We all want to know reality. But have we become too dependent on scientific knowing? 

The sad truth of science is that the best it can be is less wrong. But as we live our everyday lives, being less wrong can be not good enough. 

Don’t get me wrong: for knowing, being less wrong is wonderful—it is a great advance. But living is more than knowing. Living is loving, it’s committing, it's creating, it’s telling it how it is. It is acting without knowing.  

In modern society, we often want to know More...

Can we care for each other?  Perhaps not if you are a male rat.

A study published in the prestigious journal Science (334:1427-1430, 2011) revealed that rats display empathy for each other.  In other words, they actively care about the suffering of a fellow rat.  In the experiment, the rats not only learned how to free a trapped cage-mate but shared their chocolate with them.

If rats can display empathy, surely people can.

Perhaps expecting More...

Transhumanism is an exciting movement.  For those who have an allergy to technology and have not come across the movement, it is the school of thought that says AI (or at least AGI—Artificial General Intelligence), computing technology, robotics, nanotechnology and biotechnology are going to create a world beyond human comprehension.  There will be machines, or rather beings, who surpass us so greatly that we cannot argue or fight back.  Think of evolution and competition for niches. As we are creating our own competition, the pros and cons need some consideration.

Attitudes in the transhumanist movement vary.  I have no argument with continuing progress in technology.  In my view, despite inevitable drawbacks, technology has produced and will go on producing immeasurable benefits for mankind. 

But when the movement starts More...

Our cultures are responsible for art, music, religion and even self-sacrifice: are they?  Our brain's wiring determines who we are: does it?  We will understand consciousness by mapping all the connections of the 100 billion nerve cells: will we?  Books and projects of this sort are the current rage.

Between biologists of the one sort trapped inside the brain, and biologists of the other sort who think they understand social life, there is scarcely room for a thinking person.  Improving our societies is then impossible.  What a relief not to be responsible for our social ills! More...

Those who blow the trumpets for spirituality seem to be a dangerous breed.  Perhaps because we are all suckers for charisma.

I suppose it's like smoking.  Obviously unhealthy in my eyes from the day I was exposed to it as a child, it took decades till others recognized that.  Charisma is as easy to recognize as tobacco smoke.  So just see it for what it is.

Spirituality is a vital component of human functioning.  When spirituality works, it enables us to be fully human in a very ordinary, everyday sort of way: we know who we are, we are aware of what goes on around us, we contribute, we care about others, we take responsibility for ourselves, we say 'yes' to life, we realize that we are each part of something bigger and greater than ourselves, we see through flattery and shrink from corruption.  And so on and so on. 

When spirituality is cut off More...