“Intelligent Design and Super Consciousness” (SB 3.9.3)

Alachua - August 15, 1995 / (078)

In a historical survey of Western science, Thompson appraises four analytical paradigms: (1) the clockwork universe of Newton and Leibnitz; (2) the cosmos as a dull mechanism contemplated by Darwinian theorists; (3) quantum mechanics as an analytic form of idealism; and (4) variations on artificial intelligence that consider mind as part of the machine with little autonomous existence beyond that. While considering these perspectives, Thompson wonders if the Western intellectual experience suggests that the attempt to secure a definitive explanation of ultimate causation could well lead to a belief in something potentially inconceivable.