acquisition of knowledge

The universe is incomprehensible. The more we delve into the true nature of things, the more paradoxical our discoveries become. Faced with this complete lack of control, what is a person to do?

People seem to like structure and predictability. I don't know if this is human nature, but it certainly seems to be invariably the case among those I encounter. Understandably, too, since amidst utter chaos one finds himself stymied by questions like "where do I start," and "what's the point anyway?" So, generally, we search for some sort of structure or reductionism around which to base our choices and actions. We build an artificial construct for the very essential purpose of allowing us to function. But every model has certain strengths and limitations.

I've been learning about learning, and along the way there was this three-item list of learning processes. I will order them according to increasing difficulty:

1. adding new info to existing ideas (the example used was learning that great danes exist after understanding clearly what a dog is)
2. adding levels of complexity to existing ideas (understanding what temperature means, for example, but then later learning that temperature is describing the motion of molecules)
3. breaking apart existing ideas and reforming them into new ones (I forget the example here, but anything where someone comes in with a "misconception" and walks out with a better model - maybe thinking that trees build themselves from soil nutrients and then learning that, in fact, they are built from air (CO2), as a simple example).

The third one is the hardest by far, because we operate on our mental models for as long as they are effective. And often, models can seem effective even if they are inaccurate, and even after newer, more accurate models, have been presented. After all, we'd invested so much time in, and made so many decisions according to, the old ones. So I'm thinking a lot about dismantling ineffective models and what that looks like. I recall many people that I've met who live their lives from within the confines of ineffective structures, continuously frustrated by the results of their efforts. I think about the alternative, and what it means...

What I wonder most about is what the experience is like after an existing framework has been dismantled, but before another is put in place. What comes to mind most is the nature of relationships. Whether with people or animals, after you are divorced from a connection upon which you relied heavily there is this period of extreme vulnerability, while you're floating in the chaotic ether of the larger reality (larger than any contrived structure). Terrifying. People grasp at all sorts of things at those times... most often they gravitate toward the old structure, so long as it hasn't been completely destroyed, although people have been known to spend tremendous effort on humpty dumpty.