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Consider the woven integrated complexity of a living cell after 3.8 billion years of evolution. Is it more awesome to suppose that a transcendent God fashioned the cell at a stroke, or to realize the truth: the living cell evolved with no Creator, no Almighty Hand, but arose on its own, created by the evolving biosphere? The truth is much more magnificent, much more worthy of awe and wonder, than our ancient creation myths.
Reinventing the Sacred proposes a new understanding of a natural divinity based on an emerging, scientifically based world view. Complexity theorist Stuart Kaufmann does not propose somehow to insert “god” into a cold, lifeless universe. Instead he argues that the qualities of divinity that we hold sacred -- creativity, meaning, purposeful action -- are in fact properties of the universe that can be investigated scientifically. Along the way, Kauffman offers stunning new ideas in an abundance of fields -- from cell biology to economics to the philosophy of mind -- as well as the relation of science to religion. To understand the true role of emergence in science we need to rethink everything from how cells manage work to how economies grow.
A daring and ambitious book, Reinventing the Sacred will challenge readers’ ideas on every level of scientific thought.
Stuart A. Kauffman is the founding director of the Institute for Biocomplexity and Informatics and a professor at the University of Calgary. During the 1990s he rose to prominence through his key role at the Santa Fe Institute. His books include The Origins of Order and At Home in the Universe: The Search for the Laws of Self-Organization and Complexity. He lives in Calgary, Canada.
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