Sunday, March 29, 2009

Connections in the Natural World

So far, my favorite quote from the Kane book is "The whole world seems alive with relationships we cannot see, except as the make their presence felt in other relationships that we can see (40)."

I felt drawn to this idea immediately when I read it. I love the mystery that this implies, and the fact that Science (capitalized) attempting to explain these patterns degrades and severely undermines the mystery and wonder of the natural world.

This is primarily Kane's point when he talks about the caribou and the biologists attempts at tracking their numbers. Something else is obviously going on under the surface and no amount of scientific work is going to account for the "mystical" variable.

I would like to write my paper on something concerning that mysterious element. Kane touches briefly on the impact of science on our understanding and belief about natural things. However, I would like to focus on how Science actually masks our understanding by creating a world without mystery.



If the product of all scientific research was a world without mystery, should scientific research continue? If the natural world is keeping esoteric information and or processes from us, does Science really think that the earth will hand over her secrets. She sings them to herself, but Science does not allow them to be heard. She sings them to herself, but humanity is often preoccupied. If humanity was available to listen, would she sing them loud enough for humanity to hear? Or maybe Science has masked her song enough so that humanity no longer hears a song but a bird or the wind or the waves, beautiful still but no longer part of the entire song.



Uh... I don't really hold a high view of most Science - if you couldn't tell.

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