Category Essay

Essay

Jan 6 2023

The Science-Faith Debate

There is an ongoing debate about the relationship between science and faith. Many believe that they are incompatible, that they are at “war” with each other. Others contend that they have nothing to do with each other, an idea sometimes expressed by describing them as “non-overlapping magisteria” — the idea that they only apply to unrelated aspects of reality and human experience.

However, an underlying assumption with both views is that we understand the universe well enough to be certain about our assessments. However, what if this isn’t true? What if it’s better to take a more humble position and admit that we cannot make a clear enough assessment, and therefore need to continue exploring the issues?

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Dec 15 2022

Implications of Consciousness


The overall theme of this blog is that we don’t know enough to be certain of metaphysical truths.* Because of that, and the fact that metaphysics deals with things beyond physical reality, we need to think about those topics using tools other than science, and move discussions away from trying to prove one view or another, to comparing differences and explaining our preferences.

A good example of this is our limited understanding of consciousness. Although many believe that consciousness is only a physical phenomenon, that view is by no means universal even among secular researchers. Other possibilities, such as the philosophical idea of panpsychism, have been proposed and seem to be growing in popularity.

Given the diversity of viewpoints among subject matter experts, the only rational position to take is some level of agnosticism regarding this topic. In other words, we need to acknowledge the possibility of immaterial minds even if that’s a viewpoint with which one personally does not agree.

To me, it seems that the possibility of an immaterial mind, whatever that might look like, has significant implications for an overall understanding of reality.

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Nov 23 2022

Dance of the Thorns

Sometimes beautiful forms emerge from collections of harsh things, like this set of prickly weeds. Individually they look thorny, but together they evoke graceful movement.

As I’ve pondered my Christian faith and the reasons that it seems like the best answer to life’s deepest questions, a similar pattern has emerged.

It’s easy to get lost in troubling details when thinking about the faith, where some things seem thorny, difficult to deal with. Apparent contradictions, senseless violence, archaic social values, and historical events like the Crusades, can make the history uncomfortable.

And yet, like the weeds in the picture, these individually uncomfortable things seem to be part of something larger that is beautiful, even graceful.

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Nov 13 2022

Seeing Better

An easy trap to fall into is to become complacent in our beliefs, to not pay attention to the full depth of a topic. Instead, it’s easy to stop with a limited understanding, form opinions that we like, then reinforce them by finding sources that agree with us. This tends to further solidify our thinking.

The reality is that some topics, such as those related to metaphysics*, have many different dimensions that are continuing to be explored. Our understanding of fundamental physical reality is so nascent, still so evolving, that to claim any certainty, especially without constant learning, is simply arrogant. Thus, it seems the proper posture is one of humility and continual learning rather than dogmatic certainty.

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Oct 20 2022

Convergence

With so many different viewpoints and sources of information today, how can we best tell when something is true? That’s a big question, but one helpful thing is to notice when separate lines of evidence converge to a consistent answer.

One of the problems with interpreting sources is avoiding confirmation bias. This is when we look for sources that say what we already think. It’s a very common human trait and is largely amplified by social media and today’s biased news sources.

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Sep 15 2022

Beautiful Fading

We seem to find beauty in unlikely places. Evolution says we should be attracted to those things that benefit us, and so it seems that we should find beauty in those things that support flourishing. However, we also sometimes find beauty in things like austere mountain peaks, desolate lunar wastelands, and sometimes even in dying foliage.

For example, one of the most common pictures of the end of summer, the shortening of daylight, is fall colors, yet these represent life being pulled back from the leaves in order to prepare for the coming season of scarcity. Hardly a cheery thought, and yet it’s considered an iconically beautiful scene.

In a like manner, this scene struck me as beautiful even though it features flowers that are in decline.

This sense is sometimes explained as our evolutionarily-bequeathed aesthetics misfiring, being activated incorrectly. In this line of thought, what we perceive as something wonderful, is really just a mistake.

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Aug 25 2022

Finding Meaning

Here’s a famous question: “What is the meaning of life?”

The question captures a basic human yearning for relevance, to know that there is a purpose to our existence.

Some assert that the purpose is what we make it, that we invent it. Others claim that it is the result of searching, something we discover. In the end, the choice between these two views is an individual one.

But another way to look at it is whether purpose and meaning is strictly personal, or whether there is a community aspect to it. Since no one lives completely as an island, it seems that the most complete answer is to be part of a shared purpose, one that allows individual expression but yet is part of something greater.

