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The World is Amazing
Sep. 5th, 2007 05:38 pmI've been thinking a lot about the intersection of science and spirituality, partly because a scientist friend of mine is getting married, and partly because of a kind of acrimonious debate that took place a few months back in the letters to the editor of National Geographic magazine.
I myself am a hardcore agnostic. As I see it the concept of God and the supernatural is so nebulous that it can't be disproved. By the same token, there hasn't thus far been any supernatural event or miracle that has been well documented enough that I can say it definitely happened and there was no other explanation than divine intervention. Even one unimpeachably real miracle would be enough to prove the species exists. However, most "miracles" are clearly within natural laws and probabilities, which is normally much more exciting than the miracles themselves because it means they are repeatable. The other ones we probably just don't understand yet.
It's useful for science to take apart these so-called miracles because they teach us a lot about how the world (and our brains) work, and because superstition is generally damaging and fearmongering and guilt inducing and the enemy of truth. As scientists, we can track down the reasons behind things and so far we've been great at predicting them and steadily knowing more about the universe - which, frankly, just gets weirder the more we know. However, science is exclusively about the world we are in and what is observable, and if there were a god or gods, there's every reason to believe they wouldn't be.
At which point, you have to start thinking "so what does it matter if there's a god, if any god that existed would be invisible and ineffable" and then you're on the same page as me. I not only don't know whether god exists (although I'm sure of a lot of ways in which he doesn't); I don't care one way or the other. God might as well be a creature on the other side of the light barrier; with or without God, I still like to be a good person, like to sing requiem masses, and like to wear hats. When I eat my toast in the morning, it is the same toast regardless of whether some mysterious force is happy that I'm eating toast.
Consequently, it makes me mad when atheistic scientists or religious figures get dogmatic and tell me that I'm stupid or soulless, when my position is basically that the world is amazing however you slice it, and there's still a lot of astounding stuff to figure out and explore. I also get mad when scienstists attack other scientists for finding value in religion, and not for a fault in their science. Religious people may be your pet peeve; I don't like big dogs. But if a person's chemistry is solid, I'm not going to disparage their Nobel prize even if their dog is really slobbery. (Unless the dog's slobber interfered with the experiment. Presumably it was compensated for in the experimental preconditions.)
On the other hand, I don't get it when religious people discount science - say that it is in some way not God's will, or that science is some giant worldwide conspiracy. (Man, I wish we could have the whole world in on a big conspiracy to trick a few hundred thousand poorly dressed people in the suburbs. It can't be that hard. We should at least be able to further the practice of Talk Like A Pirate Day. Science, let's get on this.) God may or may not exist. But science definitely does. No room for argument. It is real and demonstrable. And if you think that scientific explanation somehow makes the world less incredible and diminishes the specialness of mankind, you're a fool. Science took us to the moon. Jesus only walked on water. If there is a god, he is all over science.
It's possible the world is a dream and nothing truly exists. But that doesn't make a practical difference day-to-day. If there's an afterlife, I'll see it when I get there. If not, I won't be around to be sad about it. But, damnit, the world is incredible and difficult to believe even though I see it every day, and wherever it comes from, it's here.
I myself am a hardcore agnostic. As I see it the concept of God and the supernatural is so nebulous that it can't be disproved. By the same token, there hasn't thus far been any supernatural event or miracle that has been well documented enough that I can say it definitely happened and there was no other explanation than divine intervention. Even one unimpeachably real miracle would be enough to prove the species exists. However, most "miracles" are clearly within natural laws and probabilities, which is normally much more exciting than the miracles themselves because it means they are repeatable. The other ones we probably just don't understand yet.
It's useful for science to take apart these so-called miracles because they teach us a lot about how the world (and our brains) work, and because superstition is generally damaging and fearmongering and guilt inducing and the enemy of truth. As scientists, we can track down the reasons behind things and so far we've been great at predicting them and steadily knowing more about the universe - which, frankly, just gets weirder the more we know. However, science is exclusively about the world we are in and what is observable, and if there were a god or gods, there's every reason to believe they wouldn't be.
At which point, you have to start thinking "so what does it matter if there's a god, if any god that existed would be invisible and ineffable" and then you're on the same page as me. I not only don't know whether god exists (although I'm sure of a lot of ways in which he doesn't); I don't care one way or the other. God might as well be a creature on the other side of the light barrier; with or without God, I still like to be a good person, like to sing requiem masses, and like to wear hats. When I eat my toast in the morning, it is the same toast regardless of whether some mysterious force is happy that I'm eating toast.
Consequently, it makes me mad when atheistic scientists or religious figures get dogmatic and tell me that I'm stupid or soulless, when my position is basically that the world is amazing however you slice it, and there's still a lot of astounding stuff to figure out and explore. I also get mad when scienstists attack other scientists for finding value in religion, and not for a fault in their science. Religious people may be your pet peeve; I don't like big dogs. But if a person's chemistry is solid, I'm not going to disparage their Nobel prize even if their dog is really slobbery. (Unless the dog's slobber interfered with the experiment. Presumably it was compensated for in the experimental preconditions.)
On the other hand, I don't get it when religious people discount science - say that it is in some way not God's will, or that science is some giant worldwide conspiracy. (Man, I wish we could have the whole world in on a big conspiracy to trick a few hundred thousand poorly dressed people in the suburbs. It can't be that hard. We should at least be able to further the practice of Talk Like A Pirate Day. Science, let's get on this.) God may or may not exist. But science definitely does. No room for argument. It is real and demonstrable. And if you think that scientific explanation somehow makes the world less incredible and diminishes the specialness of mankind, you're a fool. Science took us to the moon. Jesus only walked on water. If there is a god, he is all over science.
It's possible the world is a dream and nothing truly exists. But that doesn't make a practical difference day-to-day. If there's an afterlife, I'll see it when I get there. If not, I won't be around to be sad about it. But, damnit, the world is incredible and difficult to believe even though I see it every day, and wherever it comes from, it's here.
