Metropolis Organism

  #11 Why Science Rejects Teleology We see purpose in everything — but science explains the world without ends in mind Teleology is the idea that things happen for a purpose — that events or structures exist in order to fulfill some goal. It’s how we naturally explain much of life: birds build nests to protect their young , people exercise to stay healthy , and seeds sprout to become trees . These explanations are so intuitive that they can feel like common sense. But science does not allow teleological explanations — at least not as a foundation for understanding the natural world. In science, causes must come before effects. You can’t explain something by appealing to what it will eventually accomplish. Instead, you have to explain it in terms of prior conditions, physical laws, and step-by-step processes. If sodium and chlorine atoms come together to form salt, it’s not because they intend to make salt — it’s because the nature of their charges and electron structures causes ...

  Blog post #10,   Sailing Past Reason On Living with Contradiction in the Face of Determinism and Free Will There is a contradiction at the heart of being human. Science tells us that we are determined. Atoms don’t choose. Chemical reactions don’t have intentions. The brain is made of atoms and chemistry. Therefore, in a scientifically coherent view of the world, human thought and action — like everything else — is the result of causes, not choices. And yet, I choose. I weigh options. I imagine futures. I regret the past. I hold others accountable for what they do, and I expect them to do the same to me. Every fiber of my lived experience insists that something is up to me — that I am an agent in the world, not just a node in a flowchart. So which is it? Am I free or am I determined? The honest answer is: both . And that answer is a problem. The Logic Break If logic demands consistency, then to say that I am both determined and free is to violate logic. And if I accept ...

  #9   Not Anti-Human, Just Pro-Truth Living Honestly in Two Worlds We tell ourselves stories to preserve our dignity. At various points in history, it was language, then consciousness, then moral sense, and now perhaps “epistemic reasoning” — each offered as proof of our special place in the universe. But from the perspective of science, none of these distinctions hold. And that can be hard to live with. For years, I’ve wrestled with what feels like a private heresy: the suspicion that all our supposed uniqueness — our intelligence, our awareness, our sense of right and wrong — might not be exceptions at all, but just evolved behaviors in a world indifferent to meaning. It’s not that I’m against humanity. But I am for truth. And the truth is: science does not see us as central. The Illusion of Dignity Science, by design, eliminates teleology. It doesn’t admit purpose — not for cells, not for stars, and not for us. It sees causes, not meanings. So when a biologist explains how...

 #8  Science Is Nature Why the Scientific Mind Is Not Separate from the Natural World We tend to think of science as something humans do — a rational, deliberate activity by which we analyze, understand, and manipulate the world around us. In this view, nature is the object, and science is the method by which we interrogate it. But this perspective quietly maintains an illusion — that humans are somehow outside nature, standing apart, equipped with a unique cognitive tool called “science” that no other creature possesses. This is false. Science is not a human invention. It is not distinct from nature. Science is nature. Behavior Without Purpose Imagine a single-celled organism, like an amoeba, suspended in fluid. It senses food in the distance — a glucose gradient — but between itself and the nutrient lies a region patrolled by a predatory paramecium. The amoeba must “choose”: take the direct but dangerous route, or curve around the threat, consuming more energy in the proce...