Sacred Science – Details, episodes & analysis

Many public misunderstandings of scientific knowledge stem from oversimplification. In a complicated world, how can we use complexity to help us understand facts, instead of making them more confusing? One way we try to anticipate the impact of facts is through examining edge cases. The “edge case,” in engineering, is an extreme example used to demonstrate something that could happen and is important to consider, though rare – for example, the various ethical quandaries a self-driving car might find itself in. And a surprising precedent for addressing edge cases comes in the form of the Torah, where ethical quandaries like the ox that gores continue to apply generation after generation. Dr. Arbesman shows how we can use this knowledge to balance our awe at future technologies with our concerns about their use.

Dr. Samuel Arbesman is a complexity scientist, whose work focuses on the nature of scientific and technological change. He is currently Scientist in Residence at Lux Capital, a venture capital firm investing in emerging science and technology ventures. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Silicon Flatirons Center at the University of Colorado Boulder and Research Fellow at the Long Now Foundation.

This episode was originally published as a video on February 21, 2021.

As the host of the Starts with a Bang podcast, Ethan Siegel ponders faraway topics from outer space, but also the stakes they have for us here on Earth. Who are we really, and what is our place in the universe? In demonstrating how these questions matter, Dr. Siegel has also encountered some difficult interview subjects, and some irrational ways of thinking. How can we hear someone out, even if their ideas sound strange, without getting pulled in to an ideological black hole? Rabbi Mitelman and Dr. Siegel discuss the wonders of the universe, as well as how to share and talk about them with other people.

Ethan Siegel, Ph.D., is an astrophysicist, author, and science communicator. He has won numerous awards for science writing since 2008 for his blog, Starts With A Bang, including the award for best science blog by the Institute of Physics. He is the author of Treknology: The Science of Star Trek from Tricorders to Warp Drive, and Beyond the Galaxy: How humanity looked beyond our Milky Way and discovered the entire Universe.

How will COVID-19 change our society? What can we learn about societal resilience from studying previous pandemics? What are some of the challenges of influencing human behavior, especially in a society that values individual rights over communal responsibilities?

"Sacred Science," hosted by Sinai and Synapses Founding Director Rabbi Geoffrey A. Mitelman, talks with professors and rabbis, academics and practitioners, and scientists and religious thinkers to help us move beyond a simplistic and false "either / or" dichotomy to go in depth on the biggest questions we face in this world -- personally, societally, and globally.

Though the new Presidential administration in America offers a possible return to normalcy, it’s clear that from the past four years, our sense of truth, and how to communicate with one another, may be forever changed. Conspiracy theorists, driven by inflammatory rhetoric online, have made their presence known in American politics, and we are now forced to try to understand their line of thinking. What emotions drive conspiracy thinking? What creates “filter bubbles” of people who believe this or that truth? Dr. Michael Shermer has long been searching for the roots of group thinking, and when it tips over into group delusion. With Rabbi Mitelman, he discusses how we can approach these viewpoints with understanding and compassion, without getting pulled in.

This episode was originally published as a video on February 11, 2021.

The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced many people to the reality of constant decision-making: every action carries some amount of risk, and so must be weighed carefully. When it comes to parenting, that risk is multiplied. Shutting down schools was an appropriate and necessary step as soon as contagious disease reared its head, but the resulting need for child care has also caused a chain reaction in our society that has put women, in particular, out of work, and created untenable conditions for single working parents. Now, based on the current science, could it make sense to open up schools before some other areas of society open back up? How can this be done safely, and how do we cope with living with that amount of risk?

This episode was originally published as a video on February 4, 2021.

Humans have a hard time with wrapping their heads around events from long ago. When it becomes increasingly difficult to comprehend time beyond a human lifespan or two, how can we gain an understanding of the past of our human species? As a paleoanthropologist of food and diet, Dr. Briana Pobiner has a rich insights into how early human civilization was created, in part, through the stomach. While fads like the “paleo diet” abound, there is also much interest in what food is “naturally” meant to be consumed by humans. But when public intellectuals make appeals to human behavior that is “ancestral” or “natural,” what are they really talking about? How has food and eating built our society?

 What special role do those with a foot in both of those worlds have to play? How can we identify our vulnerabilities so that we can speak more clearly and honestly with one another? Elaine Howard Ecklund, PhD. is the Herbert S. Autrey Chair in Social Sciences and Professor of Sociology in the Rice University Department of Sociology and director of the Religion and Public Life Program at Rice’s Social Sciences Research Institute.

This week, we spoke with Dr. Tania Lombrozo, a Professor of Psychology at Princeton University, as well as an Associate of the Department of Philosophy and the University Center for Human Values. Topics included: what prompts us to believe something, whether that's a religious credo, or a scientific explanation? Are those processes of belief the same or different when we think about religious or scientific answers? What counts as evidence for that belief, and who decides? 

This week we spoke with Rachel Gurevitz, whose community, B'nei Shalom in Westborough, Massachusetts, was part of Sinai and Synapses' project Scientists in Synagogues. Topics included: When does a new technology become no longer ours, and how might Jewish wisdom help us anticipate how the fruits of our creations could redound back on us?