jueves, 3 de abril de 2008

Como sólo Dennett podía decirlo

Now what will we do with our knowledge? The birth pangs of our discoveries have not subsided. Many are afraid that learning too much about what we are –trading mystery for mechanisms- will impoverish our vision of human possibility. This fear is understandable, but if we really were in danger of learning too much , wouldn’t those on the cutting edge be showing signs of discomfort? Look around at those who are participating in this quest for further scientific knowledge and eagerly digesting the new discoveries; they are manifestly not short on optimism, moral conviction, engagement in life, commitment to society. In fact, if you want to find anxiety, despair, and anomie among intellectuals today, look to the recently fashionable tribe of postmodernists, who like to claim that modern science is just another in a long line of myths, its institutions and expensive apparatus just the rituals and accoutrements of yet another religion. That intelligent people can take this seriously is a testimony to the power that fearful thinking still has, in spite of our advances in self-knowledge. The postmodernists are right that science is just one of the things we might want to spend our extra calories on. The fact that science has been major source of the efficiencies that created those extra calories does not entitle it to any particular share of the wealth it has created. But it should still be obvious that the innovations of science –not just its microscopes and telescopes and computers, but its commitment to reason and evidence- are the new sense organs of our species, enabling us to answer questions, solve mysteries and anticipate the future in ways no earlier human institutions can approach.

Daniel Dennett, Freedom Evolves.