Self And The Phenomenon Of Life: A Biologist Examines Life From Molecules To Humanity

Self, Realities, and the Transcendents 321

“9x6” b2726 Self and the Phenomenon of Life: A Biologist Examines Life from Molecules to Humanity

Perhaps the correct philosophical stand is not monistic or dualistic, but
a tripartite amalgam of mind, matter and form. John Barrow compared
the mathematical laws of nature to the “software” running on the “hard-
ware” of matter and energy.^11
May I add that mathematics in a broader sense is not the monopoly
of adult Homo sapiens. Human infants and other vertebrates (chimpan-
zees, birds, and rats, for example) also possess a mental “accumulator,” a
rudimental sense of magnitude that distinguishes “more” from “less,” or
“greater” from “smaller.” From the evolutionary point of view, the “num-
ber sense” is a biologically adaptive function created by the brain to deal
with the outside world. It is a bridge that goes between mind and matter.^12

14.2 Can Science be Totally Objective?

Let me deal with the most objective of all sciences — the physical
science. Physics depends on two basic assumptions: that the physical
reality exists, and that the subjective idiosyncrasy of the observer can be
suppressed. The objectivity of scientific data derives from the fact that
they can be verified from one observer to another and at different times.
However, it should be pointed out that although subjectivity can be sup-
pressed, it cannot be totally wiped out. Every instance of observation
is the product of interaction of the mind with the outside world. With-
out the participation of the mind, there would be no data to start with.
Thus, science, however objective, cannot be totally detached from the
human mind.^13 Moreover, when physicists deal with the very small scale
of the quantum world, mind once more enters into the picture in glaring
presence. In at least one interpretation (the Copenhagen version), the
outcome of a quantum event does not happen until the observer enters
into the scene — taking the measurement.^14

14.3 Navigating Across Layers of Realities

Physical reality comes in multiple levels. On the lowest level is the
quantum world of electrons and subatomic particles. Above that is the