KARL JASPERS FORUM

TA63 (Leslie / Rees)

Commentary 11 (to Nixon, C8)

( FUNDAMENTALISM )
by Paul Roberts
12 November 2003, posted 23 November 2003

It really does not help human thought to equate the physical and biological sciences with religious fundamentalism. It obfuscates. Models of reality built on "divine revelation" suffer, as a rule, from anthropomorphism and anthrocentrism. Slavish devotees of such claims, to the exclusion of conflicting myths and empirically based theories are fundamentalists, not those who weigh theories on the basis of empirical evidence. As for MIR, it is an excellent working hypothesis based on what we know about the late evolutionary appearance of "minds" on the scene, after at least 15 billion years of cosmic evolution and 4.5 billion years of terrestrial evolution. The universe, by all evidence, does not evolve in a manner suggesting either control or periodic influence by "mind" -- unless one includes minor terrestrial effects by a few evolved minds.

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Paul Roberts