Science And The Mystery Of The Mind
We are still as ignorant about the "passage from the physics of the brain to the corresponding facts of consciousness" as John Tyndall and his Victorian colleagues were, says Marcelo Gleiser.
Last week, my 13.7 co-blogger Tania Lombrozo reported on a study she developed with graduate student Sara Gottlieb on whether science can explain the human mind.
As Tania wrote, this was a survey-based study asking the participants "whether they thought it was possible for science to one day fully explain various aspects of the human mind, from depth perception and memory loss to spirituality and romantic love."
On average, the study found, people judged that certain mental phenomena — such as depth perception or the sense of touch — to be "much more amenable to scientific explanation than others — such as feeling pride or experiencing love at first sight."
According to the participants, the dividing line
