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As both a scientist and a humanist myself, I have struggled to understand different claims to knowledge, and I have eventually come to a formulation of the kind of religious belief that would, in my view, be compatible with science.

As both a scientist and a humanist myself, I have struggled to understand different claims to knowledge, and I have eventually come to a formulation of the kind of religious belief that would, in my view, be compatible with science.


Alan Lightman  Alan Lightman
Tags: I Am  World  Play  Down  Want  Will   

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Author introduction

Alan Paige Lightman is an American physicist and writer. He has served on the faculties of Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and is currently professor of the practice of the humanities at MIT.

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I oppose any belief that contradicts experimental evidence as determined by the methods of science. All beliefs not in such contradiction may be considered as faith. Whether faith in a particular belief is beneficial or not is another matter.

    Alan Lightman  Alan Lightman   
 Tags: Faith Science Matter Belief Evidence
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Except for a God who sits down after the universe begins, all other gods conflict with the assumptions of science.

    Alan Lightman  Alan Lightman   
 Tags: Science God Conflict Universe Down
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As a scientist, I don't believe science will ever discover whether God exists. Nor do I believe religion will ever prove it.

    Alan Lightman  Alan Lightman   
 Tags: Science God Religion Believe Will
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I consider myself a spiritual atheist. I certainly believe there are forces bigger than ourselves, and that we should be searching, individually, for meaning in our lives. But I don't believe there's a supreme being, an intelligence that created everything.

    Alan Lightman  Alan Lightman   
 Tags: Myself Spiritual Intelligence Believe
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Novels aren't pedagogical instruments, or instructions in law or physics or any other discipline. A novel has to be an emotional experience, a trip of the imagination, and because science has raised so many issues that concern and affect humans, it's a good starting place for me.

    Alan Lightman  Alan Lightman   
 Tags: Good Science Experience Imagination
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All writers have roots they draw from - travel, work, family. My roots are in science and it is fertile ground for fiction.

    Alan Lightman  Alan Lightman   
 Tags: Family Work Science Travel Roots
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For me, consciousness is the most interesting unsolved problem of science, and, in fact, we may never know what it is about a particular arrangement of neurons that gives rise to consciousness. Our consciousness, like the air we breathe or like the passage of time, is central to our existence as intelligent beings.

    Alan Lightman  Alan Lightman   
 Tags: Time Science Me Interesting Problem
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I still will sit down at the piano and play when I am wrestling with something emotionally or just want to move into the musical world.

    Alan Lightman  Alan Lightman   
 Tags: I Am World Play Down Want Will
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