WHY “SCIENCE AND RELIGION" IMPLIES THE ART OF SCIENCE CARTOONING

  Some say combining science with art and religion is impossible. They say science, art and religion are too different. It’s like mixing apples and oranges. But I disagree, because from one perspective science, art and religion are all the same. Science, art and religion are all “memes”.

  Memes, like genes, are units of reproduction. They’re less concrete than genes. But they do have the standard evolutionary qualities of reproduction, variation and selection. When we speak of cultural evolution, memes are what’s evolving. So because science, art and religion are all aspects of culture, they’re all memes. And memes can always be mixed.    

  Memes “feed” on our brains. We’re meme flypaper. And the glue that holds the memes has some very respectable names such as patriotism, holiness and our sense of truth. So when it comes to holding the different memes of science and religion our sense of truth and holiness function in very much the same way.

  Memes interact and harmonize as metaphors. They form coordinated self reinforcing ecologies. Some of these ecologies feed on our objective needs. While others feed on our subjective needs. This accounts for the difference between science and religion.

  All objects have an objective side and a subjective side. And they’re not the same. They can’t be completely reduced to one another. And neither one of them can be thought of as having the last word. So the best we can hope for, when it comes to joining science and religion is to create a set of memes that does equally well at taking care of both our objective as well as our subjective needs.

  There are many memic systems that do this. Music and dance combine the physics of sound and motion with our subjective sense of beauty and meaning. Medicine combines our sense of virtue with scientific biology. Architecture combines practical and esthetic needs with engineering and materials science. But when it comes to the cosmic stories of science and religion suddenly there’s a split. The question is why? Part of this comes from the memic system of self-preservation, which we experience as a clash of traditions. But also, equally fundamentally, I think it has a lot to do with issues of size.

   It seems that at sizes scales relatively close to that of the human body differences between objective and the subjective are small enough so that the two can be integrated. But then, with extremes in size, a difference between these two realities becomes more apparent. And integration becomes more difficult. Objectivity and subjectivity come from the body. And the body is central to our view of the world.           

  Another reason an image of the body is essential, is because we tend to see other bodies as if they were our own. That’s why we identify with protagonists, in the moves, in sports and in sacred literature. Even stale documentaries have a hero or a narrator. We’ll even extend this metaphor to places where we know it doesn’t apply. For example we’ll imagine zygotes and countries as if they were complete human beings. This tendency to extend the body into everything we encounter isn’t wrong or ignorant, it’s simply a byproduct of the way we process information. It has survival value.

  So from meditation, prayer and art, to sacred heroes, to the body of the congregation religion without reference to the human body is unthinkable. But the same can not be said for science. Science, apart from medicine, generally leaves the body far behind. From mathematics, to quantum mechanics, to cosmology our normal intuitions, (derived mostly form the body) are frequently thought of as a hindrance rather than an aid to our understanding of the wider world. Science and religion have a lot of similarities, but when it comes to issues of the body they couldn’t be farther apart.

  So how should an artist interested in joining science and religion handle this issue of the body. I think the answer is obvious. Science and religion artists should use the art of science cartooning!

  Science cartooning can join objective and subjective realities as no other art form can. It has a unique metaphysical status. It’s a nontraditional system of memes that naturally bridges the gap. It turns all sizes into a human size. And it brings the body back into the cosmos.

  So if you’re using art is to join science and religion what art form works best? I say Sculpture and photography can only take you so far. They’re limiting because you inevitably come to this issue of the body. But if you want the objective and the subjective to be deeply blended I say turn to science cartooning.

--Jason W. Homer