Letters to the Editor
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Yes, No name, and that's why science can't be spiritual
You've just explained why there can never be a spirituality of science.
Physicists who attached a sense of spiritual wonder to general relativity, for example, were at one point extraordinarily unfriendly to the idea of quantum field theory, because the profound glories of general coordinate invariance were not to be found in the lumpy morass of quantum uncertainty.
This quasi-spiritual attachment to old theories often feels like a yoke around the necks of younger scientists who enter the field not as acolytes but as iconoclasts.
It's that iconoclastic energy of science that has to be preserved, as annoying as it can feel to people exposed to its more negative side. (An example of which would be No name's deliberately hostile and almost abusive characterization of human beings who don't share his/her views.)
Scientists are in some way natural destroyers.
An attempt is now being made by some in the science community to paper over that iconoclastic energy with a "spirituality of science" based on the IMAX words "awe" and "wonder."
I don't think such an endeavor is being true either to science or to spirituality.
Awe and wonder are cheap substitutes for spiritual agape, like sex is a cheap substitute for intimate love.
And a young scientist who has too much energy invested in appreciating the awe and wonder of existing science is not going to be competitive with an unsentimental iconoclast out to make a name for him/herself by challenging the status quo.
But the people who like this idea are going to pursue it whether or not it makes sense.
And they're scientists, so go figure!
I went to a lecture recently that was organized by the Skeptics. It was held on Sunday afternoon, and before the talk, the director gave a sermon on the spirituality of science. It felt just like being in church!
Except nobody was collecting money for Katrina survivors or Pakistani earthquake refugees after the service.
Nope, they were all pretty much just about themselves.