The Road to Hell: the Impact of Erroneous Scientific Theories on the World Economy and Civilization Itself
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The Road to Hell: the Impact of Erroneous Scientific Theories on the World Economy and Civilization Itself John Smythies
Received: 29 October 2011 / Accepted: 5 February 2013 # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
Abstract This paper explores the effect that certain basic scientific theories about the nature of human beings (in particular the mind/brain hypothesis) have upon the human condition. It is argued that these theories set the gnostic background, which determines to a large extent the psychological effects of economic disasters and what can be done to prevent and ameliorate them. Keywords Identity theory . Weltanschauung . Economic disasters . Values . Psychoeconomics . Racism . National Socialism . Communism This short paper is about the deleterious effects of too little modesty and too much certainty in our present attitude towards our scientific knowledge of the universe. In 1900, Lord Kelvin made his famous pronouncement that physics was almost complete (Kelvin 1900). All was known that could possibly be known, except for a few minor details, such as the problem of the ether, which would soon be cleared up. The publication in the same year of the first paper on quantum physics, and 5 years later the special theory of relativity, showed that Lord Kelvin was mistaken. Today, a similar sunny optimism pervades physics and, in particular, neuroscience. Again, one reads many claims that physics is almost within reach of the theory of everything and soon we will know all that there is to know about the physical universe (except for a few details, etc.). Likewise, most neuroscientists hold strongly to the belief that the final theory of the brain–consciousness relationship is almost within their grasp. They admit that many details remain to be filled in, but they hold that the overall theory of mind–brain identity has been established beyond all reasonable doubt. They point to a mountain of evidence from clinical neurology, basic neuroscience, and, in particular, functional neuroimaging studies that they claim supports their cause. Two recent papers address some features of what the neural correlates of consciousness may actually be (Smythies and Edelstein 2013; Smythies et al. 2012). J. Smythies (*) Center for Brain and Cognition, UCSD, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92095, USA e-mail: [email protected]
J Knowl Econ
However, if one examines the data, and these optimistic claims based on the data, one finds that these claims are uniformly dubious. I cover this point in depths in my book The Walls of Plato’s Cave and a précis is presented as an appendix to this paper. The fact is that no one has demonstrated that the brain and consciousness are identical, and there are very good reasons to conclude that they are not. However, the belief that the human mind is merely an expression of activities in the brain, and that no other entities or processes are in any way involved, is by now firmly entrenched in Western culture. It seems to me unlikely that the inhabitants of a small and insignifican
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