I have discussed in previous posts the arguments about whether science and the materialistic philosophy of science are sufficient to explain the universe and our existence as conscious beings in it. Alternatively, is “something more” that directly directs awareness necessary? A significant percentage of scientists believe that “something more” is needed, and there is even a movement of “materialistic” scientists. But a large number of scientists, perhaps the majority, still believe that materialism is enough, and if something is not explained now, it will be in the future (this is known as “promising materialism”).
David Gibbs, Md, was such a scientist, and his fond memory The Death of Objects describes his journey from skepticism to religion.
Dr. Gibbs has many years of experience in emergency medicine. He describes himself as someone who believes in hard science and materialism. Even in his pre-med studies he encountered troubling concepts such as “wave breaking” in quantum mechanics, but he had no time for them. Learning enough to get into medical school was a priority. As he put it, he included the vague “not relevant to the MCAT test”. Then he studied hard in medical school and went through the ordeal of internships and residency, which strengthened his doubts. But his practice over the years in emergency medicine had some troubling experiences that weren’t material. A fun example was what it’s like to work as part of a team trying to save the life of someone in cardiac arrest. The team is busy, trying different things like defibrillation and drugs. Sometimes the patient could not be saved, and it always seemed that there was a moment when the group realized that intuitively. That moment comes before instruments show things like a flat line on an EKG.
Another example was when a patient appeared to be FINE based on a routine exam and the tests any doctor could do based on symptoms. Dr. Gibbs was about to discharge him, but “something didn’t feel right”, and he ordered an additional CT scan which is not standard procedure in this case. The results showed that the patient needed emergency surgery, and would probably have died if he had been discharged from the hospital. In both cases, where did that idea come from?
Eventually enough examples like this happened and Dr. Gibbs was inspired to go down the rabbit hole of research into unexplained conditions such as psi (previously called esp) and the placebo effect. His skepticism accompanied him on this odyssey, but he still found that there are events that cannot be explained by materialism but have very small chances of being caused by chance (like one in a trillion). There are, for example, examples of placebo-like healing caused by belief in treatment in amounts that exceed those of FDA-approved drugs. Finally enough of this confusion could not be dismissed and he decided that scientific materialism was missing something. The rest of the story was how this affected the way he conducted and lived his life. A highly recommended read.
As for the subtext, as I pointed out in my previous post on this topic, panpsychism is one of several theories that try to explain what materialism cannot. Which particular theory works best is a matter of debate. But I think it’s less important which explanation makes sense to us and more important how acting on this belief changes our lives. That is well expressed in the last part of Dr. Gibbs.
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I am a Mechanical Engineer born in 1953, Ph. D, Stanford, 1980. I have worked in the mechanical CAE field for decades. I also have a lifelong interest in outdoor activities and fitness. I have had both hips replaced and a heart valve replacement due to a genetic condition. This blog chronicles my adventures in staying active despite these bumps in the road. View all posts by BionicOldGuy
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