Episode 101 – Science is a Myth
Science and Religion. The ultimate standoff. It’s hard to imagine two more dichotomous extremes, right? Well, maybe not. Maybe these age old rivals have much more in common than we have been led to believe. Maybe the mythologies that make up religion have nestled in them some deeper truths. Maybe science is a mythology of its own.
Do the two not ultimately attempt to answer the same underlying questions: How was the universe created? How did life on earth begin? How does our consciousness work? What is morality?
Regardless of your personal beliefs, it’s hard to deny that both Science and Religion are extremely captivating.
But whereas the mythologies of religion have been refined to perfection, its stories inducted into sacred canons, crafted into bestsellers, science has been left to the scientists. The mythologies of science have been and are still being written in dry, technical, unapproachable language bereft of any poetic prose that will both enchant the reader and do justice to the vast knowledge scientists possess in 2018.
This ambitious mission is exactly what it seems Dr. Oren Harman took upon himself to accomplish in his new book, “Evolutions: 15 Myths that Explain our World” .
Dr. Harman is a professor in Bar Ilan University, where he’s the Chair of the Graduate Program in Science, Technology and Society. He studied in Harvard and received his PhD with distinction from Oxford University. His fields of expertise include the history and philosophy of biology, the theory of evolution, the evolution of altruism, the cultural history of science and more.
Harman’s work featured in Science, Nature, the New York Times, The Economist and many other honorable platforms.
Prof. Oren Harman joins 2NJB today to talk about his very own mythology of science.
Oren’s books on Amazon
JJ Inside The Print
The relationship between American Jews and Israel has never been, to put it politely, more complicated. If you’re on the left, you have a host...
When I went to see the groundbreaking exhibition “Auschwitz: Not Long Ago. Not Far Away” at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York, Orthodox...
I drove down to San Diego for Lori Gilbert-Kaye’s funeral, the 60-year old woman of valor who was killed in the Chabad of Poway shooting....
Labels matter, and they are an integral part of the war of ideas. When British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and American President Franklin Roosevelt met...
“What are you wearing Friday night? Something that will show off those legs?” It was the week before Love to Erase MS at the Beverly...
We were two of the youngest Jewish-Americans to run for Congress in 2018 — Naomi Levin and Bryan Leib. We have many things in common, including...
Anti-Semitism is a sign of illness in the culture that hosts it. It poisons the culture’s history and legacy. The pre-Holocaust anti-Semitic reenact-ment we are...
Though most Syrians oppose normalizing relations with Israel and reject efforts toward establishing diplomatic ties, Syrian opposition leader Fahad Almasri has not stopped seeking an...
Saying that Eyal Sher lives and breathes Jerusalem is like saying the Western Wall is old. Sher’s matrilineal line to the holy city stretches back...
1. In less than two weeks, Israel is slated to install its new government. Its policies aren’t yet known, its direction unclear, its exact contour...
Hours before the last days of Passover began, it was very busy at Judge Rachel Freier’s house in the Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y....
One verse, five voices. Edited by Salvador Litvak, Accidental Talmudist "Command the children of Israel, and they shall take to you pure olive oil, crushed for...
I don’t know why it surprised me. I should have expected it when I wrote a story some months back headlined “Hummus Is the Peacemaker.”...
In a conference call with the Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA), Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) took President Donald Trump to task for invoking executive...
This June, the KeHILLAT mogen David Spivak Educational Center (KMDSEC) in the Pico-Robertson area will graduate its first fifth-grade class. The Orthodox Jewish Day School,...
For several years, venture capitalist and philanthropist Art Bilger has been hosting town hall-style workshops across the country to address what he views as a...
Although Israel’s 71st anniversary officially was May 9, you can still celebrate all things Israel this Sunday, May 19, at the Israeli-American Council’s (IAC) annual...
On May 7, two days before Yom Ha’atzmaut — Israel’s Independence Day — the West Hollywood City Council hosted a screening of the 1997 documentary “The...
“What makes Israel a rich source of material and stories, and what happens to those stories and creators as they make their way to America?”...
Local artists Shula Singer Arbel, Dwora Fried and Malka Nedivi have very different styles and employ different mediums, but their inspiration for their work is...
Elizabeth Rynecki’s great-grandfather Moshe, a Polish Jew, was a renowned artist who was murdered in 1943 at the Majdanek concentration camp. His family has recovered...
We’ve all made mistakes that cost us: opportunities we passed on, deals we didn’t make, trusting the wrong people with our money. But the mistakes...
Ever since cell phones became a staple in our lives, those who work in Holocaust education and Holocaust memory have grappled with how to combine...
Peggy Lipton, whose blond hair and flower-child charisma made her a star of the 1960s TV hit “The Mod Squad” and the ’90s cult series...
Dear Jared, I know your father-in-law is not much of a reader. But he entrusted you with a historic peace mission that has defeated countless...
In the spirit of this weekend’s Celebrate Israel Festival, here’s a project that will keep you commemorating Israel’s independence throughout the spring and summer. This...
Israeli-born real estate investor and philanthropist Naty Saidoff supports many causes, yet the one that may be closest to his pro-Israel heart is the Israeli...
Husband-and-wife Roz and Jerry Rothstein, CEO and COO of pro-Israel organization StandWithUs (SWU), respectively, took part in a mission to Israel for Yom HaZikaron and...
FRI MAY 17 Musical Shabbat Music and Shabbat go hand in hand at Adat Ari El for “N’ranena,” an upbeat evening featuring an unbroken thread...
A Tribute to Aleh Negev Rockets rain down on the Negev even as Jews all over the world celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut. In the face of...
We are the shoes, we are the last witnesses. We are shoes from grandchildren and grandfathers, From Prague, Paris and Amsterdam, And because we are...
