“The love of complexity without reductionism makes art; the love of complexity with reductionism makes science.”
Reductionism is a method of thought by which larger ideas are broken down into smaller component parts. In this way science is reductionist because it attempt to explain the natural world by breaking it into its component parts and analyzing them. On the other hand art embraces the complex nature of the universe. Artists attempt to find meaning through the whole instead of the parts.
“Still, if history and science have taught us anything, it is that passion and desire are not the same as truth. The human mind evolved to believe in the gods. It did not evolve to believe in biology. Acceptance of the supernatural conveyed a great advantage throughout prehistory when the brain was evolving. Thus it is in sharp contrast to biology, which was developed as a product of the modern age and is not underwritten by genetic algorithms. The uncomfortable truth is that the two beliefs are not factually compatible. As a result those who hunger for both intellectual and religious truth will never acquire both in full measure.”
In Wilson's opinion, religion developed for evolutionary reasons, but we have out-lived its usefulness. He believes that because humans can recognize why a religion would be useful that they don't have to choose religion. They can merely accept the things its trying to teach the brain without accepting the institution. While this may be true, Wilson demonstrates a certain close-mindedness in this quotation which is inconsistent with his message in the rest of the book.
“Science, its imperfections notwithstanding, is the sword in the stone that humanity finally pulled. The question it poses, of universal and orderly materialism, is the most important that can be asked in philosophy and religion.”
Wilson chooses science as his field because it it based upon the very principle of order. He wants to understand his environment according to true and consistent systems of action. To him, then, science is the epitome of study because it is based upon the very premise of order.
“Is a universe of discrete material particles possible only with one specific set of natural laws and parameter values? In other words, does human imagination, which can conceive of other laws and values, thereby exceed possible existence?”
This is the natural question raised by Wilson's thesis in this book. He posits that everything in the universe functions according to limited, fixed laws which have yet to be fully understood and recognized. If that's true, then one must wonder whether or not those laws are discoverable considering the fascinating capabilities of the imagination. If people can imagine a world more complex than ours appears to be, then how much more complex must the world really be than we think?
