re: academia

On whether we know anything about the universe

They say: see the universe in a grain of sand.

in the pursuit of knowledge, knowledge workers specialize in what they know.  What they can put out into each defined domain of knowledge are very particular works.  Each work comprises of higher specialized knowledge that is objectively verifiable as belonging to each domain of knowledge. There is hope for each knowledge worker that, if they can know something very well for themselves, they could each know a little more than what they can show. This comprises of knowledge that is more than what has been understood in the domain of knowledge and regards the situation in which we all live. In studying something specific, we are studying a kind of microcosm. 

As we have lived on this earth for all of humanity's history, what we know here is almost entirely about ourselves and this earth, existing in a universe that is probably infinite, or at least virtually infinite. If all we know about is this earth, this microcosm, we can hope we know more than we think we know. Indeed, where we know what we know, we will know a bit more that will lead us to the possibilities of disclosure.

*our professors' classes are a source of inspiration to those who hear: work is a point of culmination from their personal lives and memories