Is Doubt Hard-Wired? Poem by gershon hepner

Since we must deal with probabilities,
we must hardwire doubt, which is their rival,
in order that research facilities
called brains provide the fittest with survival.

Inspired by a response by Professor James P. Evans, Professof Genetics at UNC, to my poem “Doubt or Probabilities: :

This is wonderful! ! ! I love it! ! ! As a geneticist and a junior philosopher I’ve always been very interested in the elusive idea of “truth” and I think you get to the crux of it. I’d add (in prose form!) that it all gets back to evolutionary theory….we evolved as creatures who deal with probabilities and doubt is hard-wired into our brains.


7/3/08