Vedāntic view of life: Reply to Gustavo Caetano-Anollés

Commun Integr Biol. 2016 Apr 6;9(2):e1160191. doi: 10.1080/19420889.2016.1160191. eCollection 2016 Mar-Apr.

Abstract

The author would like to thank Professor Gustavo Caetano-Anollés from Department of Crop Sciences, University of Illinois for his interest in his work. We may sometimes observe that there is a noticeable difference between the anecdote people narrate about the implications of a scientific paper and the real conclusion of the paper. Prof. Gustavo Caetano-Anollés's response(1) is an ideal example of the same, where he has tried to make great hay about the implications of the article "Life and consciousness - The Vedāntic view."(2) The Vedāntic view subscribes neither to the views of 'Creationist Movement'/'Intelligent Design', nor it supports some splendid anti-science proposal. Vedāntic view refutes the dominant reductionistic view of life in modern biology by proposing a viable alternative concept of 'Organic Whole' and thus serves a scientific critique to the nescience (avidyā) that is practiced on the name of science.

Keywords: Darwinism; cell sentience; consciousness; creationism; intelligent design; machine; mind; organism; origin of Life; teleology.