Mike Downey: There's no right or wrong level of understanding. Different people learn in different ways, he says. If you can understand quantum mechanics one percent better every day, you'll be on the right track,. He adds that as a social species, humans have become part of an emergent information processing superstructure with the internet, AI and complex societal systems as additional rungs above us. How do you perceive this potentially darker view of the diminishing importance of the self? "I think these are very, very important concerns,"downey says.