<p>This paper argues that modern science is undergoing a fundamental shift from direct observation to inference-based reconstruction of inaccessible systems. Using the Event Horizon Telescope’s imaging of a black hole as a paradigm, it highlights how knowledge increasingly emerges from integrating fragmented, indirect signals within computational and theoretical frameworks. Extending this perspective to geoscience, the author proposes a global “Earth Telescope” – a distributed, multi-sensor system capable of reconstructing the dynamic, four-dimensional structure of the Earth’s interior from heterogeneous data. The paper further draws connections with the discovery of natural quasicrystals, which form under extreme, non-equilibrium conditions and encode information about high-energy cosmic processes. Across astrophysics, geophysics, and materials science, a shared epistemology emerges: the extraction of structure from transformed signals through inversion and modelling. This convergence suggests that cross-disciplinary methods can advance the study of extreme environments across scales. Ultimately, the author advocates for an integrative, multiscale approach to science, positioning the Earth as part of a broader cosmic <i>continuum</i> and arguing that innovations such as an Earth Telescope could transform our understanding of planetary dynamics and the evolution of matter in the Universe.</p> Graphic abstract <p></p>