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Aug 4 2022

Kelvin’s Clouds

The term “Kelvin’s Clouds” is a reference to a famous lecture given by Lord Kelvin (William Thomson) in 1900. It is often used to illustrate the limits of physics. I use it as the title of this blog as a reminder of the humility needed when considering fundamental questions about reality and the human condition.

Lord Kelvin was a famous scientist after whom the Kelvin temperature scale was named. On April 27, 1900, he delivered the Friday Evening Lecture at the Royal institution in London. In that lecture, he described two urgent challenges of conventional physics regarding “the theory of heat and light”. One of the challenges had to do with the luminiferous ether, and the other with something called the equipartition of energy. He described each of these problems as “clouds”.1

The first cloud, regarding the ether, was resolved with the development of the theory of special relativity. The second cloud was resolved with the development of quantum physics. The development of these two new branches of physics completely redefined our understanding of reality.2

Today, we face a larger, even growing, set of clouds. For example, a theory called “M-theory”, which was hoped to unify relativity and quantum mechanics, has not been supported by the latest particle physics experiments, leaving a whole host of questions without a clear path to solution. Other examples exist both within and outside physics such that we clearly need to be careful when making assertions of absolute truth.

In particular, metaphysical views are often held with deep certainty even though Kelvin’s Clouds should teach us that we need to be humble and constantly learning. Questions regarding science and religion are often contentious, but it seems clear that we really don’t know enough about the world to be certain about things like the existence of God, the ultimate nature of consciousness and humanity, whether life has purpose and meaning beyond what we give it, and so on.

Of course, over time we will continue to learn and perhaps some clouds will be eliminated, perhaps some mysteries will be solved. But, maybe not all. Maybe there are fundamental limits to our ability to know.

In either case, we can’t just throw up our hands until everything is clear, we need to decide how to live in the face of uncertainty, to prioritize and make decisions in life. We each need some perspective, some worldview to make sense of what we do know.

Ideally, one’s worldview would be informed by a variety of perspectives, constantly learning and (when necessary) adapting, and rational without being dogmatic.

The goal of this blog is to explore my own views on science and faith, hopefully in a way that embodies those principles.

(1) many references to this speech describe Kelvin’s second cloud as having to do with block body radiation, but that is incorrect. A good description of the speech and its history can found in this paper: Oliver Passon , “Kelvin’s clouds”, American Journal of Physics 89, 1037-1041 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1119/10.0005620

(2) In addition, the development of quantum mechanics and relativity have shown us that there may be fundamental limits in our ability to describe reality due to the lack of infinite precision in measurements and the hard limit of the uncertainty principle.

Jun 9 2019

Investigating Consciousness

multicolored pebbles on white ceramic bowl

Photo by Steve Johnson on Pexels.com

Imagine you have a bowl full of little chunks of unknown material. You want to determine what sorts of materials are in the bowl so you decide to sample some and analyze it. You gather a sample from the bowl by placing a magnet in it and removing whatever sticks to it. Upon analysis you discover that everything in the sample is made of metal, and so conclude that all the material in the bowl was metal.

Do you see anything wrong with this scenario? Continue reading →

Apr 7 2019

The Sense of Waterfalls

MCFx2This is Majestic Falls, in McDowell Creek Falls area, taken on a morning that was supposed to be cloudy but turned out sunny. Fortunately we made it there before the sun became a problem. Taken with a long exposure, the falling water appears silky smooth, almost like a wisp.

This photographic approach is very popular. One reason may simply be the aesthetic of silky smoothness. But also, something about this style seems to capture what we feel when we see a waterfall — the sense of pure unbroken flow.

In other words, the smooth lines of flowing water give a sense of what we experience, but may not be an accurate representation of what we physically see.

I think this is an interesting distinction — the difference between what we observe with physical senses, and what we consciously understand. What is the difference between what we see, and what we perceive? It’s tempting to think that what we see with our eyes is the “real” waterfall, and perception is not. But if the perception does represent something of what we experience, isn’t that also real?

It is as real as our own sense of identity and awareness. It’s as real as we are as individuals.

In other words, if the picture captures anything of what you experience when looking at the waterfall, then it is as real as you are, as the people you know, as the relationships in your life. Not physical things, but real nonetheless. And in many cases, those things that are most important.