by John Horgan, The Scientific Curmudgeon
This will be my last post as “The Scientific Curmudgeon.” Earlier today, I started blogging for Discover under the tag “Horganism.” I hope readers of this blog—and particularly those who keep me honest by giving me a dose of my own skeptical medicine—will check out Horganism. (On Discover.com, you can also find “The Final Frontier,” a 10th-anniversary update of The End of Science published in the October issue.) You’ll get the same perspective there that you’ve gotten here, as I explain in my first post, titled “What Is Horganism?”:
To the Nobel laureate Phil Anderson, who coined the term in an essay in Physics Today in 1999, “Horganism” connotes corrosive pessimism about science’s future. For the purposes of this blog—and because, hell, it’s my name—I’d like to define Horganism differently, as healthy skepticism toward faith of any kind, scientific, political, philosophical or spiritual. I understand faith’s appeal. Faith in scientific progress helps sustain researchers struggling to wrest truths from nature. Moreover, science has shown that faith in almost anything—from Zeus and Jesus to Freud and Prozac—can help us heal through the placebo effect, the tendency of our expectations to become self-fulfilling. But great harm has also been done in the name of faith, whether in a religion or in pseudo-scientific ideologies such as Marxism, Social Darwinism, eugenics or psychopharmacology. As my article in the October Discover should make clear, I still see lots of room for progress in science and other human endeavors. I even think we can end war! In other words, I’m a skeptic, but a hopeful one. And that’s the best definition I can think of for Horganism.
Please keep an eye on this website to stay informed about activities of the Center for Science Writings, such as my October 18 debate with Michio Kaku; our “Stevens 100 Greatest Science Books” list; our prizes for student essays; and our science-book award. Jim Weatherall and I also plan to post more science-related articles and interviews here. Whenever we do, I’ll be sure to let you know about it over at Horganism.
September 22nd, 2006 at 3:07 pm
healthy skepticism toward faith of any kind, scientific, political, philosophical or spiritual.
How many politicians fiat disappear, philosphers reason away, or priests pray for disappearance of toilet bowl solids? Scientists flush - and it works to spec on demand (or has a real time discrete empirical remedy). Critical reasoning must orthogonally separate the hard sciences from the wannabes.
Enviro-whiners religiously caterwaul over decades’ exposure to parts-per-billion unknown hazards. It was 20% child mortality before wells and privies were separated by science. “Dead” is not remediated by dialectic and critique.
http://www.ppdl.purdue.edu/PPDL/images/jack-o-lantern.jpg
Jack-o-lantern luminescent fungus
http://www.servicelighting.com/catpics/tcp/28955.jpg
There’s a difference. If you want a nice natural glow science will furnish green fluorescent protein in any color you desire. Save the Aequorea victoria jellyfish.