I love XKCD. And the guy who does XKCD recently had some illness in the family, which makes anyone reevaluate things. I wish him and his all the best and am sorry for his troubles. But his recent comic ( http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/sickness.png )touches a on a very important point.

In the broad choice between science and religion you don't go with science or religion. Either choice is truly horrifying, and if it's a choice between science and fundamentalism, morally horrifying as well.

Consider end of life issues. Science can create moral choices that have never been conceived of before. We can now prolong life beyond the point of humanity or reason. We can end life in ways that have never been conceived of before. What science can't do is make choices for us.

There are cancers that can be treated, but everyday people make the choice that they shouldn't be. They decide that regime of treatment is too brutal, the chance of success too low, that it is just not worth it. There is no Science that can answer this question. And the conceits of science can lead one to justify positions that are morally horrible.

For example, even if the patient doesn't want the treatment, the attempt provides data points that might be useful in the treatment of other patients. Therefore it should proceed.

But hidden in there is a moral principle. The greatest good for the greatest number. But the question of whether the greatest good for the greatest number is, in fact, the greatest good is NOT a scientific question. It's a moral question. And as much as one might have faith in science, it simply doesn't apply. I'm not saying that you have to

The scientific approach to morality is what gets you eugenics. I mean really. It's simply the application of genetics to human breeding. What could be more scientific than that. Shoot the cripples and the ugly people.

In a very personal and human way, today's XKCD sums it all up very nicely in one sentence. "I find my courage where I can, but I take my weapons from science."

As a writer, an artist and a human being, I am more interested in courage than I am science. Science gets enough play. But courage, and all the sources of strength in the human spirit, are too little explored. That's why I started my latest book, Unkillable (http://www.patrickemclean.com/unkillable) with this quote:

“The effect of the science is to make mankind vain. Penetrating so many secrets, we cease to believe in the unknowable. But there it sits, nevertheless, philosophically licking its chops.”- H.L. Mencken