Frameworks · July 2026
What We Can and Cannot Know
The deep questions split four ways by how much we can know: one is certain, most stay open, some come down to belief, and a few look closed for good.
I went through these questions one at a time. They fall into four groups, by how much of each we can know: one is certain, most stay open, some sit past evidence and come down to belief, and a few look closed for good.
What's certain
Only one thing is certain: experiencing is occurring. I can doubt the rest, but the doubt is itself an experience, so that much holds. It tells me almost nothing, and it is the only thing I actually know. Everything after it is a bet.
Open
Most of them are open. Is the ground aware? Is experience fundamental? What fixes the laws we have? One ground, or many? A new argument or a fresh piece of evidence could still settle any of these. Until then I hold each as a guess with reasons, and I write down what would change my mind. We might know someday.
Belief
Some sit past evidence for good. A creator with a purpose. A first act that started everything. You can't test another mind's intent, or an event from before there was anyone to witness it, so these come down to faith. Religion lives here, and that is where it belongs. You take them on or you don't.
Sealed off
A few we can never reach. Did the world have a first moment, or has there always been something? Could there be other realities cut off so completely that nothing here could touch them? Every test we could run sits inside our world, on this side of the question. So the question stays shut, as far as any method we can conceive can reach. The honest thing is to say so and leave the blank, while remembering that people have declared questions permanently closed before and been wrong.
Why it matters
Those four feel the same on the page, and most writing about this slides between them, usually by dropping a confident answer where a blank belongs. I keep them apart and leave the blanks alone. That is the honest part of the job.
Part of The Open Questions, and resting on Starting From "I Am". The tagged version, with the full map of every question's status, is in the Library: What We Can and Cannot Know.
Questions
- What can we actually know for certain?
- One thing: that experiencing is occurring. Doubt the rest, and the doubt is itself an experience, so that much holds. It is nearly empty of content, and it is the only certainty there is. Everything past it is a bet.
- What is the difference between open and undecidable in principle?
- An open question is one a better argument or a new observation could still settle, so most of the deep questions are open. An undecidable-in-principle question is one every possible observation sits on the near side of, so nothing could ever reach it, like whether the world had a first moment or has always existed. It can mean something perfectly well and still stay out of reach for good.
- Is belief ever the honest response?
- For some questions, yes. A creator with intent and a first act of creation sit past what any evidence could reach, so standing on them comes down to faith. That is simply where they sit, past the last thing anyone can show. The honest job is to mark that line and keep faith and finding in their own places.
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