Understanding the universe not as a collection of substances but as a stream of events shifts our perspective. Science, by its very method, studies events. An experiment is not performed on a static “thing,” but on something that happens—something repeatable. It is precisely this repeatability that allows science to establish reliable knowledge.
In this sense, the “what” of science concerns what is occurring and what its measurable components are. The “how” concerns the mechanisms, the patterns, the laws by which these events unfold. But the “why” lies beyond its reach.
Science can describe the conditions under which a phenomenon arises and the processes through which it operates, yet it cannot speak to purpose, meaning, or ultimate cause. These are not experimentally testable; they are not repeatable events.
Recognizing this does not diminish science, it clarifies it. Science is a powerful instrument for understanding processes, but it is silent on the question of why there is anything at all, or why events occur as they do at the deepest level.