“How do our complex human experiences arise from the atoms and molecules we are made of?”
Professor Alan Lightman is an MIT theoretical physicist in search of purpose and answers to questions such as this. Lightman is one of the first at MIT to receive a joint appointment in both the sciences and the humanities, Lightman’s made significant contributions to both fields within scientific academia and creative literature. Themes from his 25 books, and contributions to The New Yorker, Harper’s, and The Atlantic Monthly, are all beautifully and understandably delineated in the new PBS miniseries Searching: Our Quest for Meaning in the Age of Science (now streaming on pbs.org.) Can science explain profound connections we could never fully comprehend at face value? Sampan had the opportunity to speak with Professor Lightman about the complexity of human experience and the certainty of atoms and molecules.
SAMPAN: Would you push the button to achieve ultimate enlightenment? Which is more important, taking the journey or acquiring the answer?
AL: I would certainly push the button to achieve enlightenment, but I would not push it to receive the answer to any particular scientific questions, such as How did life originate on Earth? or What are the fundamental particles of nature? I think that the journey towards scientific discovery is more exciting than the answers. The thrill of standing at the edge between the known and the unknown is what stimulates our imagination and creativity.
SAMPAN: What is the miraculous? How does it differentiate from miracles? The presence of advanced androids in pop culture and how they relate to or have conflict with a moral universe seems to be a miracle for many of us but with an expiration date if poorly handled by humans.
AL: A miracle is a phenomenon that cannot be understood by science (the laws of nature, the rules of cause and effect, etc.) either now or into the infinite future. The miraculous is an adjective to describe our transcendent experiences, such as our feeling of being connected to the cosmos, our falling in love, and our fundamental mental experience: consciousness.
SAMPAN: How do you assuage the fears of many people who remember such things as Tuskegee and Eugenics, and are, therefore, fearful of Covid vaccines, and how do we assure them that science will not hurt us?
AL: Science and technology, in themselves, have no values; they can be used for good or for ill. It is we human beings who have values. The important thing is how we use science and tech. Many people in our polarized country today are suspicious of science because they regard it as part of the elite establishment. But, in fact, scientists are human beings, who want to help their society as much as anyone else. Science and technology can be used to improve the lives of people, allowing us to live more healthy lives and live longer, communicate with loved ones far away, and explore the invisible world, to name just a few things.
SAMPAN: Transcendentalism is a world view that believes that we can go beyond the human differences by seeing the world and all its inhabitants as one being. This world view could help us respond to violence in the world. There are transcendentalists in both the sciences and literature as there are materialists and realists in literature. Who are your role models in both?
AL: Some of my role models in the sciences are Rachel Carson, Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi,
Barbara McClintock. Some of my role models in literature are EB White, Frank Kafka, Italo Calvino, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, to name a few.
SAMPAN: Is there a way we can reconcile our views and understandings about organic consciousness with altered consciousness? I’m thinking of the idea, as proposed by (among many) Timothy Leary in the 1960s and Michael Pollan now, that micro-dosing is the next logical, healthy evolution in curing a wide array of emotional/psychological issues on our path to enlightenment. [Micro-dosing involves taking a very small dose of a hallucinogenic substance to benefit mental health and treat some mental problems such as depression and anxiety. Research is exploring the benefits of such treatments.]
AL: I totally support mind altering drugs as long as they are not physically harmful and do not become addictive. The human brain is still a mysterious and complex object. Even though we understand how individual neurons work, we still do not understand how the unique and fundamental sensation of consciousness arises from the electrical and chemical activity of neurons. Any research or chemical interventions that help us understand more of the brain, subject to the conditions I have mentioned, are worth doing.
SAMPAN: You’ve spoken of identifying as a Liberal Reform Jew who is also connected to the mindfulness and non-attachment of Buddhism. How are you hoping this miniseries might help bridge the gap between believers and non-believers? Your 2019 debate with Richard Dawkins tells me there’s still a long way to go for a successful conclusion.
AL: I am hoping that the miniseries will show that a scientific and materialist view of the world is completely compatible with an appreciation and acknowledgment of the profound transcendent and spiritual experiences that we all have. I have complete respect for people who believe in the existence of an all-powerful and purposeful Creator, although I personally do not share that belief. I hope that the miniseries Searching: Our Quest for Meaning in the Age of Science will help show that we are all searching for meaning, both believers and nonbelievers, and in this we are united.
SAMPAN: For those who’ve yet to see it, the miniseries is broken up into three hours: “The Stars and the Osprey,” “The Big and the Small,” and finally “Homo Techno.” You bring us from the infinite, to the visibly measured, to the ways we are literally evolving as humans right now. Which section speaks most to you?
AL: I cannot single out a single section that is most meaningful to me. Every section in the series is there for a reason, and every section is part of the story of our human quest for meaning and understanding in a world that is rapidly changing with new science and new technology. How do we human beings fit in the grand scheme of things? How do our complex human experiences arise from the atoms and molecules we are made of?
This reporter asserts that we live in a complex, difficult world that’s proving even more troubling already in 2023. From the numbing horror of two mass shootings in California to the brutal murder of an unarmed Memphis African-American man at the hands of 5 (or more) city police officers, our disconnections are growing wider. In the final moments of the third hour of the program, we hear Lightman’s plea for “connection,” three times in a row, like a prayer. That plea, will stay with this viewer.
