Book launch - The Science Delusion: Freeing the Spirit of Inquiry

17 January 2012 19:00 - 17 January 2012 21:30

Venue: Great Hall King's College London, Strand, London WC2R 2LS

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO RECORDING OF THE TALK (SMN members only)

The science delusion is the belief that science already understands everything, in principle. The fundamental questions are answered, leaving only the details to be filled in. The impressive achievements of science seemed to support this confident attitude. But recent research has revealed unexpected problems at the heart of physics, cosmology, biology, medicine and psychology.  In his new book, launched at this event, Dr Rupert Sheldrake, one of the world’s most innovative scientists, shows how the sciences are being constricted by assumptions that have hardened into dogmas.  Should science be a belief-system, or a realm of enquiry? Sheldrake shows that the “scientific worldview” is moribund. Increasingly expensive research is reaping diminishing returns. In the sceptical spirit of true scientific enquiry, Sheldrake turns the ten fundamental dogmas of science into questions, opening up startling new possibilities. The “laws of nature” may be habits that change and evolve. Minds may extend far beyond brains. The total amount of matter and energy may be increasing. Children may inherit characteristics acquired by their parents. Memories may not be stored as traces in our brains. Mental causation may work from the future towards the past, while energetic causation works from the past towards the future. The Science Delusion will radically change your view of what is possible.

Rupert Sheldrake, Ph.D. is a biologist and author of more than 80 scientific papers and 10 books, including The Science Delusion (January 2012). He was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge University, a Research Fellow of the Royal Society, and from 2005-2010 the Director of the Perrott-Warrick Project, funded from Trinity College, Cambridge. His website is www.sheldrake.org.

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO RECORDING OF THE TALK (SMN members only)