When scientists arrive at “new” truths, they build on what exists, and they bring useful things into the world that did not exist before. Such useful things, for all the good they do, unfortunately, don’t really do much to alleviate unhappiness (not to mention the misfortunes which all our new truths have brought upon our planet). Too much attention is driven by our material economy, sponsored and powered by Big Dopamine.
But there are other sources of innovation which also allow us to bring new things into the world. While posited truths – facts and theories – are inductive, and open to alterations, other modes of reasoning – deductive – are more metaphysical, and open to, or dependent upon, truths rooted in faith or belief.
Ecosystems can be understood as a mix of both facts and faith. The facts upon which we operate are the gifts ecosystems provide: the matter we need to survive. The faith comes via the way matter is brought to our attention – via qualia.
An impression or an idea strikes, and if we have the wherewithal to play with it, to experiment with it, other impressions and ideas coalesce around it, drawing us to it. That is faith gravitas.
The two modes compliment one another in a spiral we think of as progress. But science will never really get us beneath the surface of things as long as scientists are focused on technological innovation. That is, focused on qualia only to the degree that it leads us back toward matter and to material wealth.
Progress is a false myth. While true myths are, perforce, created within the human landscape, myths that do not reflect ecosystems are false myths. Progress exists in nature, in growth, in evolution, and even in decay, but human-centered progress reflects these only superficially. The connection must be rationalized. Its meaning does not reach us qualiadelically, with the power of a felt truth.
We may place our faith in progress, but only if we get the facts right about ecosystems first!