Carl Sagan's Demon-Haunted World is constantly exhorting its readers to exert skepticism, considering everything through the lense of scientific enquiry. But he does not, however, turn science under this same exacting microscope. He takes cheap shots at pseudoscience (aliens, witchcraft) that are easy to identify with--of course, says the rational reader, those things are ridiculous (no offense meant to Jackie). Ha ha ha! Silly pseudoscience. He also takes shots at religion, although he doesn't seem to be considering so much the modern iteration as the medieval church (he speaks of demons and darkness and people blindly following crazed demagogues, and while we have these things today, they are far less prevalent. We call them cults).

Sagan and Coles both admit that everyone is fallible. They both however seek the truth, and learn to do so despite the blurs between reality and fantasy. Although, most of Coles' colleagues encourage him to use categories and to detach himself from his patients stories, he ends up recognizing the power of those stories. There's something collective about the way that we share stories that allows us to move past those categories. It's interesting that Coles' supervisor tries to advise him to bring together two realms of thought knowledge and theory but to be careful not to confuse them. It seems that in listening to the stories that his patients share with him, and providing that as background/evidence for his claims, then he is avoiding making up stories or stretching the truth.

I found an interview between Bill Maher and Dr. Collins who led the Human Genome Project about his religious beliefs and how a man of science could believe in religion. In the video there's a statement that 93% of scientists in the American National Academy of Scientists are Atheist or Agnostic. This not only surprised me but suggested a correlation between the two. They are most likely firm Sagan believers and feel that if they cannot prove something then they do not believe it, which would account for the lack of religion. Religion is after all based on belief and not evidence.

www.youtube.com/watch

 I think that part of the reason that we enjoy stories so much is because we all have a fundamental need for understanding and human connection. We want to know that someone else has gone through what we have. A student that Coles talked to put it well: “we’re all in trouble, one way or the other.” Everyone has their own problems and it is easy to find comfort in telling your story to some one else, especially if you find that they have gone though a similar situation. People need stories to make sense of their lives and experiences.

 I think one of the important parts of Coles's book (in the context of a course examining texts) is the simple value he places on stories. Not only the personal/'true' stories of his patients but the novels read by young polio victims. 

I think it's also interesting (at this point in the course) to ask (again) why write books at all, why read them and why write nonfiction in particular. Is that even what is being written? The major difference I have arrived at in regard to non-fiction is treatment by the audience. I don't know how the quantify it. There's an assumed level of relevance to non-fictional books where as fictional forms need translation, analysis, theory. 

After reading the "Stories and Theories" portion of Call of Stories I was interested in finding out a little more about Coles' background as a psychiatrist. I found a really interesting commentary on Coles' writing (particularly about Children of Crisis) in a book called Intellectual craftsmen: ways and works in American scholarship by Steven Weiland (find it on google books). He writes "some distortion is perhaps inevitable given Coles' method and purposes and the expectations of his readers.

Brain, Education, and Inquiry

Bryn Mawr College, Fall 2010

Session 13B

Facilitated by Evren

Athletics, Music, and Education

What role does repetition/practice play in the development of athletic, musical, dance skill/ability?