A review by ex_dente_leonem
The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge by Jeremy Narby

5.0

A work of truly creative synthesis whose bold central thesis is made even more interesting by the lucidity of its presentation. Even if one does not agree with the author's connections or conclusions, I believe it only helps the practitioners of any field of scientific endeavour to understand that a premise not being falsifiable doesn't mean it's not be true; it's simply no longer within the realm of current science. As Narby himself states in the chapter on Biology's Blind Spot: "The problem is not having presuppositions, but failing to make them explicit. If biology said about the intentionality that nature seems to manifest at all levels, “we see it sometimes, but cannot discuss it without ceasing to do science according to our own criteria,” things would at least be clear." Personally, my intuition is that the supposedly unsophisticated idea that mindedness is a fundamental fact of the universe itself is a more elegant explanation of numerous and diverse phenomena than the materialist alternative, and that this should be properly recognized as a legitimate sphere of inquiry without ridicule or dismissal being the default attitude, even if not scientific by its inherently unprovable nature. Furthermore, to bring it back to Narby's central thesis, thousands of indigenous cultures may possibly have something valuable to say on this subject.