{"id":2539,"date":"2009-11-29T14:01:20","date_gmt":"2009-11-29T19:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.math.columbia.edu\/~woit\/wordpress\/?p=2539"},"modified":"2009-11-29T14:01:20","modified_gmt":"2009-11-29T19:01:20","slug":"one-reason-science-is-having-trouble-banishing-religious-thinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.math.columbia.edu\/~woit\/wordpress\/?p=2539","title":{"rendered":"One Reason Science is Having Trouble Banishing Religious Thinking"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andrew Sullivan, under the title String Theory and Miracles<\/a> quotes part of a blog posting entitled One reason science is having trouble banishing religious thinking<\/a> at the Democracy in America site (the original posting text is not there right now, may reappear) which notes that the spectacle of physicists widely promoting to the public the string theory multiverse is having the following effect:<\/p>\n

It’s not always readily apparent to non-physicists why this kind of talk is less supernatural than a belief in the persistence of the soul after death….<\/p>\n

But strictly in terms of how the argument between theists and atheists plays out in the public domain, there is a different quality to the tenets that are emerging on the atheistic, particle-physics side of things these days.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The string theory multiverse pseudo-science has done a huge amount of damage to the interests of string theory within the academic community, but it also threatens to do damage to the understanding and image of science among the public. Unfortunately, while there is more and more physics content in US popular media, it is often in the form of string theory-based pseudo-scientific nonsense rather than real science. For examples of this, see a new article in the Denver Post<\/a> which catalogs some of this (while arguing that it’s a good thing):<\/p>\n

\nTV is working through the shock of the age of terrorism and dismay at the broken boundaries of science, right before our eyes. Parallel universes? Bending time? Alternate dimensions? Some heavy-duty thoughts are seeping into prime time every week.<\/p>\n

To the extent that TV reflects the culture at large, these shows seem to be saying we’re on the cusp of major change \u2014 technological, scientific, political or emotional. We may not have answers but we’re aware of expanding questions. In 2009, it has become accepted for folks on the couch to converse about the space-time continuum. Not that we understand string theory, but we recognize it when it pops up in TV scripts, peppering a spy thriller. “Lost” pushed the way with its dialogue about “moving the island,” leading fans to discuss time-shifting, wormholes and Einstein’s relativity theory.<\/p>\n

Really.<\/p>\n

The newer shows are picking up the string (theory) and running with it. There are hopeful signs in all this. The sci-fi series depict humans taking control of the planet, voting in favor of free will and standing up for the species. Maybe TV can provide some wishful thinking.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Andrew Sullivan, under the title String Theory and Miracles quotes part of a blog posting entitled One reason science is having trouble banishing religious thinking at the Democracy in America site (the original posting text is not there right now, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.math.columbia.edu\/~woit\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.math.columbia.edu\/~woit\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.math.columbia.edu\/~woit\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.math.columbia.edu\/~woit\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.math.columbia.edu\/~woit\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2539"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.math.columbia.edu\/~woit\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2541,"href":"https:\/\/www.math.columbia.edu\/~woit\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2539\/revisions\/2541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.math.columbia.edu\/~woit\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.math.columbia.edu\/~woit\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.math.columbia.edu\/~woit\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}