Sheldrake's 10 Dogmas

Here are Rupert Sheldrake's 10 dogmas as discussed in this TED talk that has supposedly been banned so the internet says (My Drive or Mega link - Mega link cannot be used in Chrome).

1	Nature is mechanical.
2	Matter is unconscious.
3	Laws of nature are fixed.
4	Total amount of matter and energy doesn't change.
5	Nature has no purpose, evolution has no purpose.
6	Biological heredity is material, everything is in your genes.
7	Memories are stored inside your brain.
8	Your mind is inside your head.
9	Psychic phenomena are impossible.
10	Mechanistic medicine is the only medicine that works.

There is an arrogance in science that scientific knowledge precedes any social application. This arrogance is in some ways natural in that decisions on action should be based on well understood knowledge but this arrogance is also fostered by an academic system that encourages it amongst those they educate. But it can be argued that this is far from the case. When a justification for action or policy is needed there is always an academic with such a justification, a theory, a model. It is more than likely that there are always academics with diverse opinions and the powers-that-be simply choose the one most suited.

However climate science must show the scientists that science does not direct. Across the board science has warned about human impact on the environment but governments have ignored this impact in certain areas. Back in the 80s when people became more conscious of the environment householders changed their practices, whilst there is still some room for improvement this change has had limited impact on the environment. Yet the environmental impact has worsened because of industrial pollution. Because governments are not in charge and because industry would lose too many profits the Koch brothers amongst others have funded climate denial. This is clear evidence that finance directs scientific study.

So how does this arrogance and financial direction fit in with Sheldrake's dogmas? To understand that it is necessary to recognise that science is part of the establishment, and if it is part of the establishment then it is part of our conditioning. As such any sensible sceptic has got to be questioning science's dogmas as Sheldrake is doing. Question conditioning, question science; arrogance certainly fits in with that as the arrogant don't question themselves. And as the establishment is a 1%-system there will be connections between finance and science.

It is however most important to see the conditioning role of science. There is the science that is not religion based on Bacon's dichotomy. This can be seen in dogmas 1,2,3,5,6,8,9 which if questioned would start to examine religious beliefs such as Unity, human experiences that are beyond the routine, and far far more as if they were knowledge. Probably based on my own bias I look at this list and see a connection between the dogmas and profits. Specifically 1 and 10 which accept a mechanistic view, and this mechanistic view is easily converted to the established profit-making machine. Dogma 10 is also the lynchpin of Science-Based Medicine which I have discussed here. Within these dogmas I see a mechanistic limitation of the human capacity, we are far more than any mechanistic explanation - reminds me of Fritjof Capra's "Turning Point". But if we recognise that we are far more, then we are less likely to accept our roles as wage-slaves.

One way of describing being free from conditioning is pure scepticism, previously I have used pure enquiry - to me there is no difference. However I do not see sceptics such as sbm as pure sceptics. I described them as one-way sceptics, sceptics whose process is to support a version of science that would not question Sheldrake's 10 dogmas. Emotionally I could describe the sbm as the church of dogma 10.

> Once there is an acceptance of conditioning there is not an acceptance of Natural Law (Idappaccayata). Whilst I know Buddhadasa would not accept conditioning as Natural I need to be more informed to better explain why!!!! Sheldrake has dogmas 1,3,5 about Nature effectively bringing in a version of Idappaccayata but how far?