05-26-2006 - Human World

sagar: Author=’Marc Airhart’ program=’4891′ video=”Hurricane expert Kerry Emanuel of MIT spoke to Earth & Sky about science as one way of looking at the world.

Kerry Emanuel: _What I’ve learned as a scientist doesn’t really affect my world view all that much. I’ve always regarded science as one way of looking at the world, not as the only way._

Time magazine named Kerry Emanuel one of the 100 most influential people for 2006. That’s because shortly before Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005, his research suggested that global warming would lead to more powerful hurricanes.

Earth & Sky asked Emanuel if being a scientist has _changed_ the way he looks at the world.

Kerry Emanuel: _When it comes to the very interesting questions about mankind, things like consciousness and freewill, I’ve always felt that those are almost by definition outside the field of scientific inquiry. Although, I know the vast majority of people who formally study consciousness don’t feel that way about it. So, I tend to say science works on a large set of subjects, particularly concerning the material world, but there is a sphere of our lives that is far outside of its reach of inquiry._

_DB: Our thanks to “NASA”:http://www.nasa.gov/:_ explore, discover, understand. We’re Block and Byrd for “Earth & Sky”:/http://208.96.63.114/.

Written by EarthSky