Joel R. Primack & Nancy Ellen Abrams - At Home in the Cosmos: Exploring Who We Are and Why We Are Here

Will the most recent scientific discoveries about our physical universe completely reshape the spirituality and culture of the future? Physicist Joel Primack and his wife, philosopher Nancy Abrams, think so—and they say they’ve got a radical new theory that proves it.

In section one of this interview with EnlightenNext’s Elizabeth Debold and Andrew Cohen, Primack and Abrams lay out the scientific foundations of their theory, which suggests that although we are not located at the geographical center of the universe, the rarity of carbon-based life and the uniqueness of the human capacity for consciousness make us central to the cosmos in ways that were not conceivable to our ancestors.

In section two, Abrams, Primack, Debold, and Cohen discuss the exciting implications of this perspective they call “the view from the center of the universe” and how it may force us to reevaluate our deepest notions of God, morality, and the meaning of our presence here in an evolving cosmos. As Abrams says in the interview:

“We can experience the entire universe spiritually if we realize that what spiritual means is to experience our connection to the cosmos. . . . The universe itself is so much grander than anyone imagined. Even attempting to feel that we’re a part of it is a spiritual action.”

Inspiring and at times controversial, this interview is a pioneering journey to the very edge of the evolving relationship between science and spirituality.

BIO

Joel R. Primack is a professor of physics at the University of California at Santa Cruz.  He is also a research cosmologist, a leader in the new field of particle astrophysics, and one of the principal originators and developers of the theory of Cold Dark Matter. With his wife, Nancy Abrams, Primack teaches an award-winning course called "Cosmology and Culture," from which the two developed their book The View from the Center of the Universe. He has authored more than 200 technical articles for professional journals as well as written many articles for a popular audience. Primack is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was a founder of the Union of Concerned Scientists and served on the board of the Federation of American Scientists.

Nancy Ellen Abrams is a lawyer and writer, with a long-term interest in the history, philosophy, and politics of science. While on staff at the Office of Technology Assessment of the U.S. Congress, she cocreated a method by which government agencies can make wise policy decisions in cases involving scientific uncertainty. She has consulted with the Swedish government, state governments, and corporations on this novel procedure called “Scientific Mediation.” She is also the author of numerous articles and a songwriter with three albums of original songs that she has performed in eighteen countries. Formerly a Fulbright Scholar and a Woodrow Wilson Designate, Abrams studied with eminent religions scholar Mircea Eliade at the University of Chicago.