Those Supernatural Explanations

Members of the human species seemingly have a propensity to offer up supernatural explanations for what they experience but cannot explain. Such explanations vary in type.

• Perhaps some supernatural agent (a god, or a human practitioner like a shaman or witch) would explain the occurrence.
• Maybe it could be an ancestor spirit of some sort behind the phenomenon.
• Or, more broadly, the explanation could be simply conceptual, like the “evil eye” or “karma.”

A recent research study looked into whether humans are more likely to look to the supernatural to explain natural phenomena or social phenomena.

• To what extent do they draw on the supernatural to explain occurrences of disease?  Or scarcity?  Or hazards like fire and flood?  
• What about events such as murder?  Or theft?  Or warfare?

The study compared the prevalence of naturally-focused and socially-focused supernatural explanations across over a hundred ethnographic societies. It concluded that supernatural explanations are more prevalent for natural phenomena. For example, researchers found 96% of the societies in the sample had common supernatural explanations for disease, while only 26% had common supernatural explanations for theft.

Besides reporting the study’s findings, the researchers engaged in a rather lengthy post-study discussion regarding the application of religious beliefs to explain phenomena. The researchers drew several conclusions. Among other things, their ethnographic study had offered cross-cultural evidence that “humans commonly infer supernatural agency in cases in which there is no clearly responsible human agent.” Where agency is ambiguous, humans intuit a causal agent.

That “Problem” of Consciousness

Acknowledging that the philosopher Daniel Dennett is among the more notable celebrity Brights, the Brights’ website offers visitors an easy route to acquiring some of his most popular books, such as Darwin’s Dangerous Idea and Breaking the Spell.  

It has long been known that, as a Bright, Dr. Dennett is cozy with evolutionary science and leans into naturalistic explanations for phenomena.

• When encountering religious belief in a “soul” or New Age ideas like “quantum consciousness,” he is quite immune to how intuitively appealing others may find the concept to be.
• Dr. Dennett just doesn’t go in for applying such philosophies to what we simply don’t yet understand.
• As a writer once put the matter: “Dennett will simply not entertain any appeals to magic.”  (“Dennett in a Nutshell,” J.J. Donovan, p. 1)

Decades ago, Professor Dennett wrote a book called Consciousness Explained to put forth his thinking on the “problem” of human consciousness.  

• Those 1991 ideas (and his additional thinking since) have spurred many essays, articles, discussions, and debates. The hubbub shows little sign of letting up.
• Of particular interest to many contributors is how human consciousness can emerge from unconscious matter. How can that be?

One recent entry in ongoing discussions is cautioning that the concept of emergence may open the door to a “lazy mysticism”. That essay (by a systems scientist) spurred BC to create this bulletin segment for Brights interested in explaining consciousness as an “emergent property”. The essay has been somewhat more aggressively retitled as “The Problem with Emergence”.

Poetic Promises, from Dawkins

For those who aren’t already in the know, it is important to note that Dr. Richard Dawkins (a notable Bright) has been “at it” again! 

• He has activated a (clearly “evolving” since May) “Science Is the Poetry of Reality” podcast (see the YouTube trailer) while also launching a Substack for which he promises occasional free public postings (regular subscriptions available for cost).  

Reality – As “Poetry”? Actually, that conceptual linkage is rather appealing, and perhaps Dr. Dawkins is “the one” to make the case for it.

• Much praise can be given for Dawkins’ employment of a forthright writing style for explaining nonintuitive science concepts. His cogent and persuasive selection of metaphors is appreciated.
• A book that Dawkins published several years back (The Magic of Reality: How we know what’s really true) was a big favorite among Brights for how he explained science to nonscientists. His was an enthusiastic, straightforward, and also moving presentation of the subject. 
• In a review essay provided on the Brights’ website titled, “The Magic of Reality: For Children, or Adults?” BC made the case that the book, although aimed by Dawkins toward children, really shone in a different way as well. For example, the work was much applauded for its likely appeal to the adult nonscientist, if not so much for the children to whom he had directed his words.

Of course, it remains to be seen what direction this latest venture will eventually take. Clearly, though, the author will be consistent across his many entries in cautioning against the too-copious accepting of assertions without evidence!  Evidence, please.

Something to Cling to, Perhaps?

A static cling bearing the “No Supernatural Ingredients” image shown here is available direct from Brights Central.

While supplies last, BC will be glad to send a decal free. 

You simply send to BC’s postal address (P O Box 163418, Sacramento CA 95816 USA) your self-addressed and stamped envelope. (The SASE must be stamped already for one ounce of U.S. postage, which currently costs $0.66).

For your troubles, along with your window decal, you can expect to receive back a bonus Brights item or two. “Surprise!”

High hopes – The cling comes to you in hopes that you will display it in a spot where others will have the opportunity to view it. Properly installed on glass, the item is long lasting (one BC staffer has had a like decal on the sidewalk side car window for 8 years!).

