Science
We live in a time of great scientific enlightenment. Scientists are learning more about the world in ten years than all of mankind has learned up to the dawn of the twentieth century. Now we are about to start another 100 years of even more accelerated discovery. How can these scientists learn new things at such an accelerated pace when there are people sitting at home unable to learn how to program their VCR clock?
This simple answer is: We live in a bifurcated society. Bifurcated means there is a split of the whole where part goes one way and part goes another way. This is what has happened to our society. The ironic situation is how society is divided. There are those who ask questions and those who want answers and those who don't care about the questions.
At first glance one may believe those who ask questions are one in the same as those who want answers, but there is a catch. Those who want answers want the questions as well. Those who ask questions only find more questions as they continue to ask them.
As you may have guessed, the scientists are leading the group of those who ask the questions and the religious right is leading those who want the answers. The scientists are skeptical and continue ask questions of every answer they get. On the other hand the religious right has a list of questions and answers that covers the scope of everything any "normal" person would want to know.
Scientists are trained to look for inconsistencies and problematic answers. If the answers work in some cases, do they work in all cases? What if parameters are changed? Does it work at all times past? Will it work for all times in the future? Scientists will come to a consensus on the answers they agree with based on experimental observations and they will tend to disagree on inconsistent experimental observations.
Religious fundamentalists are not all Christian, but Jewish, Moslem or any other group placing total knowledge and understanding in some type of declarative authority. Groups using different authorities will disagree with each other based on the differences in their authorities. These groups can never agree with each other unless they alter the interpretation of their authority.
Now, the rest of us tend to align ourselves with one of these two groups. We may not agree completely with either group on all issues. In fact most of us do not agree completely with either group, even though not committing to one group or the other is a totally inconsistant. However, being human allows us to be inconsistent in our mind and still feel as if we are being reasonable. Our emotional attachment to ideas or ideals will pull us in different directions, even though we know deep down we can solve these inconsistencies by either asking questions or searching an authority for the answers.
As it turns out, the majority of us would rather not be bothered with the questions or the answers as long as we don't need to know. We base our actions on our feelings. If we feel like it we'll do it, if we don't we won't. If it's to much trouble finding the answer don't feel like asking the question. So, that's why so many people don't care if their VCR clock is programmed, because it's to much trouble to find out how to program it.
Like it or not, the groups that care about the questions are asking: How can we get more support for our way of thinking? The answer is to pursued the great mass of people in the middle to your way of thinking. Now remember, the people in the middle are the ones who don't care about the questions let alone the answers. The two groups are fighting for support from a majority of lazy people who don't care. Who do you think will garner more support?
Well, these people would prefer to have both the questions and the answers placed on a silver platter and handed to them. Why would they want to spend the time thinking about such matters. And that is what is happening today with the growth in popularity of fundamentalist groups all around the world. A fundamentalist group will force its way into government and pass laws promoting their document of authority. They pass laws forbidding or restricting the promotion of scientific ideas contrary to their document of conformity.
In the end, the scientists don't have a chance. We can see this in our very own country, the good ole' USA. Christian Fundamentalists are pushing their ideas of Creationism, God and Morality. The scientists are busily answering their own questions with only feeble attempts to garner support from the masses. After all, people will know the truth when they see it. This is what Socrates thought as he defended himself at his trial.
Michael Forbush2-16-99
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