A few days ago I found a Mythbusters video in which they test whether someone would remain unharmed in the case of two simultaneous explosions occurring at opposite directions[2]. I realized I found myself in the exact same position as the test dummy, I was surrounded by two different approaches towards the definition and concept of science. On my left, I had my notion of science and on the other side was a sociological approach [1]. Just as in physics, the addition of the waves didn’t cancel them out, but created resonance. A confounding resonance.

Upon further analysis of the authors’ proposal, I agree with the point of committing to relativism and to accept it as an antagonist to absolutism, rather than truth. Considering Perry’s Scheme [3], I found parallels in that the higher you go in learning, the more you embrace relativism as a lense and depart from dualisms.

Even without taking a full relativist stance, uncertainty tends to make people anxious.

So I started asking myself questions:

• If I find something unpleasant, is it only because I’m contrasting said perception to a former (“better”) one?
• Where does this “better” come from?
• How do I create these “standards” I compare against?
• Am I hungry enough to go back to the fridge and lower my standards? (even though this questions is unrelated to the topic, it did arise several times)

I decided that memory, specifically the creation of new memories [4] was a good starting point to answer some of this questions.

Attractor networks work the same way as constructing a highway, yet the building blocks are interacting neurons instead of concrete. The more the road is used, the more lanes will be added, maybe even better infrastructure. Neurons build these paths for the transference of information among themselves, the more you experience something, the more said connection is reinforced.

As a skilled contractor, my brain is more interested in augmenting the lanes of my attractor network highway, than it’s in creating new roads and investing even more money (energy) in their development. The more I reinforce my own perception of technology and science, the more I root it in my belief system.

I consider my shift in paradigm from reinforcing to creating new attractor networks to be one of the causes for my uneasiness towards committing to relativism. Especially since the change is not confined to a psychological level, but due to the brain’s neuroplasticity, also to a physical level.

In the end, even though the new highways might converge in the final destination, every new route will provide a different setting to see through the window.

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[1] Bauchspies, W. K., Croissant, J., & Revisto, S. (2007). Science, technology, and society: a sociological approach. Malden: Blackwell.

[2] Discovery Channel. (2016, February 24). Explosive Cancellation MiniMyth | MythBusters. Retrieved January 29, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq4-fGrleRU

[3] Perry, W. G. (1999). Forms of intellectual and ethical development in the college years: a scheme. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass .

[4] Poucet, B. (2005). NEUROSCIENCE: Attractors in Memory. Science,308(5723), 799-800. doi:10.1126/science.1112555