In this video, British biologist Rupert Sheldrake, one of the world's most innovative scientists, describes how science is being constricted by unexamined assumptions that have hardened into dogmas. These rigid beliefs not only put arbitrary limits on the depth and scope of science, but may well be dangerous for the future of humanity.

 

According to these beliefs, all of reality is material or physical; the world is an inanimate machine; nature is purposeless; free will is an illusion; notions of higher orders of consciousness and absolute ("God") awareness exist only as ideas in human minds, which are themselves nothing but electrochemical processes imprisoned within our skulls. 

 

So Dr. Sheldrake asks: should science be an ideology or belief system, or should it reclaim its birthright as an unbiased, open-ended method of inquiry? In his latest book, SCIENCE SET FREE, he argues that the materialist ideology is moribund; under its sway, increasingly expensive research is reaping diminishing returns while societies around the world are paying the price.  In the skeptical spirit of true science, SCIENCE SET FREE turns ten fundamental dogmas of materialist science into exciting questions, and shows how all of them open up startling new possibilities for discovery. This book may well challenge your view of what is real and what is possible.

 

Dr. Rupert Sheldrake is the author of more than 80 scientific papers and ten books, and is best known for his groundbreaking theory of morphic resonance. (For his full biography and more information on his work see sheldrake.org. In this video, recorded in San Francisco on Sept. 7, 2012, Dr. Sheldrake speaks about his new book and answers audience questions at a presention sponsored by the California Institute of Integral Studies (ciis.org) and held at the First Unitarian Universalist Church in San Francisco.