Some starting thoughts, from the on-line forum I think science is simply methods where we try to learn more about ourselves and where we come from ... we first need to learn from the bottom up, just so that we could at least understand a dialog that was presented to us in just about any conversations related to science. With this basic understanding from the public, the disconnect between scientists and the public would diminish ... Sophia The big question is, can is there a way to incorporate ethics into science without jeapordizing scientific advancement? ... Camisha Knowledge is power and with the knowledge that science provides us we become more powerful. With this power we can truly change the world for the better ... Leeza Scientists, for the most part, have the noble cause to help the world better itself (however they define that). But once politics are thrown into the mix, it becomes anything but as simple ... the American public is simply afraid of the truth (in more than just science, at that), and that is why science is so negatively viewed, as something that makes it scarier to live ... Nicholas we all have curiousities about the world around us, and we because of those curiosities, we created science ... but we can't control what happens with any information we find in the search for knowledge ... Olga

The brain (= nervous system) as a starting point (and ending point?)

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) The Brain - is wider than the Sky - For - put them side by side - The one the other will contain With ease - and You - beside-

• The brain is all there is?
• The brain as what does science?
• The brain as where poetry comes from? where ethics comes from? where curiosity and fear comes from? where thinking/choice comes from? where politics comes from?

Lessons about humans from studying the brain

• We are all complexly organized matter
• We are all both similar and different
• We are all changing all the time
• We are all complex blends of genes and experiences (including culture)

Further insights from aspects of brain organization: from a reflex machine to boxes within boxes, hierarchy vs distributed control, plan vs exploration

• We are each of us collectives, with many interacting parts at multiple levels of scale
• We are all of us explorers
  • Complexity and emergence
  • Neuronal semi-autonomy
  • Using output-generated inputs

And more: the bipartite brain

• The existence of an unconscious/conscious distinction
• The brain and free will
• The brain as both painter and audience
• The brain as creator; see also An example of the significance of number and mathematics
• Mixing the unconscious and the conscious
• The brain as story teller and reteller

Is there anything in all this that makes you think differently about what humans are? who you are? And does it seem to have any implications for What is science? Where does it come from? Is it good for humanity? Put new stories in the on-line forum area.