> Anyone who spends enough time studying biochem... ...knows about how LSD was used to discover DNA. Agreeing it possible is one thing, but to actually expect

> Anyone who spends enough time studying biochem... ...knows about how LSD was used to discover DNA. Agreeing it possible is one thing, but to actually expect it? That is magical thinking. I don't think putting random chemicals in your brain is all that different than putting a bunch of random coin-flips in a training function, so I don't think it's a terrible analogy either: The fact that something amazing comes out of that process is magic. > I am uncomfortable with the assertion that somehow understanding emergence has anything to do with magic or magical thinking That's common amongst scientists. Words matter, and replacing magic with "emergent" keeps it at arms length, and detachment is important to do science. But I suggest you play along anyway, instead of pretending they meant "emergent" every time they say "magic" because words matter... > If anything, it’s people who insist that human experiences are “special” and “just different, obviously” that are doing the magical thinking. I hear you, but it is hard to operate on the assumption you're not special, after all, you're probably more successful than a lot of people, and I bet you think your hard work had something to do with it. The science says this isn't true, of course, that the colour of your skin, the postcode you were born in, that the wealth and other genetics of your parents, are all greater predictors of success, and you probably know this, but if you're a human being you can't help but think that you have willpower and ethics, even if you don't believe in a soul. Or another example: if you've ever looked at someone who behaved badly, and said you wouldn't have done that? Of course, if you really did have their life, their parents, their postcode, their skin, their abuse and traumas over the years, their joys and friends, stories of parties and life, and so on, well then you definitely would have, or you've got to believe you're special. This kind of magical thinking has kept you alive- it's provided impulse to the bag of biology and chemistry to twitch and react its way through your life- something you've got to admit sounds a lot less fun when I use science-words to put it that way.