Beyond Belief: Science, Religion, Reason and Survival

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Beyond Belief: Science, Religion, Reason and Survival was the first event of the annual Beyond Belief symposium which brings together a group of scientists and philosophers to explore questions and answers about human nature and society. The event is organized by The Science Network in association with the Crick-Jacobs Center at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California and was held from November 5 to November 7, 2006.

Various questions were proposed by Roger Bingham at the beginning as a guide of what would be discussed. The following are some of those questions:

• After two centuries could this be twilight for the Enlightenment project and the beginning of a new age of unreason?
• Will faith and dogma trump rational inquiry, or will it be possible to reconcile religious and scientific worldviews?
• Can evolutionary biology, anthropology, psychology and neuroscience help us to better understand how we construct beliefs, and experience empathy, fear and awe?
• Can science help us create a new rational narrative as poetic and powerful as those that have traditionally sustained societies?
• Can we treat religion as a natural phenomenon?
• Can we be good without God? And if not God, then what?

Video from the conference is available for download on the official website, and numerous smaller video clips have been uploaded to YouTube and Google Video.

Contents 1 Speakers 2 Notable Attendees 3 Program 3.1 Session 1: November 5, 2006 3.2 Session 2: November 5, 2006 3.3 Session 3: November 5, 2006 3.4 Session 4: November 5, 2006 3.5 Session 5: November 6, 2006 3.6 Session 6: November 6, 2006 3.7 Session 7: November 6, 2006 3.8 Session 8: November 6, 2006 3.9 Session 9: November 7, 2006 3.10 Session 10: November 7, 2006 4 External links

[edit] Speakers

The speakers at the 2006 forum were as follows:

Scott Atran Mahzarin Banaji Roger Bingham (chair) Patricia Churchland Paul Churchland Paul Davies Richard Dawkins Ann Druyan Stuart Hameroff

Charles Harper Sam Harris Melvin Konner Harold Kroto Lawrence Krauss Elizabeth Loftus Steven Nadler Susan Neiman Carolyn Porco

Vilayanur Ramachandran Joan Roughgarden Loyal Rue Terry Sejnowski Michael Shermer Richard Sloan Neil deGrasse Tyson Steven Weinberg James Woodward

[edit] Notable Attendees

John Allman Owen Flanagan J. Craig Venter

Francisco J. Ayala William Hurlbut Larry Smarr

Paul Ekman Daniel Siegel John Smythies

[edit] Program

The following is a brief summary of the discussions.

[edit] Session 1: November 5, 2006

Speaker: Steven Weinberg

• About the current state of the conflict between science and religion, historic losses in science due to this conflict, and differences between the methodology of science and that of religion.

Speaker: Lawrence Krauss

• About the absurd implications of believing in God, the lack of evidence for scientists to claim that there is no God and therefore the lack of necessity to worry about making or supporting that claim.
• Discussion: Steven Weinberg, Lawrence Krauss

Speaker: Sam Harris

• About the current worrying state of religion around the world, the intrinsic honesty within the methodology of science, and the excessive respect given to absurd religious claims.
• Discussion: Sam Harris, Steven Weinberg, Lawrence Krauss

Speaker: Michael Shermer

• About the relationship of science and religion describing the “conflicting worlds” model, “same worlds” model, and the “separate worlds” model.

[edit] Session 2: November 5, 2006

Speaker: Neil deGrasse Tyson

• Discussion: Lawrence Krauss, Sam Harris, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Mahzarin Banaji, Michael Shermer, Patricia Churchland, Scott Atran

Speaker: Steven Weinberg

[edit] Session 3: November 5, 2006

Speaker: Terry Sejnowski

• About Francis Crick

Speaker: Joan Roughgarden

• About references to evolution in the bible and about scientific biases caused by cultural preferences and pressure.
• Discussion: Richard Dawkins, Joan Roughgarden, Francisco J. Ayala, Patricia Churchland, Sam Harris, Neil deGrasse Tyson

Speaker: Carolyn Porco

• About the feeling of awe and wonder experienced while exploring the cosmos.

[edit] Session 4: November 5, 2006

Speaker: Stuart Hameroff

• About quantum consciousness.
• Discussion: Lawrence Krauss, Stuart Hameroff, Terry Sejnowski, Susan Neiman

Speaker: Vilayanur Ramachandran

• About neurological processes and phenomena responsible for different perceptions of reality.
• Discussion: Charles Harper, Vilayanur Ramachandran, Larry Smarr, John Smythies, Patricia Churchland, Richard Dawkins, Harold Kroto, Elizabeth Loftus, Joan Roughgarden, William B. Hurlbut, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Scott Atran, Sam Harris, James Woodward, Darren Schreiber, Ann Druyan

[edit] Session 5: November 6, 2006

Speaker: Paul Davies

• About a view of the universe in which its laws are developed from within it instead of making the assumption that there is an external stepping stone.
• Discussion: Paul Davies, Terry Sejnowski, Paul Churchland, Lawrence Krauss

Speaker: Steven Nadler

• About Baruch de Spinoza and the difference between religious and moral.
• Discussion: Joan Roughgarden, Steven Nadler, Harold Kroto

Speaker: Patricia Churchland

• About the nature of morality independent from religion and the effects of biochemical stimulation to a person’s idea of morality.
• Discussion: Patricia Churchland, Carolyn Porco, Richard Dawkins, Ralph Greenspan, Sam Harris

[edit] Session 6: November 6, 2006

Speaker: Susan Neiman

• About understanding the mindset of the modern fundamentalist and why religiosity is on the increase. Examines morality with and without religion, and why there can never be a science of morality.
• Discussion: Paul Churchland, Susan Neiman, Scott Atran

Speaker: Loyal Rue

• About the importance of a cultural myth, such as religion, in order to find self-wholeness and social coherence.

Speaker: Elizabeth Loftus

[edit] Session 7: November 6, 2006

Speaker: Mahzarin Banaji

• About unconscious biases, given by familiarity, with which one judges any new situation.
• Discussion: Neil Tyson, Mahzarin Banaji

Speaker: Richard Dawkins

[edit] Session 8: November 6, 2006

Continued Discussion: Sam Harris, Scott Atran, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Lawrence Krauss

Speaker: Harold Kroto

Speaker: Charles Harper

• Discussion: Harold Kroto, Richard Dawkins, Susan Neiman, Charles Harper

Speaker: Ann Druyan

• About understanding and toleration of the beliefs held by people who have not had a scientific education, and about the popularization of science through the media.
• Discussion: Ann Druyan, Harold Kroto, Terry Sejnowski

[edit] Session 9: November 7, 2006

Video Clip: from Richard Dawkins' “The Root of All Evil?”

Speaker: Sam Harris

• About the difference between morality and religion.

Speaker: James Woodward

Speaker: Melvin Konner

• Discussion: Joan Roughgarden, Sam Harris, James Woodward, Melvin Konner, Richard Dawkins

Speaker: Paul Churchland

[edit] Session 10: November 7, 2006

Speaker: Richard Sloan

• About the negative effects of introducing religion into medicine.

Speaker: Vilayanur Ramachandran

Speaker: Neil deGrasse Tyson

Speaker: Terry Sejnowski

[edit] External links

• Official website
• A Free-for-All on Science and Religion, George Johnson, New York Times, Section F, Page 1, November 21, 2006, Tuesday
• Science, Religion, and the Other Fellow, Charles R. Baron, Freedom Magazine