Great Engineers & Scientists

John Carew Eccles has had an excellent career and contributed a lot to the understanding of how the nervous system works. I am disturbed by his attempts in later life to "prove" the existence of a soul. This work seems more metaphysics than physics or biology.

"In his last, great work, Eccles argued that energy can be borrowed from the "quantum vacuum" and then returned within a fraction of a second."

There is no experimental evidence that requires energy to be borrowed from the quantum vacuum. Only his original rational of corporeal and ethereal minds cooperatively working together requires this explanation. As there is no evidence of this in nature, there is little reason to justify it with quantum vacuum.

It's an admirable desire to try prove the existence of a soul. Whether we admit it or not, we all fear our own end. Not our death mind you, but an ending of our existence. John Eccles is not the first to turn to quantum mechanics as a justification of mystical or spiritual beliefs, but this approach is scientifically unsound and unreasonable. There is room for both faith and science in this world, but neither must be subjugate to the other. When you try to justify religion through questionable science (metaphysics), or science through questionable religion (Atheism - a religious view, not a scientific fact), you end up damaging the integrity of both.

Roger, I agree with you that Eccles' last work borders on the metaphysical.

However, I cannot fault him for the notion of borrowing energy from the vacuum of space for a short time. Whether it has been directly detected experimentally, I don't know, but quantum theorists surely think it is happening!

Jorrie

Don't get me wrong, I certainly accept that particle-antiparticle pairs can form from a vacuum and that energy could be borrowed from the vacuum as well. I just don't think it would "prove" the existence of a ethereal mind.

That said, he seems to have had a great career in science.

Eccles was honored a year ago at MIT as part of "The Faith of Great Scientists" series. Johannes Kepler and Robert Boyle are good company.

I find that science in it's purest form and religious faith have this in common: That they are both grounded in objective truth. It's only when we, as flawed an subjective human beings, discover that our scientific or theological pursuits conflict with our own personal dearly held opinions or desired outcomes, that there comes a problem. We let those subjective thoughts influence our conclusions or beliefs. I believe that Eccles was attempting to use his knowledge to prove his belief. I personally don't think that is necessary. The existence of our Creator is demonstrated by the very fact of our own existence. The universe we see around us and the very fact that we can see and comprehend it is proof of His existence. The Bible puts it this way in Romans 1:20 "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-His eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." NIV

I cannot recall ever having seen anything that was the result of honest scientific investigation that would conflict with anything I have read in the Bible. Likewise, I would not discount what the Bible says, just because there is not scientific evidence to back it up. There is much that we don't understand about what we can observe. If mankind would collectively learn to accept our place as the crown jewel in the creation of God, His prized possession and object of His affection, we would be the better off for it. We need to use our God given gifts of intellect to analyze and comprehend what we see in the light of His truth instead of trying to invent our own. We need to quit arrogantly trying to occupy the current pinnacle of a random process of "natural selection" which ultimately proves our utter worthlessness since that makes us no more than some cosmic accident destined to be replaced by the next iteration of that process. Man is nothing without God. It's only our pride which prevents us from admitting that.

Pursuing scientific exploration in the light of a true understanding of God's desire for man to learn and grow to eventually be able to actually interact with Him directly, opens up vast fields of understanding. Isaac Newton is just one example of a scientist who believed in God, it didn't seem to hinder his scientific investigations.