The article in New Scientist begins dramatically: "You cannot overestimate," thundered psychiatrist Jeffrey Schwartz, "how threatened the scientific establishment is by the fact that it now looks like the materialist paradigm is genuinely breaking down. You're gonna hear a lot in the next calendar year about... how Darwin's explanation of how human intelligence arose is the only scientific way of doing it... I'm asking us as a world community to go out there and tell the scientific establishment, enough is enough! Materialism needs to start fading away and non-materialist causation needs to be understood as part of natural reality."
The article reports that creationists are declaring war over the brain. It is a headline and a story meant to spark interest, and it grabbed mine. Go read the story, and let me know what you think. Is the story on target? Will neuroscience be the next battleground in the science-religion debate?
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You know, I was initially going to say that this would be a bad thing. But now that I think about it, I don't think it would be. First, I'm guessing most Americans already believe there is more to people than the materialists say (a soul, not just the brain). So, who are the believers going to convince? Neurologists who are materialists won't change their position any time soon. And it's not like this is something that's found everywhere in school textbooks. Nor is this a foundational component of an entire division of science, like evolution is for biology (yes, it's important for neurology, but I'm not sure it's on par with evolution and biology). So, frankly, I hope they do make a concerted effort to try to make waves here. What's the worst they can do? And while they are blowing their money on this effort, hopefully scientists and rationalists can make some headway in getting people to accept evolution.
Maybe I'm feeling optimistic today?
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