Expert says universe hard to understand

London delegates to a global conference on the future have been warned that our universe may be just "too queer" to understand.

Richard Dawkins, the professor and "Selfish Gene" author from Oxford University, said we were living in what he called a "middle world" reality that we have created, the BBC reported Friday.

Experts in design, technology, and entertainment have gathered in Oxford to share their ideas about the future our futures. It is the first time the annual event, known as TED Global, has been held in Europe. In the past, it has been a U.S. event.

Dawkins' opening talk, in a session called Meme Power, explored the ways in which humans invent their own realities to make sense of the infinitely complex worlds they are in.

"Are there things about the universe that will be forever beyond our grasp, in principle, ungraspable in any mind, however superior?" he asked. "Successive generations have come to terms with the increasing queerness of the Universe."

Copyright 2005 by United Press International