KNOWLEDGE AND POWER
We humans claim to be at the forefront of knowledge, and consider ourselves as having a better understanding of our world and its environs than any other creature. This claim of achievement or superiority may not be totally hollow if we consider the progress we have made as a race so far. But how much of the whole do we really know? How has our knowledge been possible? We recognise our own existence, and that of our environment, with the aid of our senses. Of the five senses we have, two those of sight and hearing-are the ones that link us with the world around us. It is mainly these two senses, and a brain to control and coordinate them that enable us to acquire knowledge and understanding about everything. How is it that these senses show such versatility as the vastness of our knowledge and abilities indicate? Are we right in assuming the ability of our senses to the extent we do? Is the knowledge that we have acquired with the help of our senses, reliable and precise? Or is our knowledge misleading? It is difficult to give convincing answers to these questions. It may also be that the answers are not always positive or encouraging. Whatever the answers, they are essentially human; from the viewpoint of humans and for the sake of humans. As they can change with viewpoint and logic, the answers cannot be considered absolute or eternal The reliability of our knowledge is further in doubt because the period for which we have been existing as a race is negligibly brief, when compared to the age of the Universe, which may be billions of years. Based on the evidence available until now, our existence as a civilized