There’s a “But”!  Proper installation is somewhat tricky. So, be sure to follow the instructions we provide.

And also… No large envelopes, please! A standard “office envelope” is best. Everything will fit in a #10 envelope for the one-ounce 66 cents US postage, and there is room for our enclosing a couple of very light-weight bonus items. (Too small an envelope will hold the decal but not the extra swag.)

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Note to Brights regarding BC’s free offers:   Given the fact that Brights elsewhere cannot supply the requisite U.S. SASE, Brights Central has to rely on the generosity of American Brights to help out our sending any “free offer” to those folks. International one-ounce postage is $1.50. So, American Bright, it would be a kindly action if you actually add a dollar or maybe even two. You will be enabling a Bright elsewhere on the globe to obtain the desired item. Non-USA Brights may make their requests for a decal by emailing the name and postal address to the-brights@the-brights.net with “CLING” in the subject line. We will supply clings as the supply and incoming funding from fellow Brights permits.

Toward More Rational Thinking?

In speaking to a gathering of freethinkers over a year ago, Steven Pinker, a Bright who has written many books on thinking and cognition, was summarizing ideas from the one titled, Rationality. What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters.  

During the talk, Dr. Pinker posed this (frequently-asked-of-him) question, “If people can be rational, why does humanity seem to be losing its mind?”

With conspiracy theories and fake news and post-truth rhetoric and paranormal woo-woo so plentifully loose in the world and proliferating via the internet, it can be argued that humanity at large is “losing it". Wherever disinformation and misinformation flourish, reality becomes less acceptable, and harder to discern. 

And so, for the audience, Pinker was exploring the theme: “How can we become more rational again?” 

“Again?” Pinker was seeking to reverse any downward trend and make rational thinking (something more difficult than lazy thinking) a worthy educational goal. Put tools of formal rationality on the menu. For example:

• logic and probability (and other means of avoiding fallacies)
• causality vs. correlation
• game theory; signal detection theory

Even simple awareness of fallacies that the unaided mind is so prone to would be useful. And what about giving credibility only to what is consistent with evidence? How about making the notion of “changing one’s mind as evidence changes” a meritorious action, not a flip-flop?

If only schools would teach a fourth “R”!  Previous bulletins have focused on the growing need for more education in critical thinking. 

Many Brights may be in a position to help address the problem. Bolstering human reason can make a difference. For Brights who want to encourage rationality in curriculum or feel that they themselves could use a refresher (or a starter dose?), Pinker’s instructional compilation will offer an awfully good place to begin.

Rolling and Unrolling

There’s something of a story here in how our evolution posters make their way toward high school science classrooms, all compliments of “the Brights.”

Whenever these instructional tools leave Brights Central to head out for the post office, they go inside very slim cardboard mailing tubes. Each tube contains the 5 ½ foot wide Earth and Life: changes over time image that the teacher has sought (via application) and is awaiting.

The poster is tightly rolled inside the tube, accompanied by a couple of ancillary pages. (Those extra sheets provide to the high school science teacher who will receive the poster some starter ideas for productive poster use.)

Kelly, at BC, has the knack of rolling each poster sufficiently tightly to fit into a skinny cardboard tube while ensuring no crinkle or bend harms the poster itself. Not easy - No one else around seems to be able to do it! 

Taking advantage of her savvy, BC is able to send each poster to a U.S. teacher at the bottommost postal rate: U.S. “Media Mail.”

Media Mail is designed for sending books and certain educational media. This lowest-cost method of mailing is well-suited to our nonprofit charitable purpose. However, it comes with a few serious caveats. Hence, the story…

When queried by U.S. Postal Service staff as to what is inside, BC must defend our educational objective and even be willing to have our items removed from the tube and inspected (to show that what the tube contains is indeed the educational resource that we say it is). Otherwise, we wouldn’t qualify for that lowest postal rate (only USD3.92).

From experience, we learned early on not to say “it’s a poster” because wall posters featuring celebrities (e.g., Elvis) and entertainment groups do not qualify. Now, whenever asked at the counter, we will say: “It’s a science chart.”

Even so, one time a long while back (when a postal inspector was present), the clerk knew he was under scrutiny. Despite our protest, he went ahead to undo everything (roughly). With the items strewn across the postal counter, our case was made but rolling it all back up was impossible. Back to Brights Central with that one.

Just once, though! No need for unrolling for inspection since now we use only the same post office in the city and a timeframe. Now familiar clerks agreeably trust what’s inside.

Science teachers are prone to use great care in removing and unrolling the evolution poster. (We’ve had only one damage reported.) In fact, a goodly fraction of recipients has told Brights Central about immediately laminating the valuable instructional resource. Comments about the image have been uniformly positive. (They only wish it could be even larger!)

This project of the Brights captures visually for students some complex natural processes that Earth has undergone over time. Teachers are aided in showing the science of how changes have happened, and all completely free of any supernatural interventions.