The Seduction of Certainty

Ta-da! Astronomers proudly displayed their blurry orange-yellow first “true” image of a black hole for all the world to see. Along with explaining how cool it was using synchronized, far-flung radio telescopes to create an effectively Earth-sized telescope to capture the image came a collective sigh of scientific relief that Einstein was right.

Since Einstein, science had theorized and calculated the existence of black holes, but we’d never actually seen one. Using their knowledge, physicists and astronomers had figured out they should exist. But, as much as they might not like this pointed out, until now the existence of black holes was a matter of scientific… Faith.

So, are knowledge and faith incompatible? Short answer? No.

In fact, modern science is full of faith. Most of all, it’s full of faith in the human mind’s ability to encompass reality. Ironically, this has led science to a limited, incomplete understanding of the human mind. Or perhaps it’s not irony — for how can a thing encompass itself?

Only now is science even trying to come to grips with the idea human consciousness might exist as something beyond the mere chemical processes going on in the brain. Well, some are. Others are certain the brain is It.

Science falters when it believes in its own certitude. As any belief system does.