Introduction

"Human reason has this peculiar fate that in one species of its knowledge it is burdened by questions which, as prescribed by the very nature of reason itself, it is not able to ignore, but which, as transcending all its powers, it is also not able to answer."
- Immanuel Kant, from Critique of Pure Reason, 1781

This quote separates knowledge into two classes: knowledge that can be determined through reason and knowledge that cannot.  In other words, there is "reasonable knowledge" and there is "unreasonable knowledge."  Reason seeks after both classes of knowledge, but reason alone can only find the first.

Reasonable knowledge is supported by logic, fact, mathematics, proofs, observation, or scientific experimentation.  As a computer scientist, I work a lot with reasonable knowledge.  I thrive on functions and equations, numbers and statistics.  When people think of knowledge and intelligence, it is often this class that comes to mind.  It is the knowledge of the learned, the intellectual.  It created the atomic bomb, put man on the moon, eradicated crippling and deadly diseases, and developed the smartphones of today.  There is undeniably great power in reasonable knowledge.

There are, however, questions that reasonable people should and do ask that cannot be answered with reason alone.  As Kant said, reason is "burdened by questions which . . . it is . . . not able to answer."  What is the purpose of life?  What is the potential of man?  What force drives the soul of the artist, the poet, the musician?  What defines good and evil?  Surely these are reasonable questions; it would be unreasonable indeed to live life without ever wondering why you do what you do every day.  As Socrates wrote, "The unexamined life is not worth living."  It is only reasonable to ask such questions, yet the answers cannot be found using reason alone.  No equation or proof can answer these questions.  Hence the need for unreasonable knowledge.  Instead of being fueled by logic, mathematics, and science, unreasonable knowledge is fueled by faith, hope, and charity.

The world often sees these two classes of knowledge as contradictory.  The academic world at large encourages reason and scoffs at faith.  They mock the Christian, saying that "it is not reasonable that such a being as a Christ shall come" (The Book of Mormon, Helaman 16:18).  As for me, I am a computer scientist.  As I mentioned previously, reason is the very core of my field.  I am also, however, an active Christian.  I am so much a Christian, in fact, that if I had to choose between the knowledge I've gained through reason and the knowledge I've gained through faith, I would choose the latter.

In this blog I will address many subjects related to computer science.  Though computer science is largely fueled by reason, I will address issues regarding unreasonable knowledge.  I will address moral and ethical issues within the field, and I will back up arguments not with my logic but with my faith.  I ask those intellectuals who claim to be reasonable to not discard this, but to be open-minded and ask the reasonable questions that cannot be answered by reason.