Introduction
This was going to be one very long post, but as I got into it I realized it could be neatly divided into six segments, the first of which you have in front of you now. The objective of the following posts is to explore some mind-bending ideas, and investigate their consequences as truthfully as possible.
The method used to explore these ideas is that of a thought experiment. The most concise definition of ‘thought experiment’ I could find, and closest to the spirit with which we will undertake these experiments, is this:
A thought experiment considers some hypothesis, theory or principle for the purpose of thinking through its consequences.
‘Thinking through its consequences’. That’s our primary goal. We will first establish a premise (a hypothesis) and then explore it within the vehicle of our minds empirically. The initial premise will be outlandish (if it weren’t, there wouldn’t be anything to investigate) but while it might lie outside the bounds of current reality, we will ‘think through its consequences’ using the scientific method, i.e., without breaking the laws of physics.
Why?
Questions are important, perhaps more important than answers. I live a heady mental life filled with questions of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the banal to the transcendent. And with thought experiments, or with most investigations of truth, you tend to get more questions than answers.
So the reason we’re embarking on these journeys is not just to find answers, as that will be self-limiting. Questions can themselves be answers, self-contained nuggets of history, possibility and direction. They point to a way forward. They point out the blind spots in our knowledge map. And while answers shed light, questions can give us a sense of the space our inquiry inhabits.
The arena in which these experiments are run is strictly within the bounds of physics, reality, fact and truth. As stated earlier, the premise may be outlandish, but none of these hypotheses are an impossibility. They might not happen immediately, but they can happen eventually in the long eternity of time. Einstein allowed himself the luxury of sitting at the head of a photon flying at the speed of light in his own gedankenexperiment which lead him to the Theory of Relativity. I will use similar privileges (the comforts of a thought experiment) but strictly within the physical limitations of the reality we inhabit.
The experiments themselves touch upon a wide range of topics from the philosophical to the practical. We will encounter and question language, knowledge and the construction of knowledge, ‘knowing’, the heat death of the universe, metaphysics, and the possible virtual nature of reality.
In the company of these experiments, we will visit the edge of the mind and the universe. The attempt is to skirt the borders, knock softly on the edges of reality and see what shakes loose, because thinking slowly and meticulously about what we don’t know is a great way to deepen our understanding of what we do know.
I hope you read, assimilate and enjoy the texture of these experiments. I firmly believe they will raise new questions in your mind, if not provide you a new vantage point with which to look at the world we live in. If the least they do is make you pause and wonder, they would have done their job.
Links to the experiments to follow.
Rohit Nalluri 
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