Research, knowledge, and wisdom.

Written by TR Johns

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.[i] Now a relic from the past, it was a game-changer which provided a spring-board for other technologies to follow.

Advances of science and technology in the last 200 years bear out our ability to question, create, invent and innovate. From the discovery of electricity and incandescent light to nuclear power and the internet of things, the novelty, ingenuity and wonder of it all is dazzling. Indeed in the 1950s there was a real belief that technology would be the panacea for human problems.

In 1982 the ‘Knowledge Doubling Curve’ was created by Buckminster Fuller, who noticed that until 1900 human knowledge had doubled about every century. By the end of World War 2 the doubling was every 25 years. This intensified to almost every 12 months by 2013, with predictions that average human knowledge would soon be doubling every 12 hours. Obviously different rates applied in different fields, but the transition from linear to exponential growth has been facilitated by a trillion times increase in the processing power of technology.[ii]

Something extraordinary has happened in the ability of humans to investigate and make sense of planet earth and the universe, as we access ever expanding technological capabilities. There is a nagging doubt, however, that as we uncover more and more, we may actually know less and less.[iii]

The purpose of science has been to build knowledge and understanding of the natural world, providing constantly evolving explanations and predictions. The tentacles of research stretch into everything, with investigations now guided by AI and self-teaching algorithms. Some quirky examples; It was discovered that if a box of fresh eggs was placed next to the bass speaker at a Rock Concert (eg.Woodstock), the eggs would be hard boiled by the end. Such is the hidden power of music! Impact on the human brain was the next focus.

Researchers in Switzerland testing 198 honey samples from every cultivated continent, found that 75% were contaminated by neonicotinoids, a commonly used insecticide. 6000 times more toxic than DDT, they affect the nervous system of bees and pollinators, and are soluble with severe ecological consequences. They were banned within the EU in 2018.

Engineers developing fibre-optic cables for global communications have studied and remain envious of the human optic nerve, connecting eye and brain. It is less than 4mm in diameter yet contains more than a million high performance nerve fibres, each individually insulated. Study of the flexibility of octopus tentacles has helped bioengineers to design ‘soft robotic’ arms for use in dangerous rubble inspection and delicate surgical procedures.

Finally, romantic love is a chemically identifiable condition, which impacts the same brain centres as cocaine, with similar intensity! It lasts about a year according to Italian research.[iv]

Do such findings make the world a better place? Clearly, yes. 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.

Scientism and new atheism assert that only what can be scientifically verified can be designated as meaningful or true. I can see it, therefore it is. However, human civilisations have always demonstrated a predisposition to look beyond the visible horizons of our world. From the earliest rock art, through Egyptian, Greek and Roman deities, to monotheistic revelations, making sense of life and death in the context of unseen controlling powers, has been part of human cognitive architecture. Briggs and Wagner term this the ‘ultimate curiosity’ of humanity, what lies beyond this life? They designate science’s role, explaining life on earth, as the ‘penultimate curiosity’. Religion and science, far from being contradictory, operate in complementary spheres. Metaphorically they are riders in a Tour de France peloton, slipstreaming each other, alternating in the lead and maintaining respectful distance.[v] 

Instead of building silos, we need to emulate the great discoverers of the past; Ptolemy, Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler, who all saw their scientific work as part of their religious life – ‘both and’. Add to these the classical generalists, ‘philosopher-scientist-theologians’, and wisdom rather than knowledge can be found, which is so needed today. The Father of Arab Philosophy, al-Kindi, whilst grappling with alternative Islamic and Greek philosophies, urged that we should ‘admire the truth and acquire it from wherever it may be found…’ (800 AD).

Ultimately, as a particle physicist at Cern, Geneva, has reflected, in all our probing, are we asking the right questions?

References

[i] https://www.livescience.com/44186-who-invented-the-steam-engine.html

[ii] https://www.industrytap.com/knowledge-doubling  2013

[iii] New Dark Age – Technology and the End of the Future 2018. James Bridle

[iv] The Week, Issue: 541 - 2005

[v] The Penultimate Curiosity: How science swims in the slipstream of ultimate questions - Roger Wagner & Prof Andrew Briggs. Oxford University Press. 2016.  Also released as a two-part documentary film in 2019