David Eagleman: A Possiblian

In New Scientist, David Eagleman describes his personal position on the question of God and religion.  He begins with an amazing metaphor.  Our accumulated wisdom through scientific enterprise builds a pier that overlooks the vast ocean of our ignorance.  New science looks out at the possibilities and seeks to expand our pier.  Only our ignorance prevents our understanding.  


Sometimes, atheist-scientists make bold claims about the existence of God from their science.  Sadly, the public mistakes their near-certainty with the ideas of all scientists.  Some scientists, like Eagleman, understand that we can't ignore possibilities because we don't like them.  We don't know everything and that includes the likelihood of God.  Science must remain open-minded to all possibilities, because as Eagleman says, "our knowledge is vastly outstripped by our ignorance."  


Our main religions all developed well before our understanding of space, cells, and DNA.  Like most religions, they base understanding on superstitions and lack of understanding.  However, they provide shared traditions and histories and describe insights into human behavior.


When it comes to the God Debate, Eagleman provides a new entry.  Possibilians want to apply logic to the question of God.  They avoid the avid certainty of fundamentalist theists and atheists.  In the history of science and religion, uncertainty outshines our certainty every time.  Both sides accept the vastness of what we don't know.  Perhaps, they just look off different sides of the same pier.