| Response: No, I don't believe science holds all the answers to our existence Our consciousness paves the way for our spirituality, but there's little consensusIn finger-wagging style, Mary Midgley warns that "serious scientists know that their enquiries are endless; any answers always raise a swarm of new questions" (Serious scientists know that they cannot explain all the major puzzles of existence, 28 August). But who ever said otherwise? Well, I did apparently.She quotes from my 1995 book, Soul Searching, selecting passages to back her assertion that I believe that science can provide "a sufficient explanation for everything that is or might be". What she fails to say is that in these passages I was describing how things looked to overconfident natural philosophers at the end of the 18th century, and how this set the stage for a Romantic reaction and in particular for spiritualism and psychical research.True, I wrote that "two hundred years later this ambitious [Enlightenment] programme for a self-sufficient science has succeeded beyond the dreams of its inventors. Across great swaths of nature ... the major puzzles of existence have been pulled to pieces in the hands ... of all-conquering and -consuming scientific rationality."But I went on: "Yet equally, two hundred years later, the majority of ordinary people have remained as faithful as ever to the earlier ways of thinking." And this was precisely my point. For most people scientific explanation remains unsatisfying. Indeed almost everybody has a Midgley – and a Newton – inside them, protesting that there has to be more to life, the universe and everything than we can ever know.Midgley asserts: "Humphrey is convinced that something called science has indeed solved the mind-body problem." But if she had read further she would have found me saying: "All but a few contemporary psychologists agree that there will eventually prove to be some sort of satisfactory theory of mind-brain relationship … But at present there really is very little consensus about the form, let alone the substance, of this theory-to-come."However, Midgley, it seems, has no interest in such a scientific theory anyway. For her, "our problem here is to understand the relation between our inner and outer life … and how to face life as a whole". Strangely enough, I entirely agree. In my own more recent writing, such as Seeing Red, I have begun to argue that the explanation for why consciousness evolved lies in its very mysteriousness and the effect this has on our world-view.Since Midgley has quoted at such length from a book I wrote 15 years ago, let me answer with these words from the cover of my new book Soul Dust: "Consciousness, [Humphrey] argues, is nothing less than a magical-mystery show that we stage for ourselves inside our own heads. This self-made show lights up the world for us and makes us feel special and transcendent. Thus consciousness paves the way for spirituality, and allows us, as human beings, to reap the rewards, and anxieties, of living in what Humphrey calls the 'soul niche'." I invite Mary Midgley to review it.ReligionPhilosophyAtheismControversies in scienceNicholas Humphreyguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Scientists say ozone layer depletion has stopped The protective ozone layer in the earth's upper atmosphere has stopped thinning and should largely be restored by mid-century thanks to a ban on harmful chemicals, UN scientists said. abc.net.au |
Big wet to spark snake population boom After one of the wettest years on record, a Central Australian reptile handler is expecting a boom in the venomous snake population. abc.net.au |
Mystery Bird: Bobolink, Dolichonyx oryzivorus This lovely neotropical migrant has many remarkable features, but one of them makes this bird unique in North AmericaBobolink, Dolichonyx oryzivorus, photographed at Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center, Minnehaha County, South Dakota, USA.Image: Terry Sohl, 28 August 2010 [with binoculars]. Like this photograph? You are encouraged to purchase this image from this fine photographer. Canon 50D, 400 5.6L.Question: This lovely neotropical migrant has many remarkable features, but one of them makes this bird unique in North America. What is that?Response: This is a Bobolink, Dolichonyx oryzivorus, a small New World blackbird. The bobolink is the only member of genus Dolichonyx. Bobolinks complete one of the longest known migrations for any neotropical songbird, breeding in the grasslands of North America and wintering throughout Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay. They occasionally pop up in Europe, although, like many vagrants from North America, the overwhelming majority of records for this species are from the British Isles.Male bobolinks are unique among North American avifauna because their breeding garb features a black belly accented by a pale colored topside. Embedded below is a 2 minute radio programme about the bobolink, thanks to my friends at BirdNote Radio:If you have bird images, video or mp3 files that you'd like to share with a large and appreciate audience, feel free to email them to me for consideration.GrrlScientistguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Amber yields ancient bug haul More than 700 new species of ancient insects, preserved in 50-million-year-old amber, were found in India. bbc.co.uk |