Week 6 - Assigned Reading - The Astonishing Hypothesis

The review for The Astonishing Hypothesis was a well written testament to simplicity, and it's by our own glorious professor, no less. It states a simple truth that most people seem too vain and/or egotistical to accept. The truth that most things are as simple and unspectacular as they appear. In this particular article, consciousness is explained in terms of neurons. No soul, no higher purpose, just neurons. And why not? Nothing else we have discovered has ended up being so “important.” Really, it makes all the sense in the world. From the beginning of human existence people have been describing things that they don't know, but that seem important, as somehow more important than they really are. That's not to say that all of these wonderful things in our world aren't amazing, just that they aren't as complicated and mystical as they appear.

Francis Crick seems like a very intelligent man who is firmly grounded in reality. One who understands the importance of material investigation. If it weren't for that lovable little thing called scientific investigation we might all still be praying to sun, just hoping that it will grace us with its presence again tomorrow. It's when we fail to critically examine the universe that we, as self-aware human beings, become truly worth of pity. We are so willing to label something as “special” without even trying to understand why.