The Grand Design: Shaking the Foundation 2nd Edition

In 1633, Galileo was found guilty by the Holy Inquisition for publishing his observations that the earth is not at the center of universe, that not all heavenly objects revolve around our planet, and that earth moves by a double motion. The old astronomer was convicted and had to spend the remaining years of his life under house arrest. One would think that more than 370 years later, humans would have learned a lesson from that historical event. Unfortunately, that is not the case. New ideas substantiated by observation are rejected with vehemence without any substantive reason. Yet all the time, our species continues to kill other humans with abandon. Our excuses seeking to justify these liquidations are based on antecedents finding their genesis in the history of a nomadic, mostly illiterate people. The Grand Design puts forward discoveries made in the last 100 years or less providing a rational explanation for our irrational behavior. The book concentrates on two major areas. The first deals with the discovery that the human forebrain consists of three separate cortices. Each one has its own behavioral/psychological imprints finding its origins many millions of years ago. The oldest part of the brain - the basal ganglia - has its origin in dinosaurian ancestors. It now becomes easy to understand why much of human behavior is controlled by the territorial imperative. Neither gods nor devils are responsible for our deeds. Once we understand that our brain's dichotomy is responsible for our misbehavior, perchance we will assume responsibility for our acts and raise the merely human to the humane. The second part of The Grand Design deals with erroneous assumptions by some of thegreatest thinkers in the world's history. I.e., both Plato and Newton embraced a firm belief in polar absolutes. That concept also underlies a substantive part of the biblical tradition. Quantum mechanics points out that uncertainty, rather than polar absolutism, is the reality of our world. While The Grand Design deals with complex issues, the author has been able to simplify the results of the research and presents them in an understandable manner. The main problem with reading this volume is not caused by the difficulty of the ideas but with the brain's embedded behavior to reject new concepts. Yet, unless we shake off erroneous assumptions, we will continue the blood baths, the social inequity, and the economic injustice that have colored our history.