Those who know me, know that I am not a worshipper at the altar of science. It has its place as an interpreter of reality, as an extender of our mental boundaries, but for at least the past 200 years it has functioned as if it could tell us the most important things: who we are, what we are here for, what the purpose of life and the universe is.
It can’t do those things, but the atrophy of religions in our day and the failure (finally!) of beliefs in social, economic, and/or political utopias (ideologies, in a word) left a vacuum, which scientists were as eager to fill as they were unqualified to fill it.
Nonetheless, when I find a report from scientists that confirms what I already believe, I’m happy to pass it along, with the caveat that the results of a study are no more than the results of a study. If another study tomorrow disproves this one, are we supposed to jump hoops to re-form our beliefs to meet the newer study? Apparently many scientists think so. I wish them well, but I’d rather anchor my beliefs in something a little more permanent, a little more solid, than this new variant of “the latest thing.”
This is from Science Daily http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091208155309.htm