Ecological Enlightenment June 20, 2008
Posted by Graham in : Health, Science and Rationaltiy , 6commentsRichard Heinberg has recently written about how our understanding of our place within ecological systems- the ability to see the “big picture” of energy flows and resource constraints on human activity- could be seen as a kind of “enlightenment”- a new vision of the world not necessarily obvious or intuitive but closer to reality than that which our immediate perceptions and experience tell us.
John Michael Greer has also recently written an interesting post discussing the legacy of science and rationality and whether they can or will be saved as we move through energy descent.
The scientific trial, including use of controls and blinding to avoid observer or experimental bias. is a recent human innovation that has revolutionized the way in which we investigate and gain knowledge about the world. The whole point of this process is that it provides a way of checking our own experience and seeing if they are indeed correct. Evidence is collected and carefully verified by independent parties carefully checking the experiments. Over time, with increasing confidence, testable, verifiable data is accumulated and knowledge about the world and the universe and the nature of Nature can be asserted with increasing confidence. (more…)
