A Comic Belief
Comedian Robin Ince, who presents the BBC science radio programme Infinite Monkey Cage with physicist Brian Cox, is an atheist. Speaking to New Scientist recently, he said, “One idea I explore in my stand-up show is whether, if you try looking at ...
By Mukul Sharma, | Updated:
Comedian Robin Ince, who presents the BBC science radio programme Infinite Monkey Cage with physicist Brian Cox, is an atheist. Speaking to New Scientist recently, he said, “One idea I explore in my stand-up show is whether, if you try looking at the universe rationally and avoid coping mechanisms like mysticism or religion, you can still be happy.”
Maybe one can, but not resorting to coping mechanisms is tricky, at least for successful organisms. The Earth has gone through several nearextinction level events in the course of its history and only those species which were able to cope with an altered environment later made it through. When the dinosaurs got wiped out 63 million years ago, only a handful of small animals survived.
Among them was a tiny shrew like mammalian ancestor of ours. It coped and, sure enough, we resulted. Thereafter, we’ve coped so well that in a matter of only a few million years human beings have become the dominant species on the planet. When we coped to understand how things happened we called it science; when we coped to understand why things happened, we named it mysticism or religion.
Somewhere along the way, however, the two happily parted company, as if the how could matter without the why and vice versa, especially with each becoming increasingly ignorant about the other. Yet Mr Ince says, “I think it is a pity to live your life in ignorance and embrace that ignorance.” He’s talking about believers of course, but the funny thing is, the same thing can be said about nonbelievers too.
Maybe one can, but not resorting to coping mechanisms is tricky, at least for successful organisms. The Earth has gone through several nearextinction level events in the course of its history and only those species which were able to cope with an altered environment later made it through. When the dinosaurs got wiped out 63 million years ago, only a handful of small animals survived.
Among them was a tiny shrew like mammalian ancestor of ours. It coped and, sure enough, we resulted. Thereafter, we’ve coped so well that in a matter of only a few million years human beings have become the dominant species on the planet. When we coped to understand how things happened we called it science; when we coped to understand why things happened, we named it mysticism or religion.
Somewhere along the way, however, the two happily parted company, as if the how could matter without the why and vice versa, especially with each becoming increasingly ignorant about the other. Yet Mr Ince says, “I think it is a pity to live your life in ignorance and embrace that ignorance.” He’s talking about believers of course, but the funny thing is, the same thing can be said about nonbelievers too.
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