Science Meets Religion??

Wade says: "This is personal perspective or introspective post.

"...The key assumption here is that science and religion are ultimately 100% compatible, and that the two perspectives on our one existence can illuminate each other, and should. ...

"My own take is that, largely, science has been looking down the microscope trying to find the meaning of life, and religion has been looking out the window and upwards, with the same question. As humans we're in that awkward place in between the two worlds, where issues such as justice and purpose and meaning operate at a level where the scientific method's tools are very weak: tightly-coupled, large-scale, heavy feedback hierarchical contexts where removing something from context to study it in isolation destroys the something you wanted to study, like removing a deep-sea fish from the depths of the ocean.

"The blogosphere, and its behaviors and potentials, are way closer to this type of active coupled-context space than we've ever been before. We have very poor intution about what pheneomena can occur when you take this many active components and wire them all toghether.

"We do know one thing, though - it is possible to take ten trillion active units ("cells") and have them actually function as one "being" in the case of our own bodies. There are clearly solutions beyond "let the biggest cell win!".

"The relationship of health to connectedness to this world of other human beings is increasingly seen as worthy of scientific study, but the tools are primitive at best."

To read the rest of his essay: link