Traditional Big Questions and Big
Answers
The gist of Scientism’s Big Questions
and Answers are:
Q: Where do humans come from?
A: Scientism looks at the fossil evidence gathered by evolutionary
scientists and theorizes that everything which is present
right now is here because of past physical and biological activity. Physical
and biological activity
describe the vision termed materialism.
For Scientism, there is no realm of experience,
knowledge or existence other than
what is right in front of us, what humans term “nature.”
Evolution
describes a random process of mutation and natural selection
which accounts for the development of complex structures and species
from simpler structures and species. In this view, everything which
is human is explainable by understanding humanity’s material
base.
The categories others use to describe humanity, such as body,
mind and
spirit are, in essence, ways of talking about how the basic material
of the life force has evolved. Non-sacred Scientism rejects any
special revealed knowledge or supernatural realms.
Q: How did humans get here?
A: Scientists have discovered an evolutionary process
which proceeds by randomness, mutation and natural selection. Neither scientists
nor Scientism can point to the “missing link” which
shows how organic life came from inorganic, or how self-critical rational
thought
arose from instinctual behavior. While Scientism values humanity
for its distinctive and “evolved” characteristics, it notes
that human life is just one option Evolution
took. Though Scientism cannot answer all questions about how life
evolved, e. g., how
the brain “thinks,” Scientism is confident that humanity
as a species will someday become extinct.
Q: Where are humans going?
A: The short answer is, wherever evolution takes the human
species. By all observation, this appears to be towards extinction,
which is the fate of most biological entities. Entropy, Isaac Newton’s
Second Law of Thermodynamics, will win the day. A minority voice, basically
using discoveries and insights from Quantum physics,
articulates a premise that the Earth is a self-sustaining, self-correcting
biological
unit. A few aver that it
is a Living Earth. Others hypothesize that humanity
is evolving toward a novel state which we cannot,
at present, identify. This is the result
of looking at whole systems and/or working with a holistic methodology.
Continue—Q&A
