Fair enough. It is just a word preventing people from turning us into soylent green willy-nilly.
To me there's no contradiction.
There are knows: We have shared lucid experiences and we can share contemplations of such.
There are unknowns: What is consciousness, what happens exactly in brain in relation to outside (body, family, room, house, area, town).
It all seems interconnected to the point of break-down when not, for minds especially.
