interest me.
And why “why”? If one has ever babysat or otherwise had experience taking care of young children, they love asking questions. This curiosity is beautiful to see, though it always seems to boil down to a series of increasingly unanswerable whys. Eventually, one must either admit defeat or give an answer à la Calvin’s dad. I’d like to answer these as far down as I possibly can to satisfy the still-annoying child who seeks a further why in every answer.
What greater value is there in knowledge? Some argue that knowledge lets you gain power such that you can better exercise your will upon the world. This may be true for some categories of knowledge, but I fail to see how an encyclopedic knowledge of the history of trains provides much in the way of action. Others argue learning is a form of satisfaction, but this seems to wind back—what greater value is there in being satisfied? Satisfaction is not buried with us. As an end in its own right perhaps, an existential pleasure to find purpose, though this leaves me unsteady, implying that learning has no universal value. If we are each to be subject to different ways of achieving fulfillment, it is destabilizing to think that one may find it out of Marvel shows (a much easier path?) than learning. This is frustrating.
We are not buried with our answers, for they are already lost and found. Most are not blessed with a photographic memory; others are cursed with degenerative brain diseases. That one has once achieved an understanding that they now lack must mean something as well, or be equally meaningless as everything else. I probably understood fluid dynamics much better three years ago than I do now, though my understanding of the world may be better. Even now as I write, understanding what words I wish to write on this page remains a mystery to me until I reach for the next, ideas slipping in and out of memory as virtual particles or static behind the eyes.
This has been in the back of my head for a while; I find some comfort in at least recording these questions and answers. Partly by virtue of converting them to the digital, they take on some immortality. Thus if they are to help anyone else in a similar mindset, I would be happy. The existence of a tangible noosphere is up in the air, but I’d like it to be real and my thoughts be forever permanent in some immaterial realm. It may be that all of our grasping at understanding comes from an urge for permanence; that if we know why everything happens we may affect it as to leave an indelible mark on the world. In children who still have so much to know, this knowledge is the means by which they begin to live in the world.