I often find myself operating within two conflicting modes of thinking: humanistic and scientific. Scientific thinking does not necessarily have to undermine or sully the beauty of life. Often, scientific knowledge adds elegance to the natural occurrences we are privy to on a daily basis. The understanding provided by scientific knowledge harmonizes our cognition with nature. However, an issue is often confronted when mathematics and science are used as explanatory frameworks for discussing the sacred practices special to humans. Things like love and romance, aesthetics, humor, music, empathy, and even morality, can each be transposed into a language of science that mechanizes these parts of existence. It is freeing to be able to understand why we have the natural dispositions we do, as this knowledge allows us to take control of what is controlling us. On the other hand, we are often able to reason away some of life’s most meaningful moments with the cold, hard logistics of science. Let us look at some examples to clarify these two forms of thought.
Cultural eating habits often dictate the options individuals see themselves as having when choosing how to nourish their bodies. These eating habits may or may not be fit for your biological makeup, and can often, particularly in American culture, lead to very unhealthy lifestyles. While cultural cuisine is a fascinating idiosyncratic part of any given region of the country or world, knowledge of nutrition and bodily function allows us to pinpoint how it is we should fix our diets as health problems arise. This type of dietary consulting and health practice involves a mechanistic look at human processing; however, it frees our life of ailments we want to avoid. Separately, we can contrive a meaningful moment in life, for instance when something serendipitous happens: let’s say you’re in a bar that normally plays rap music, and, just as your love interest enters, a soft love song comes on the jukebox that has a special sentiment to each of you. One way to look at this is in astonishment at how random occurrences sometimes lead to the most heartfelt of moments; another is to say that statistically any song on that jukebox had an equal probability of being played next, and that what occurred was not at all abnormal. Of course, the latter mathematical view prevents someone from believing in supernatural intervention and the toying around of the Fates, but it also takes a special moment in human life and turns it into the mundane.
These considerations become even more brutal in relation to our views on love. Romanticism is as good as dead from statistical and scientific standpoints. Neuroscience tells us that love is just an evanescent chemical addiction that ebbs and flows based on many biological and environmental factors. Further, sociological data tells us that 8 out of 10 marriages are unhappy, and that most likely you will get cheated on. So much for hoping that you’ll find your Elizabeth Bennett or Mr. Darcy. The numbers force us to see the reality of our human condition. While emotions augur us meaning and profundity to moments, these are just chemical aberrations, not to be taken TOO seriously.
So what do we take from scientism – our modern approach to analysis that attempts to quantify everything, even the seemingly elusive realm of emotional experience? My take is that we should be smart modern thinkers and take into account the patterns shown by our studies and observations about human life; however, do not allow yourself to be removed from the visceral moments that make life worth living. Statistics can be chopped up in any way imaginable – that is the beauty of mathematics: it has axioms that define what you can do, but we choose the data, we choose how to divide up the categories, and we choose what correlations to look for. In any statistical survey that shows something depressing about life, you could also re-spin and re-analyze the data to show something uplifting and positive. Allow yourself to be the judge. Don’t let statistics muddy what is elating; instead, use them as a way to navigate through some of the parts of life you have had a hard time with.
Finally, when half of the world seems replete with buffoons, it is no wonder it is more common that statistics reveal how common it is that people screw up instead of making the right choices. I realize I am ending on a pessimistic note, but what do you think? This is a hard topic, especially because numbers have become the new medium for understanding everything in life: nutritional facts, statistical trends about love, how likely it is you will like some movie on Netflix, etc. It is hard to ignore them, but sometimes I feel like I have to or else I’ll become numb and disenchanted. Any thoughts?
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