Is nature our new god? | Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes, Tim Palmer, Melanie Challenger

Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes, Tim Palmer and Melanie Challenger discuss whether re-embracing Mother Earth as a divine god can undermine human values by bringing back superstition and fate.

00:00 Intro
00:28 Tim Palmer
03:56 Melanie Challenger
08:11 Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes

From Greece’s Gaia to the Hindu Prithvi, many cultures have seen the Earth as a divine being. Christianity and Western culture however removed god from nature deriding such outlooks as 'pagan'. The earth was recast as a resource for humans, to be conquered, settled and tamed. Now it seems the tides may be changing again. Rivers and rainforests are being given legal rights and some philosophers go further arguing that the planets of the solar system should too. Nature it would seem is the new god.

Psychedelic philosopher Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes, internationally-renowned climate scientist Tim Palmer, and author-broadcaster-podcaster Melanie Challenger test each other's beliefs about nature and god. Hosted by philosopher Hilary Lawson

#TheologyOfNature #GodsOfNature #DestructingMotherEarth

Tim Palmer is an internationally renowned meteorologist and Professor at the University of Oxford. He works on the tough, crucial problems of uncertainty in our weather and climate, drawing on his background in fundamental physics to do so.

Peter Sjöstedt-H is a philosopher of mind, specialising in the thought of Whitehead and Nietzsche and in panpsychism and altered states of sentience. Peter Sjöstedt-H is currently a research fellow and associate lecturer at The University of Exeter, following six years of lecturing Philosophy in London.

Melanie Challenger is a researcher on the history of humanity and the natural world and on environmental philosophy. Her latest book, How to Be Animal: a new history of what it means to be human was published by Canongate in 2021.

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[sleepybean]

Was this at HTLGI? Can’t believe I missed it if so

[AndyMacaskill]

Interesting discussion. If anyone is interested, I've also written on the anthropomorphic aspect of this on my blog, which is just titled my name. Obviously I can't leave a link.

[dallinsprogis]

I should think that with all the practical knowledge that we have today, should lead us to have a drive to survive the universe and nothing more.

“Surviving the universe is a true goal”

Whether or not a solar system exists, does not change the fact that the universe was going to be what it is now with all of its contents. The contents of the universe will be and that is with or without humans as we are now.

What we create moving forward should revolve around the idea of surviving the universe.

Believing that we are going to survive the universe will be essential to proper mental health. This is what we need to understand to develop meaningful solutions that will support our environment to reach the goal of surviving the universe and hopefully beyond the existence of the solar system.

[matterasmachine]

God was machine and nature is machine too

[KaliFissure]

Nature is the only God powerful enough to make itself blatantly, overtly manifest and yet remain enigmatic and inscrutable.

I dare any and all other gods to provide me with blueberries.

[rockyfjord]

Maybe you should first define and analyze 'human values, ' and where that trope comes from. Maybe
that's the root of the problem. Who invented or first started using that term? Referring to what? And
then you might even before that, talk about what 'human is?' For that, see Ortega y Gasset's 'Man And
People, ' Chapter One. Or read Ortega's 'Man And Crisis, ' and skip this intellectualism.

[peterclark]

Nature is a God? LOL. Who would accept the invitation to talk on such a complete misread of reality. The Nature we experience on this planet is a specific subset of themes that are probably available in the entirety of the Cosmos.
Discuss instead: _Science is not in control of its future or of its message._ That is the ultimate tragedy for humankind. Our best access to understanding reality is a political and corporate football and as such it is still a freak show. BTW these events for sycophants are not a solution. They may appeal to the Nerd and Geek community who reflect the root problem of Science.