At Mind Matters News: Science’s Limitations According to a Futurist

Caitlin Bassett notes that Canadian futurist Nikola Danaylov rightly warns against a blind embrace of science

Danaylov spends the first several chapters of his online series discussing the power and importance of story. He argues that storytelling is our greatest technology, dating back tens of thousands of years in the early days of the Homo Sapiens species.

According to Danaylov, we have reached a point in history in which the story needs to change – much like it has changed through time:

“The human story has been written and rewritten several times already. The last time was somewhere between the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution when we dethroned God as the central authority in the Universe and took his place instead. Since then our story has spread the myth of the supremacy and centrality of the human being… – Nikola Danaylov, “Chapter 6: the Biology of Story” at Singularity Weblog”

This story is beginning to crumble, says Danaylov, and a rewriting is necessary. But that comes with a warning:

“…we ought to be very careful in rewriting our story. Because if we end up destroying it without offering a better alternative we can end up destroying our civilization.”

Caitlin Bassett, “Science’s Limitations According to a Futurist” at Mind Matters News

Takehome: Science is not supreme. That’s an excellent point made. The problem here is that Danaylov fails to tell us what IS supreme.

You may also wish to read: What’s wrong with a popular theory of the evolution of religion. Generally, monotheism is favorable to a high level of organization, including complex theologies that don’t just morph a lot but are only changed with much deliberation or controversy. But did that state of affairs evolve so as to foster “cohesive unity,” as Harari suggests? Hard to say. Religion — especially propositional religion, like the monotheisms — can foster either unity or disunity. Monotheism has not been a force for unity in Northern Ireland or the Middle East.

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