Everything in the natural world is interconnected. In order to really understand any phenomenon we would have to understand all its connections, including to ourselves and our apparatus. And this, of course, is not possible, because if there are these myriad connections, you cannot take into account all of them - especially den in a theoretical model. So what we do in science is we say that, yes, everything is interconnected, but some of these connections are more important than others. And then in a second approximation, i will take into account more inter connections, therefore my theory will be more accurate. We don't know which catastrophe will happen exactly when and where. But qualitatively, we can predict the things
Michael Shermer speaks with scientist, educator, activist, and accomplished author, Fritjof Capra, about the evolution of his thinking over five decades. In this conversation, based on Capra’s book, Patterns of Connection, Shermer and Capra discuss: what it means to be spiritual in an age of science, nuclear energy and why Capra thinks we don’t need it and Shermer thinks we do, 50 years of progress or regress, limitations of models and theories of reality, limitations of analogies between western physics and eastern mysticism, mind and consciousness, and why Capra is hopeful for the future of humanity.