The explorability of the world: a journey that never ends.

Many people are convinced that the world has already been explored, studied, and that the era of true explorers is long gone. They say there's nothing left to discover!

• The age of geographical discoveries is over.
• There are no more uncharted corners on Earth.
• Everything has long been discovered and explored.

I have heard this since early childhood: from my school teachers, from relatives and friends! I hear it even today in my circle. As a child, I found it far more interesting to read Jack London, whose stories spoke of the Will to Live, a vast and unexplored world, and heroes who ventured into it.

Perhaps it's time for me to say: “the exploredness of the world” is the greatest self-deception imaginable! And I'm not talking about space and other stars, or even planets that we humans haven’t even come close to reaching! I’m talking about the “here” and “now,” about the paths and roads of Mother Earth.

Our world seems so accessible and well understood: maps, GPS, satellite images, thousands of books and scientific articles about every corner of the planet. But do we truly know it as thoroughly as we think? Let’s take a deeper look at this appearance, peering behind the slightly ajar door of our notions about Earth.

When we say the world is explored, we often mean that all physical boundaries have been mapped and described. And indeed, the major outlines of continents, rivers, and mountains have long been marked on maps. But even with all the technical capabilities, humanity still does not possess complete information about many regions. New currents emerge. Natural and climatic conditions change. Some deserts expand, while others shrink, for example. And many of these changes happen either too quickly or, on the contrary, so slowly that it’s difficult to track them year by year. And look, even the freshest and most accurate maps deceive us!

Let’s take oceans as the most striking example. They cover more than 70% of Earth’s surface, and yet we know less about them than we do about the Moon. Underwater mountains, trenches, ecosystems — most of them remain unexplored. Mysterious creatures, astonishing geological formations, and unsolved phenomena await at the patient shore of science, which still cannot reach every depth.

Even on land, there are areas with minimal human interference. In the remote corners of the Amazon, there are tribes that have never made contact with civilization. In the high mountains of the Himalayas or the dense forests of Siberia, there are many places where perhaps few have ever set foot. And while I can only suppose that about the Himalayas or the Amazon, I can say with certainty about the Russian Taiga: Yes, I have personally been to places where no human had set foot before me! Wild animals living in such regions could tell us much about nature and its evolution. If only we understood their language, of course. And I personally encountered animals that did not fear humans. To me, it was a clear indicator: upon seeing me, they saw a human for the first time. Unfortunately, this is a precise indicator: we, humans, bring death and destruction behind us. And the first to arrive in the last refuges of wildlife are usually hunters with long-range weapons on helicopters.

Modern technologies, such as drones and satellite reconnaissance, open up new possibilities for researchers, but they are not without limitations. Even high-quality images and shots are only the tip of the information iceberg: they cannot tell us about the animal or plant world, about ecosystems and their interactions, or about the impact of changing climatic conditions on them.

Another aspect of our planet’s unexplored nature is the cultural diversity of its peoples. Just how well explored is that diversity, truly? There are languages dying out without ever being recorded, rituals that disappear without leaving a trace in history. We’ve only recently begun to take a more serious approach to studying the cultures of people whose worlds seem too different from ours. Anthropologists continue to discover tribes never before seen, find lost civilizations, and investigate interactions between past societies that we had only vague ideas about. And even I have encountered people deep in the Russian Taiga who begged me: Please, don’t tell anyone we live here!

Next, let’s look at the world of microbes and microorganisms. It’s a genuine invisible continent, contained in every patch of land, in every body of water, and even on our own bodies. With each new breakthrough in biology, we learn who lives around us and what kinds of interactions happen within us. New species of bacteria and viruses continue to be discovered, showing us how they interact with other forms of life and adapt to modern changes in the environment. Can you imagine? Now imagine that the retreating permafrost of the Russian North has turned out not to be so “permanent” after all, and scientists are already finding many entirely unknown forms of life they can’t even classify!

Science is making great strides toward understanding the complex interactions among various biological organisms in specific ecosystems. We are only beginning to grasp the intricate and tangled dance that is the cycle of matter and energy on a planet born of billions of years of evolution. Largely unanswered are questions about the impact of human activity on this complex web, as well as the possibility of repairing the damage we’ve caused. Isn’t it frightening that we destroy countless living organisms without ever knowing they existed?

It’s also worth thinking about changes that occur without our involvement—cataclysms against which even modern technology is powerless. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, mysterious shifts in animal migration routes—in all these events, we are mere apprentices, lacking full confidence in what to expect and how to prevent or mitigate the consequences.

It is mistaken to assume that the exploration of the world ends at the physical level. Research is also conducted at the level of human experience. Psychology, philosophy, and art continuously explore and evolve, revealing new horizons of perception and understanding of reality. As in our acquaintance with nature, there are areas where human knowledge has barely touched the surface, without delving into the deeper layers of our consciousness and interpersonal connections.

The world of ideas is as mysterious and boundless as the material world. It conceals limitless prospects for self-knowledge and awareness of our ties with other aspects of the Universe. As we broaden the boundaries of what is possible, each new answer gives rise to dozens of new questions.

So what lies ahead? Will the myth of a fully mastered Earth persist, shackling our spirit of exploration, or will we dare to acknowledge the planet’s immensity and multifaceted nature?

Humanity has always sought, and will continue to seek, new open horizons. And in this quest for knowledge and discovery, the key is not only to uncover the unknown, but also to learn to show respect for the mysterious, ever ready to reveal something new and astonishing. The world is rich in knowledge and secrets, like every drop of water which, upon falling onto the surface, generates whirlwinds of waves radiating across the ocean of time.

And if someone tells you: The world is explored, the era of great discoveries is over!

– add this to their phrase in your mind: It ended for you, not for me, because you yourself created illusory boundaries!

…and set off on a journey into the unknown, which never ends! Become an explorer and dedicate your life to something great.

© PAVEL PASHKOV