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The following exercises are designed to help you use science to develop and expand your worldview. There are no "right" or "wrong" answers to the questions; they are simply meant to help you become more aware of your thinking about the world. Pick and choose the exercises that are most interesting or helpful to you. Categories:
Defining your current worldviewDescribing your universeDescribe, as carefully and clearly as you can, what you think are the essential properties of the universe you live in. If you get stuck on what to start writing about, you might imagine what you would see if you close your eyes and float out away from Earth. What would you see as you moved farther and farther away? You can describe anything you think is important, but here are some possibilities to discuss: How big is the Universe? Does it have an edge somewhere? How is it arranged? (e.g. are things spread uniformly throughout, or are some parts of the Universe very different from others?) How many stars do you think are in it? Has it existed forever, or if not, how old do you think it is? Are there other planets? Are there other creatures besides those on Earth? What are the most important laws that control what happens in your universe? Can events among the stars foretell what will happen on Earth? How do humans fit in to the scheme of things: are we important, not important, do we have a specific role to play? The idea is simply to spell out your own "worldview" about how you think the universe operates and what you think are the most important features and properties of our universe. Have fun and see what you can discover! Tracing the origin of "good" and "bad"As we go through a day, we're continually evaluating our feelings and inclinations to do things, labeling some as "good and valuable," to be followed, and others as "bad" or irrelevant or somehow not valuable to act on. Pick out a few of these things, a few of these feelings or choices, and start tracing them back to their origins. What objectives do you have in mind, that lead you to think of them as good or bad? (What assumptions are you making about how the world works, in deciding which things you will or will not do?) Building a scenarioMake a list of what seems most important or valuable to you in your life: morals, accomplishments, friends, family, experiences you want to have, causes you want to support, etc. Look for common themes, and try to trace the foundations of these themes to how the world works. What do your values say about what you think might be going on overall in the universe? What might a concrete scenario look like, that incorporates your values? Applying science to your worldviewFollow up to "Describing your universe"What (if any) scientific grounding is there for your beliefs? Are any of your beliefs inconsistent with information uncovered by science? If so, where do you think your beliefs come from? What evidence (if any) would cause you to change your beliefs? Key properties of the universeWhat do you perceive as the key features or properties of the universe science tells us we live in? What might they mean about the nature of the universe and our role in it? How scientific knowledge affects your actionsTry to identify some of the ways in which you already live differently because you know specific things about the world that were learned through science. In other words, what are some concepts or pieces of knowledge for which you would say, "I make different choices, act differently because I know...?" What are you looking for?What new facts could be discovered through science that would strike you as evidence that this is a meaningful universe, of the sort you'd like to live in? Applying your worldview to your lifeBecome aware of your instantaneous worldviewEven when we have a very thoughtful, well-articulated worldview, we do not always live as if we truly believe it. Moment to moment, we react to our instantaneous worldview, how we perceive the world at that particular time. One of the key steps to integrating the worldview that you have developed during your more reflective moments into your daily life is to become aware of your instantaneous worldview. What are you thinking and feeling as you go through your day? What causes your frame of mind to change? How might you set up your environment to reinforce the view of the world that you'd like to have? What are you really doing?Set alarms or arrange other reminders to stop yourself a few times a day and consciously ask yourself "What am I doing right now?" Try to answer in as broad a context as possible, relating it to the rest of the universe. What system are you a part of, what objective are you working toward, and how might that objective fit into a bigger scheme that it contributes toward? Develop a "guiding principle"As Ortega Y Gasset said, "Life cannot wait until the sciences may have explained the universe scientifically. We cannot put off living until we are ready. The most salient characteristic of life is its coerciveness: It is always urgent, 'here and now' without any possibility of postponement. Life is fired at us point blank." We need something to guide our choices while we are developing and refining our worldview. Even if our worldview is well-developed, it is difficult to keep the whole picture in mind at any given instant. What we need at our fingertips is something to help us make choices that are consistent with our current worldview. Try to extract a "guiding principle" that is easy to remember and to apply that is based on your existing worldview. Note that it doesn't need to summarize your worldview; it just needs to be consistent with it. Exploring the meaning of "meaning"Operational meaningOperationally, what things seem to (temporarily, anyway) satisfy our craving for meaning? What things would we say are meaningful, with a fair amount of confidence? Are there common themes? What makes things seem meaningful? Your "ideal universe"What qualities or properties do you think the universe must have in order for you to feel that you have a place in it, and that your life is meaningful? (In other words, what are the key features or properties of your "ideal universe?") Life in the absence of external meaningSuppose you somehow knew with certainty that there was absolutely no meaning in the external universe&endash;nothing outside of the meaning you create for yourself. What would you do in that case; how would you choose to live? You would still have the feeling that some things matter more than others; you would still make choices; you would still be faced with daily life just as you are now. What might you choose as the things that matter? (By imagining how you might create meaning from your current situation, right now, in the absence of any external standard, you free yourself to really think about what is necessary for the kind of meaning you value, and to then look for it in the real universe.) Choosing attitudes as well as actionsWe spend a great deal of time trying to decide what would be meaningful to do. Imagine that you were told (by some very reliable source) that you could find meaning in nearly anything you could do...that the real choice is not of what to do, but how to think about it. Imagine (or actually try) going through a day with this perspective, spending very little time deciding what to do, but actively looking for whatever meaning you can extract from your activities. Connecting to the world around youAwareness of your surroundingsTry to answer the following questions as best you can: • Have you ever seen a full moon in the middle of the day? Where was it in relation to the sun and in relation to the directions (N, S, E, W) on Earth? • What is the nearest plant to your front door? Does it have edible, medicinal, or other uses? • At about what time did the sun rise and set yesterday? • What phase is the moon in now and at about what time will it rise tomorrow? • Where is your nearest source of fresh water? • What was the first thing you thought about when you woke up this morning? • When do you pay the most attention to the world of nature around you? Early in the morning when the birds are singing? At sunset? Whale watching? Hiking? Feeding pigeons? What kinds of activities most easily put you in a frame of mind where you are aware of the big picture of the world you are a part of? When do you feel most connected to processes extending beyond your immediate surroundings? Technology As a Window to the UniverseAll technology is designed to make use of some principle(s) about how nature operates. If you think about the principles behind the tools you are using, the tools can become a window to the larger universe. Pick a product of technology, as complex as a computer or as simple as a piece of furniture, and see how many connections you can make between how it works and the bigger processes going on in nature. Tracing OriginsTake an item, either man-made or "natural," and trace its components back to its raw materials. What processes occurred to transform the raw materials into the item before you today? What will happen to the materials in the future? Connections to Other PeopleList (by title or category) all the people who were involved in making it possible for you to use a product of technology. You may wish to start with something simple, like a ball-point pen. Relating technology to science integrationWhat Technology Reflects About UsFor each of the following products, list the basic function and the human need or desire that the product addresses. What does it say about the universe and ourselves that these needs and desires exist?
Evolution with TechnologyIn many ways, our biological evolution has slowed. We have chosen to resist natural selection by curing diseases, helping people live with disabilities, etc. We are still evolving, but in different ways. Instead of developing eyes that see more clearly, we build microscopes and telescopes that enable us to see things that we never could before. Technology and human choice are driving this new, fast-paced evolution. As consumers and voters, we make the selection of which inventions will endure and be further developed. Think of five high tech products that have become widespread during your lifetime. How have they influenced your life? In what direction do you think each one is taking society? |
