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Exploring the Cultural Meaning of the Natural Sciences in Contemporary Rhetoric and Representation: Exploring the Cultural Meaning of the Natural Sciences in Contemporary Popular Science Writing and Literature Juuso Aarnio Doctoral Dissertation, Department of English, University of Helsinki 2008 © Juuso Aarnio 2008 ISBN 978-952-92-3478-3 (paperback) ISBN 978-952-10-4581-3 (PDF) Helsinki University Printing House Helsinki 2008 Abstract During the last twenty-five years, literary critics have become increasingly aware of the complexities surrounding the relationship between the so-called two cultures of science and literature. Instead of regarding them as antagonistic endeavours, many now argue that the two emerge from the common ground of language, and often deal with and respond to similar questions, although their methods of doing it are different. While this thesis does not suggest that science should simply be treated as an instance of discursive practices, it shows that our understanding of scientific ideas is to a considerable extent guided by the employment of linguistic structures that allow genres of science writing such as popular science to express arguments in a persuasive manner. In this task figurative language plays a significant role, as it helps create a close link between content and form, the latter not only stylistically supporting the former but also frequently epitomizing the philosophy behind what is said and establishing various kinds of argumentative logic. As many previous studies have tended to focus only on the use of metaphor in scientific arguments, this thesis seeks to widen the scope by also analysing the use of other figures of speech. Because of its important role in popular science writing, figurative language constitutes a bridge to literature employing scientific ideas. While popular science employs figurative language to enhance its rhetoric and literary qualities, such literature portrays science by using its own techniques of representation, with the rhetoric of popularized accounts evident in the portrayals. By a comparative analysis of contemporary popular science writing and literature, this study discusses how the two often reciprocally affect each other’s means of representation while approaching shared topics, such as identity and knowledge, thus together contributing to the process of signification through which scientific ideas are given their human meaning and relevance. Contents Acknowledgements.............................................................................................................. i 1. Introduction.............................................................................................................. 1 1.1 From the Two Cultures Debate towards a Third Culture ..................................... 1 1.2 The Aim, Argument, and Relevance of This Study............................................. 7 1.3 The Scope and Overview of the Primary Material............................................. 14 1.4 Theoretical Background and Methodology ....................................................... 16 1.5 Structure........................................................................................................... 31 2. The Metaphysics of the New Physics ..................................................................... 33 2.1 From Classical Physics to the New Physics ...................................................... 36 2.2 The Physics of Knowledge and Identity............................................................ 43 2.2.1 Drawing the Analogy between the Microscopic and the Macroscopic ....... 44 2.2.2 Uncertainties and Quantum Selves............................................................ 78 2.3 Experiencing Time ..........................................................................................118 2.3.1 Are Physical and Psychological Time Irreconcilable Opposites?..............119 2.3.2 Reconciling the Temporal with the Timeless............................................126 2.4 The New Physics: Conclusion .........................................................................140 3. Chaos, Complexity, and Meaning........................................................................144 3.1 From the New Physics to Chaos and Complexity.............................................146 3.2 The Chaos of Our World: Order and Disorder in Nature and Human Life........150 3.2.1 Chaos Begetting Order: The Arrow of Time, Nature’s Complexity, and Self- Organization ...........................................................................................................150 3.2.2 The Part and the Whole: Holism, Unpredictability, and the Question of Determinism ...........................................................................................................183 3.3 Chaos as Romanticism and Romance...............................................................227 3.3.1 Revolutionary Scientists, Revolutionary Ideas .........................................227 3.3.2 Reconciling Reason and Emotion.............................................................238 3.4 Chaos Theory and Complexity: Conclusion.....................................................255 4. Evolutionary Biology and Human Nature............................................................259 4.1 From Modern to Postmodern Biology..............................................................260 4.2 Selfish Genes: Evolution and Neo-Darwinism .................................................265 4.2.1 The Biology of Altruism and Selfishness .................................................267 4.2.2 Selfishness, Humankind, and the Rebellion against the Selfish Gene .......278 4.3 The Not So Selfish Genes: Challenges to Neo-Darwinism in the New Biology302 4.3.1 Evolution as a Branching Bush and Life as a Symphony of Sentient Beings 303 4.3.2 Evolution as Contingency and Cooperation..............................................329 4.4 Evolutionary Biology: Conclusion...................................................................362 5. Computers, Information Technology, and the Case of Artificial Intelligence ....365 5.1 From Organic Evolution to the Co-Evolution of Humans and Machines ..........367 5.2 Separating Men from Machines .......................................................................372 5.2.1 ‘Man is not a machine’: Reason and Judgment as Uniquely Human Qualities 372 5.2.2 Drawing the Line between the Organic and the Artificial.........................390 5.3 Machines Becoming Human............................................................................409 5.3.1 Intelligent Technology as Humankind’s Next Evolutionary Step..............409 5.3.2 Humankind Merging with Machines ........................................................429 5.4 Computers, Information Technology, and Artificial Intelligence: Conclusion ..471 6. Conclusions............................................................................................................475 Bibliography..................................................................................................................482 Index..............................................................................................................................491 i Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to thank the Department of English at the University of Helsinki for the resources that made this research project possible. In terms of financial matters related to the writing of my thesis, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the Research Foundation of the University of Helsinki, whose grant for young researchers was invaluable at the early stages of the project, and the Finnish Graduate School for Literary Studies, whose funding gave me the precious opportunity to conduct my research uninterrupted. Speaking of individuals directly or indirectly involved in the actual writing of my thesis, I am indebted to Professor Bo Pettersson, who carefully supervised the whole process from its humble and confused beginning to its joyous end. I would also like to extend my gratefulness to professors, lecturers, and fellow students at both the Department of English and the Graduate School for their feedback, insights, and encouragement over the years. In the same way, I thank my pre-examiners Patricia Waugh of Durham University and Päivi Mehtonen of the University of Tampere for their excellent comments and suggestions during the final stage of the project. Last but definitely not least, a special thanks goes to my parents and friends for their unfailing support and endless patience. 1 1. Introduction 1.1 From the Two Cultures Debate towards a Third Culture Studies focusing on some of the various aspects of the relationship between science and literature often begin by referring to the so-called two cultures debate, and — for better or worse — mine is no exception. Of its various historical manifestations such as the publication of Jonathan Swift’s satire on the discussion on the merits of classical and modern learning in The Battle of the Books in 1704,1 the clash of Romanticism and Classicism in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries,2 the exchange of views between Matthew Arnold and T. H. Huxley at the end of the nineteenth century, 3 the Two Cultures debate between C. P. Snow and F. R. Leavis in the 1960s, and the Science Wars of 1 Swift attacks the battle between the so-called Ancients and Moderns, which originated at the end of the seventeenth century with the publication of Sir William Temple’s Of Ancient and Modern Learning (1690). This debate primarily
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