# Is There Anything Known To Be Real That Science Cannot Explain...At All? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 30, 2012, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-known-to-be-real-that-science-cannot-explain-at-all/617315 "2012-03-30T20:14:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-known-to-be-real-that-science-cannot-explain-at-all/617315/161 "2012-04-03T18:33:07Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > “Now” is an imaginary point on a timeline that extends backwards until, well…it doesn’t. There is no “now” of five minutes ago, because it ceases being “now” the instant after it happens. As I said, is there any answer that is not a tautology? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-known-to-be-real-that-science-cannot-explain-at-all/617315/162 "2012-04-03T18:36:21Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > As I said, is there any answer that is not a tautology? You cannot experience “Now”-you can only remember the past. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-known-to-be-real-that-science-cannot-explain-at-all/617315/163 "2012-04-03T18:49:17Z")
…time, being an aspect of space which is bent and curved by matter is really just a form of energy that brings forth gravity which dilates time, being an aspect of space… ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-known-to-be-real-that-science-cannot-explain-at-all/617315/164 "2012-04-03T18:49:45Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Which only raises another unexplained question: How is this “now” different than the “now” of five minutes ago? A Buddhist and Einstein would fundamentally disagree on this. Einstein (or at least Brian Greene’s description of his work) would argue that all nows, including all past and future nows, co-exist. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-known-to-be-real-that-science-cannot-explain-at-all/617315/165 "2012-04-03T18:51:00Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > You cannot experience “Now”-you can only remember the past. Of course you can experience now. Entire religions and schools of philosophy have been built up around the idea. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-known-to-be-real-that-science-cannot-explain-at-all/617315/166 "2012-04-03T19:00:44Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > A Buddhist and Einstein would fundamentally disagree on this. Einstein (or at least Brian Greene’s description of his work) would argue that all nows, including all past and future nows, co-exist. In a way Einstein was correct. If you look at time as a journal, then the pages that have been written are there, as are the pages that have yet to be written. You can read what has been written so far, and you can look at the pages that haven’t been written in yet. If you tear out all the pages and arrange then in a haphazard pattern, then step back and look at it as a whole, you will see all that has happened at the same time, with large splotches of “not yet” here and there. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-known-to-be-real-that-science-cannot-explain-at-all/617315/167 "2012-04-03T19:03:47Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Of course you can experience now. Entire religions and schools of philosophy have been built up around the idea. Unless the brain takes _no_ time to receive, process and play the input, you can’t. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-known-to-be-real-that-science-cannot-explain-at-all/617315/168 "2012-04-03T19:07:33Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Unless the brain takes _no_ time to receive, process and play the input, you can’t. I suppose if you want to get that granular, sure. But one can certainly focus on the present. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-known-to-be-real-that-science-cannot-explain-at-all/617315/169 "2012-04-03T19:11:40Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I suppose if you want to get that granular, sure. But one can certainly focus on the present. Well, certainly you can, as long as you realize that everyone’s “present” is different in both width and depth. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-known-to-be-real-that-science-cannot-explain-at-all/617315/170 "2012-04-03T19:23:26Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > In a way Einstein was correct. If you look at time as a journal, then the pages that have been written are there, as are the pages that have yet to be written. You can read what has been written so far, and you can look at the pages that haven’t been written in yet. If you tear out all the pages and arrange then in a haphazard pattern, then step back and look at it as a whole, you will see all that has happened at the same time, with large splotches of “not yet” here and there. What blows my mind about this is that ET, living tens of billions of years away from me, shares the same page with me. But if he starts walking towards me, his now is my now of hundreds of years ago, and if he walks away from me, his now is hundreds of years in my future. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-known-to-be-real-that-science-cannot-explain-at-all/617315/171 "2012-04-03T19:26:58Z")
