Superstition: Belief in the Age of Science [Hardcover]

Robert L. Park is lucky to be alive. We all are, in the sense that so offends our tendency to see the world in teleological and anthropocentric terms. Park is especially lucky to have survived a one-sided contest with a large red oak that fell on him. Among those first on the scene were two Catholic priests, whom he later befriended. His "conversations with these wise and gentle men of faith" as they walked the same trail "began the intellectual process that eventually led to this book." Does Park now believe in the power of prayer? Has his atheism turned out to be an intellectual farrago? Hardly. "I would not be telling the story had it not been for recent advances in medicine and technology." His faith in science remains rock solid, or at least as solid as the oak that tried to rearrange his
temporal lobes.

So, is science just another faith position? No. Park is a very good writer, but not too proud to look in a dictionary: "scientists use the word 'faith' to express their confidence that the laws of nature will prevail, beginning with the law of cause and effect." In contrast, the "religious use of 'faith' implies belief in a higher power that makes things happen independent of a physical cause. This defines superstition. The two meanings of 'faith' are thus not only different, they are exact opposites."

Language matters. The infamous "Wedge" strategy of the intelligent design movement, for example, includes replacing "naturalism" ("the idea that scientific laws are the only way to explain the world") - a word with positive connotations - with "scientific materialism". Here is another word with very different meanings: in science, materialism describes the well-evidenced view that the universe consists of a single substance (as Norman Levitt puts it, "electrons are to be taken seriously, whereas angels are not"), but of course it "can also mean an obsessive desire for worldly possessions" - particularly useful for those wishing to cause mischief by denigrating science, including some employed by the inaptly named "Discovery Institute".

Park's warmth and intelligence and love of life fill this book, as does a determination to expose the idiocy and mendacity congealed around modern superstition. This is not just an abstract intellectual exercise - Park is too good an observer of human motives and personalities. Some people, including Sir Charles Templeton, think there is no conflict between science and religion. Some scientists agree with him and are prepared to say nice things about religion. But we must not forget that Templeton is an extraordinarily wealthy man. "Indeed, anywhere there is the sound of a dialogue between science and religion, it's a safe bet that Templeton's people are there handing out money." A little too cynical? Over the past decade or so, there has been a preponderance of physicists picking up the lucrative Templeton Prize, each one citing "the anthropic principle as evidence, if not proof, that the universe was designed for life." Park, thank goodness, is in no danger of collecting this prize. According to him, "Science and religion are on divergent paths, growing ever farther apart as knowledge expands."

Religion does not of course have a monopoly on dubious beliefs. Take the case of Adam Dreamhealer, who can cure cancer "using only the power of his mind" by means of "quantum-holography" (no, really, he can). The only interesting question, says Park, is why anyone would believe him. Vulnerability and alienation may explain in social and psychological terms why some people are driven into the arms of charlatans, but Park wants to know what's going on in the brain. He can do no more than sketch out what happens when sensory input is "routed through the thalamus" into the sensory cortex, and then passed on to our amygdalae, which in turn "generate an emotional response" - and yet he shows how we are beginning to understand how new beliefs are formed. Those who fear having their experiences reduced to hormones should still recognize how language "opened a powerful new channel for the creation of beliefs" and how language "makes vicarious experience the dominant source of beliefs, overwhelming personal experience... Unfortunately, that which allows us to learn from others also exposes us to manipulation by them."

At what point does superstition go "from being a harmless indulgence to a threat to the human race"? Superstitious responses to individual catastrophes like the tsunami are both distasteful and useless. (A Buddhist leader in Southern California shrugged off the two hundred thousand innocent children who died, saying, "children are not innocent - you can be punished at any time for misdeeds in a previous life." Is this how to motivate practical measures to reduce future death tolls?) But the big challenge facing humanity is global warming, and once we make the connection with overpopulation and accept that opposition to birth control "is primarily religious", we can begin to see how superstition disguised as religious belief is an important part of the problem.

"Science is the only way humankind has found of separating truth from superstition" - and yet we are still superstitious. It's been 2,600 years since Thales stated "perhaps the most brilliant insight of all time: for every physical effect there is a physical cause." That was the beginning of science, and it should have marked the end of superstition. "Naturalism advises us to be patient" - but this is ridiculous! That Park has had to write this humane and hopeful book in the twenty-first century shows both how far we have come and how far we have to go.

Robert L. Park is professor of physics at the University of Maryland and author of Voodoo science: the road from foolishness to fraud.

In this brilliant book, he examines and debunks many popular illusions: intelligent design, parapsychology, spoon-bending, reincarnation, astral projections, extra-sensory perception, homoeopathy, acupuncture, magnetic healing, crystal healing, pyramid healing, life after death, the existence of souls, the efficacy of prayer, and the notions of hell and heaven. He also wittily proves that inter-stellar travel and time travel are impossible.

He shows that these are all products of wishful thinking, or of outright fraud (spoon-bending, for goodness' sake!). Some are cultural relics from a pre-scientific age, others are misunderstandings, wilful or not, of scientific advances (for example, ignorant notions of `quantum' healing). Some are superstitions learnt in childhood.

He describes how people developed randomised controlled trials so that they could sift sense from nonsense and impose checks on their perceptions. By thorough testing, we have made great progress in science, especially in medicine. He praises Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection as one of the greatest steps forward in our understanding of the world around us.

Using science's skills, we have moved from purging, cupping and bleeding to anaesthetics, antibiotics and surgery. We have ended smallpox and could end polio and malaria were it not for the resistance of ignorant imams and greens. We have progressed from a belief that disasters are God-given (to punish sinful mankind) to understanding how to predict and cope with disasters.

There are some books you struggle though and some books you read too quickly. "Superstition" is one of the latter. It's a pleasure to read. Clearly and engagingly written, I flew through it faster than I would have liked. It doesn't help that it's a short book (215 pages), nor that it improves as it goes. But the writer takes most of the credit through his writing style, and the years of experience that ooze out of his every word.

This book is more than fun to read. It's an important book. Not original; but important. It explains very clearly the scientific method, and equally clearly explains why prayer, alternative medicine, and acupuncture (to name but a few) are just so much hot air. He's not vitriolic in his condemnation of these things. He just calmly points out that there is not a shred of evidence to support their use and proper clinical trials show them to be no better than placebos (except acupuncture, well needles placed anywhere to be precise, which appears to have the power of one aspirin).

A real pleasure to read. And if every human in the world read it tomorrow, the world would be a lot better place.