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Return to E-mail Discussion page Something to ponder, from "What Do You Care What Other People Think,"Richard Feynman (pp. 242-244): "... I would like *not* to underestimate the value of the world view which is the result of scientific effort... With more knowledge comes a deeper, more wonderful mystery, luring one on to penetrate deeper still... It is true that few unscientific people have this particular type of religious experience. Our poets do not write about it; our artists do not try to portray this remarkable thing. I don't know why. Is no one inspired by our present picture of the universe? This value of science remains unsung by singers: you are reduced to hearing not a song or poem, but an evening lecture about it. This is not yet a scientific age. Perhaps one of the reasons for this silence is that you have to know how to read the music. For instance, the scientific article may say, 'The radioactive phosphorous content of the cerebrum of the rat decreases to one-half in a period of two weeks.' Now what does that mean? It means that the phosphorous that is in the brain of a rat - and also in mine, and yours - is not the same phosphorous as it was two weeks ago. It means the atoms that are in the brain are being replaced: the ones that were there before have gone away. So what is this mind of ours: what are these atoms with consciousness? Last week's potatoes! They can now *remember* what was going on in my mind a year ago - a mind which has long ago been replaced. To note that the thing I call my individuality is only a pattern or dance, *that* is what it means when one discovers how long it takes for the atoms of the brain to be replaced by other atoms. The atoms come into my brain, dance a dance, and then go out - there are always new atoms, but always doing the same dance, remembering what the dance was yesterday. When we read about this in the newspaper, it says, 'Scientists say this discovery may have importance in the search for a cure for cancer.' The paper is only interested in the use of the idea, not the idea itself. Hardly anyone can understand the importance of an idea, it is so remarkable." - Todd |