Factoring in the human perception of “now” will muddy things greatly. As Czarcasm implied, “now” is a singularity in time. It has no dimension, but that of a point on a timeline, that of which would have to be zoomed into the very quanta of time itself (assuming we’re onto something with the Standard Model of physics). Time is relative, so _comparing_ “nows”, objectively, is in fact meaningless. Or, at the least, comparing one now to another’s past or vice versa. Yep, reality is weird. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-known-to-be-real-that-science-cannot-explain-at-all/617315/172 "2012-04-03T19:29:08Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > What blows my mind about this is that ET, living tens of billions of years away from me, shares the same page with me. But if he starts walking towards me, his now is my now of hundreds of years ago, and if he walks away from me, his now is hundreds of years in my future. Only if he’s _accelerating_ close to c relative to you. Constant velocities, or even the expansion of the universe (that is, space _itself_) don’t factor in. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-known-to-be-real-that-science-cannot-explain-at-all/617315/173 "2012-04-03T19:31:31Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > What blows my mind about this is that ET, living tens of billions of years away from me, shares the same page with me. But if he starts walking towards me, his now is my now of hundreds of years ago, and if he walks away from me, his now is hundreds of years in my future. You and ET share the exact same imaginary “now”, but it’s going to take Netflix a few hundred years to ship his documentary to you. When you get that shipment in the mail in 2412, the envelope will still be dated “April 3rd, 2012”. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-known-to-be-real-that-science-cannot-explain-at-all/617315/174 "2012-04-03T19:40:45Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Only if he’s _accelerating_ close to c relative to you. Constant velocities, or even the expansion of the universe (that is, space _itself_) don’t factor in. That’s not my understanding, but I could be wrong. The way I get it is that any relative motion robs a little bit of time, as the four dimensions must always add up to a particular sum. It’s not a terribly noticeable effect normally, but at great speeds OR great distances, it really adds up. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-known-to-be-real-that-science-cannot-explain-at-all/617315/175 "2012-04-03T19:45:47Z")
What is this? Now. What? You’re looking at Now. What happened to Then? You missed it. When? Just now. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-known-to-be-real-that-science-cannot-explain-at-all/617315/176 "2012-04-03T19:51:34Z")
> [@Sister\_Vigilante](#): > > What is this? > Now. > What? > You’re looking at Now. > What happened to Then? > You missed it. > When? > Just now. “Now” happens immediately, but you can only experience it after the fact. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-known-to-be-real-that-science-cannot-explain-at-all/617315/177 "2012-04-03T19:57:00Z")
The more I overhear people with training in advanced sciences speak, the more I realize you’re like sophomore stoners, but with better math skills. In other words… “Woah. Dude. I think that just melted my brain.” ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-known-to-be-real-that-science-cannot-explain-at-all/617315/178 "2012-04-03T20:15:57Z")
> [@benbo1](#): > > 1. The booming noises going on in Wisconsin, and apparently other places in the US & around then world. These are going on in the absence of (detected) seismic activity. sourcing from national news media. there was no seismic activity evident in that buildings didn’t fall and people weren’t knocked off their feet. there was measured seismic activity. detectors were brought in the area to get more data and confirmed that activity. booms do accompany this kind of low ‘hard to detect if your instruments aren’t right there’ level of seismic activity. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-known-to-be-real-that-science-cannot-explain-at-all/617315/179 "2012-04-03T20:21:01Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > That’s not my understanding, but I could be wrong. The way I get it is that any relative motion robs a little bit of time, as the four dimensions must always add up to a particular sum. It’s not a terribly noticeable effect normally, but at great speeds OR great distances, it really adds up. Imagine there’s nothing in the universe exept you and ET (we’ll cal him Elliot), separated by, say a billion lightyears. It’s my understanding that relativistic time dilation only happens in the presence of strong gravitational fields or due to acceleration (not constant relative velocities). Vast distances across space itself doesn’t really factor in, unless perhaps our two galaxies were accelerating at incredible speeds relative to each other, but still, his walking at every-day speeds would be negligible. > [@WhyNot](#): > > The more I overhear people with training in advanced sciences speak, the more I realize you’re like sophomore stoners, but with better math skills. > > In other words… “Woah. Dude. I think that just melted my brain.” Isn’t that wonderful that reality is just as, or even weirder than, the most tripped-out ideas of your friendly neighborhood stoner? All he’s missing is the math and predictive theories. Maybe after some Cap’n Crunch and a nap… ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-known-to-be-real-that-science-cannot-explain-at-all/617315/180 "2012-04-03T20:26:15Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Maybe after some Cap’n Crunch and a nap… Cocoa Pebbles with chocolate milk followed by a couple of hours in a sensory deprivation tank usually works for me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-known-to-be-real-that-science-cannot-explain-at-all/617315.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-known-to-be-real-that-science-cannot-explain-at-all/617315.md?page=10)