Coasters and BABloggee and anyone else: I have a page on the main site with links to the topics we discussed on the radio Thursday night.
I was on the Coast to Coast AM radio show last night, and, as usual, had a great time. Of course, being up until 3:00 a.m. local time, I was probably delirious. Still. George Noory is a gracious host, and it's always fun to wonder what he'll bring up. We usually cover a lot of scientific ground, of course, but we sometimes slip into a little philosophy. I talked a bit about the intersection of religion, philosophy, and science. I'll have to find a recording of the program and listen again to what I said. I can't remember it word for word, but it felt right. Basically, a lot of people say that science tells us the how of things, and religion the why. I don't agree: first, there are so many religions that disagree on both the why and the how that there is a lot of noise. Science provides a way to cut through that noise. It addresses the how, certainly, but that leads to the why. For example, by investigating how the brain works, we have learned a vast amount about psychology: why we do things the way we do, why we think the way we do. How --> why. So we may all disagree on why the Universe exists due to our own prejudices, but science, when used properly, cuts through that. Evidence piles up, hypotheses are dreamed up, discarded or fortified, and eventually, organically, the why comes through. That's why science is so cool. And that's really only one reason science is so cool. There're lots more. Anyway, if and when the folks from C2C want me back on, I'll be there. I really like talking about these and other matters, and taking calls from the listeners. I also kinda like staying up late, too. For once I don't feel guilty about crawling out of bed at 10:00 in the morning!
