Preface It is of little concern whether or not science can prove that the ultimate fate of the
cosmos lacks
purpose: we live our lives regardless at a "human" level, according to ambitions and
perceptions which come more naturally. Therefore, science should not be feared as a sort of cosmological wet blanket. In fact, those in search of beauty or poetry in their
cosmology need not turn to the
paranormal or even necessarily restrict themselves to the mysterious: science itself, the business of unravelling mysteries, is beautiful and poetic. (The rest of the preface sketches an outline of the book, makes acknowledgements, etc.)
The anaesthetic of familiarity Opening lines "We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born. The potential people who could have been here in my place but who will in fact never see the light of day outnumber the sand grains of Arabia. Certainly those unborn ghosts include greater poets than Keats, greater scientists than Newton. We know this because the set of possible people allowed by our DNA so massively outnumbers the set of actual people. In the teeth of these stupefying odds it is you and I, in our ordinariness, that are here. We privileged few, who won the lottery of birth against all odds, how dare we whine at our inevitable return to that prior state from which the vast majority have never stirred?"
Summary The first chapter describes several ways in which the universe appears beautiful and poetic when viewed scientifically. However, it first introduces an additional reason to embrace science.
Time and space are vast, so the
probability that the reader came to be alive here and now, as opposed to another time or place, was slim. More important, the probability that the reader came to be alive at all were even slimmer: the correct structure of
atoms had to align in the universe. Given how special these circumstances are, the "noble" thing to do is employ the allotted several decades of human life towards understanding that universe. Rather than simply feeling connected with nature, one should rise above this "
anaesthetic of familiarity" and
observe the universe scientifically.
Drawing room of dukes This chapter describes a third reason to embrace science (the first two being beauty and duty): improving one's performance in
the arts. Science is often presented publicly in a translated format, "dumbed down" to fit the language and existing ideas of non-scientists. This offers a disservice to the public, who are capable of appreciating the beauty of the universe as deeply as a scientist can. The successful communication of unadulterated science enhances, not confuses, the arts; after all, poets (Dawkins's synonym for artists—see page 24) and scientists are motivated by a similar spirit of wonder. We should therefore battle the
stereotype that science is difficult, uncool, and not useful for the common person.
Barcodes in the stars Studying a phenomenon, such as a flower, cannot detract from its beauty. First, some scientists, such as
Feynman, are able to appreciate the
aesthetics of the flower while engaged in their study. Second, the mysteries which science unfolds lead to new and more exciting mysteries; for example,
botany's findings might lead us to wonder about the workings of a
fly's
consciousness. This effect of multiplying mysteries should satisfy even those who think that scientific understanding is at odds with
aesthetics, e.g. people who agree with Einstein that "the most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious". (For evidence, the rest of this chapter discusses the fascinating science and beautiful new mysteries which followed in the wake of Newton's "unweaving" of the rainbow, e.g. his explanation of the
prismatic effects of moist air.)
Barcodes on the air This chapter offers more evidence that science is fun and poetic, by exploring
sound waves,
birdsong, and low-
frequency phenomena such as
pendula and periodic
mass extinctions.
Barcodes at the bar A fourth reason to embrace science is that it can help deliver justice in a court of law, via
DNA fingerprinting or even via simple statistical reasoning. Everyone should learn the scientist's art of probability assessment, to make better decisions.
Hoodwink'd with faery fancy This chapter explores what Dawkins considers to be fallacies in
astrology, religion,
magic, and
extraterrestrial visitations. Credulity and
Hume's criterion are also discussed.
Unweaving the uncanny Amazing coincidences are much more common than we may think, and sometimes, when over-interpreted, they lead to faulty conclusions.
Statistical significance tests can help determine which patterns are meaningful.
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance Unlike "magisterial poetry" (where metaphors and pretty language are used to describe the familiar), "pupillary poetry" uses poetic imagery to assist a scientist's thinking about the exotic (e.g. consider "being" an
electron temporarily). Although it is useful, some authors take pupillary poetry too far, and, "
drunk on metaphor", they produce "bad science"; i.e. postulate faulty theories. This is powered by humanity's natural tendency to look for representations.
The selfish cooperator Genes compete with each other, but this occurs within the context of collaboration, as is shown with examples involving
mitochondria, bacteria, and
termites. Two types of collaboration are co-adaptation (tailoring simultaneously the different parts of an organism, such as flower colour and flower markings), and co-evolution (two species changing together; e.g.
predator and
prey running speeds may increase together in a sort of
arms race).
The Genetic Book of the Dead The body of any organism provides clues about its
habitat. The genes allow one to reconstruct a picture of the range of ways of life that the species has experienced; in this sense DNA would act as a
palimpsestic "
digital archive" if only its language of encoding history could be fully understood. Finally, the curious genetics of
cuckoos is discussed.
Reweaving the world The brain is akin to a powerful computer, which creates a sort of
virtual reality to model economically the environment.
Neural circuitry is discussed, and a comparison is made between brains and genes: albeit over different time scales, both record the environment's past to help the
organism make the optimal actions in the (predicted) future.
The balloon of the mind The simultaneous explosions in
hardware and software of the 20th century are together an example of what Dawkins calls "self-feeding co-evolution". A similar event occurred over a longer time scale (millions of years) when the minds and brains of our ancestors simultaneously improved very rapidly. Five possible triggers of this improvement were: language, map reading,
ballistics,
memes, and
metaphors/
analogies.
Conclusion The final two paragraphs of
The balloon of the mind conclude by saying that human beings are the only animal with a sense of purpose in life, and that that purpose should be to construct a comprehensive
model of how the universe works. ==Petwhac==