We need a lot more Science to Survive and Thrive

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Jock Gill <jg45 () mac com>
Date: October 11, 2005 1:10:52 PM EDT
To: Farber Dave <dave () farber net>
Cc: Jock Gill <jg45 () mac com>
Subject: We need a lot more Science to Survive and Thrive


Dave,

Please consider for IP.

October 11, 2005

We need a lot more Science to Survive and Thrive

In today’s world, where long histories of human errors and ignorance  
compound and amplify the already difficult situations created by  
natural events, such as hurricanes, earth quakes, mud slides and so  
forth, what are we to do? Part of the answer is simply that we need a  
great deal MORE science, not less, if we want to survive and thrive  
in the 21st century.

Consider also that very many of us today share a yearning for a more  
satisfying "whole life". I suspect a majority of us are deeply  
dissatisfied with the empty life offered by hyper consumerism and  
celebrity madness required, it appears, by the processes of mass  
production with its dependence on mass markets. This dissatisfaction  
takes many forms. It also makes some of us very defensive and leads  
to lashing out and other regrettable behaviors, greed, looting and  
even terrorism of many sorts, for example.

Are our current cultural tensions an unavoidable conflict, a sharp  
dichotomy, between faith-based approaches or a fact-based  
“scientific” approach? I see this as a truly false and dangerous  
dichotomy. What we need is an and/both approach that is greater than  
the sum of the parts. The fact of mystery is ancient and undeniable.  
Given the ever lasting condition of all of humanity’s imperfect  
knowledge, mystery is also ever lasting. Science, on the other hand,  
is an ever more necessary and useful tool. In the face of  
deteriorating world conditions, we need a lot more of it, but more  
readily available and comprehensible to much greater numbers of all  
peoples. We can be confident, however, that science is no threat, and  
can never be, to the deeper mysteries.

------ continued at: <http://www.greaterdemocracy.org/archives/ 
000426.html>

Jock
Jock Gill
The Power of Wireless
Cooperative gain from collective behaviors at the edges
(781) 396-0492






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