Research.
Science and technology have brought systematic change to civilisation over the last 200 years. Thought to be the panacea for human development in the 1950s, they observe and discover but cannot assign meaning. Questions of ‘what’ and ‘how’ within the universe need to sit alongside the ‘why’ of existence, forming a kind of competing and complementary peloton. As research continues into every conceivable thing, pressures of time, cost and commercial influence are endangering objectivity. Ultimately are we asking the right questions?
Research, knowledge, and wisdom.
The search for meaning and purpose is a human characteristic, driven by the need to find practical solutions to life’s challenges. A Spanish miner, Jeronimo de Ayanz, when faced with problems of removing water from a flooded mine in Seville in 1606, rallied to the occasion by patenting the first machine to use steam power. Now a relic from the past, it was a game-changer which provided a spring-board for other technologies to follow.
Scientism and the scientific method.
The scientific method is central to identifying what components make up our universe and how things behave and interact, particularly for human advantage. Can such methods answer questions about why the universe is ordered in a way not congruent with the workings of our minds? Or, why is there a restlessness in the human spirit, to find purpose and meaning beyond the here and now? The answer is no.