Comments on: The Soul is Dead. Long live the Soul. http://livelythought.com/the-soul-is-dead-long-live-the-soul/ A Blog of Ideas Sat, 02 May 2009 17:06:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Ken Hunt http://livelythought.com/the-soul-is-dead-long-live-the-soul/comment-page-1/#comment-10 Ken Hunt Mon, 22 Sep 2008 14:24:03 +0000 http://livelythought.com/?p=110#comment-10 Thanks Jason. Of course, there are many places in the world that aren't swayed by Darwin, and there's no reason to think they'll be swayed by neuroscience. I think you're right that spirituality will always be with us. Here we are almost 150 years after Nietzche wrote "Gott ist tot" and religion hasn't exactly disappeared. Thanks Jason.

Of course, there are many places in the world that aren’t swayed by Darwin, and there’s no reason to think they’ll be swayed by neuroscience.

I think you’re right that spirituality will always be with us. Here we are almost 150 years after Nietzche wrote “Gott ist tot” and religion hasn’t exactly disappeared.

]]> By: Jason Hirst http://livelythought.com/the-soul-is-dead-long-live-the-soul/comment-page-1/#comment-7 Jason Hirst Sun, 21 Sep 2008 16:55:39 +0000 http://livelythought.com/?p=110#comment-7 I also love Wolfe and his oeuvre, but his strengths lie in describing human behaviour rather than science. Even today, fMRI is in its infancy, not having revealed much about how psychoactive drugs work or how decisons are made. It does precitably show which part of the brain is involved in very specific circumstances, such as looking at various pictures, and has been used to help marketers sell you stuff you don´t need. Religion has become less important in Europe and Canada but more important in some other places. Some people will never accept science pre-empting matters of faith. But spirituality will always be with us, and most of those who accept and promote science would see this as something to enrich the soul, rather than to replace it. Congratulations on your blog. I also love Wolfe and his oeuvre, but his strengths lie in describing human behaviour rather than science. Even today, fMRI is in its infancy, not having revealed much about how psychoactive drugs work or how decisons are made. It does precitably show which part of the brain is involved in very specific circumstances, such as looking at various pictures, and has been used to help marketers sell you stuff you don´t need.

Religion has become less important in Europe and Canada but more important in some other places. Some people will never accept science pre-empting matters of faith. But spirituality will always be with us, and most of those who accept and promote science would see this as something to enrich the soul, rather than to replace it.

Congratulations on your blog.

]]> By: Ken Hunt http://livelythought.com/the-soul-is-dead-long-live-the-soul/comment-page-1/#comment-5 Ken Hunt Fri, 19 Sep 2008 21:28:40 +0000 http://livelythought.com/?p=110#comment-5 Well said, Roger. Thanks for dropping by! Well said, Roger. Thanks for dropping by!

]]> By: Neuromarketing http://livelythought.com/the-soul-is-dead-long-live-the-soul/comment-page-1/#comment-4 Neuromarketing Fri, 19 Sep 2008 21:22:14 +0000 http://livelythought.com/?p=110#comment-4 If you believe futurist Ray Kurzweil, the resolution of brain scans will improve exponentially in the coming decades. We'll get a lot closer to really understanding how human thought processes happen. Whether that illuminates the "soul" issue is another story. I think it's a lot like the assertion that free will doesn't exist, and all actions are the products of predetermined biological structures, brain chemistry, etc. I don't buy that - many decisions are simply too unpredictable given current technology and anything available in the foreseeable future. As with weather forecasters, we will have to content ourselves with probabilities and inevitable errors in predicting the behavior of individuals. Roger If you believe futurist Ray Kurzweil, the resolution of brain scans will improve exponentially in the coming decades. We’ll get a lot closer to really understanding how human thought processes happen.

Whether that illuminates the “soul” issue is another story.

I think it’s a lot like the assertion that free will doesn’t exist, and all actions are the products of predetermined biological structures, brain chemistry, etc. I don’t buy that – many decisions are simply too unpredictable given current technology and anything available in the foreseeable future. As with weather forecasters, we will have to content ourselves with probabilities and inevitable errors in predicting the behavior of individuals.

Roger

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