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Leibniz - A prophecy of our greater understanding of the systems of the universe
Identifier
020573
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
Fichant – Collected papers
… even if the human race does not always remain as it is now, if we suppose that minds always exist which hunt out and know the truth, it necessarily follows that at some time these minds will come to know truths that are independent of sense experience, that is, theorems of pure science, which can be exactly demonstrated by reasons which have already been discovered and which do not exceed a certain length (for example, a page, if they are written), and, even more, that they will discover brief formulas which can be written in a few words.
This is why the new theorems to be discovered must grow in length to infinity, in the same way we see that there are certain geometrical proofs which are rather long but nonetheless handsome.
If this happens, it must follow that those minds which are not yet sufficiently capable will become more capable, so that they can comprehend and invent such great theorems, which are necessary to understand nature more deeply and to reduce physical truths to mathematics, for example, to understand the mechanical functioning of animals, to foresee certain future contingencies with a certain degree of accuracy, and to do certain wonderful things in nature, which are now beyond our capacity. . . .
Every mind has a horizon in respect to its present intellectual capacity but not in respect to its future intellectual capacity.