Re: What do you believe?

Description: Since Gilbert's personal philosophy is a blank slate waiting for scientific building blocks.

Question: Do you have a personal philosophy?

Transcript: A personal philosophy. Well I think not, in the sense of, you know, a member of an organized religion or sect or cult. I couldn’t give you an “ism” that somehow described my personal philosophy. And I think that’s because I see beliefs as something you earn, not as something you start out with. Beliefs are the prize we get from a long day of looking hard. I believe in the law of supply and demand and the structure of DNA because people have worked very hard to establish the facts on which those beliefs are predicated. I’m not sure if that’s what you mean when you ask me about a philosophy, but I suppose I could say my philosophy is to start out, as much as possible, as a blank slate, and on the basis of scientific evidence, build up a philosophy from there.

Question: Which philosopher really gets it?

Transcript: Oh so many. I do like reading philosophy. I’m a big fan of Spinoza, and I’ve written articles about Spinoza and belief. Modern philosophers . . . gosh . . . I’ve . . . Ancient philosophers, I’d say Spinoza, Manuel Kant. Modern philosophers . . . Dennis Parfitt is an exciting philosopher to me. “Reasons and Persons” just blew my mind in the way that a good Phillip K. Dick does.

All these philosophers have written about different things that have excited me. You know, Kant . . . I mean, Kant’s notions are the basis of modern psychology. The idea that perception is constructed by the brain . . . that our eyes are not video cameras that are just taking in the world and broadcasting it on a little theater screen inside our heads. But then the fact that we’re actively constructing everything that we see, hear around us. It’s a product of not only incoming information from the environment, but what we already know, believe, hope, want and dream. That’s a really big idea, and it’s Kant’s idea. And it’s what legitimates modern psychology.

Question: Do religion or faith inform your worldview?

Transcript: Well I find myself cursing them more often than not. I’m sure religion and faith had important roles to play in human history. In my view at present, they’re far more destructive than constructive. Now I say this with a bit of trepidation because religion means many, many things. Certainly some aspects of religion are things we would all applaud . . . the idea that we have a moral code that we try to live by. But I don’t think that’s what you mean by “religion”. Religion . . . by “religion” we mean deism. We mean belief in something we absolutely can’t see for which there’s no evidence. To me this cuts against the grain of what it means to be a scientist. I don’t think people should not believe in God; but it seems to me to have a very strong in that for which there is absolutely not one shred of evidence goes against the very meaning of . . . of . . . of rationalism. It . . . it . . . it . . . I think I’m probably gonna let you cut that there.

Question: What is your highest virtue?

Transcript: Well, you know, when Rabbi Hillel was asked to stand on one foot and say what the Torah means, he said . . . he got up on one foot and said, “Do unto others as you’d have them do unto you. The rest is commentary.” In some sense that’s not entirely wrong. I think the guiding principle of any life is to treat other people the way you yourself wish to be treated.

Recorded on: 6/12/2007