Alan sings my song but flys in the opposite direction. He is searching to fill a void that is woven into his DNA. Perhaps his upbringing had a non-spiritual component of materialism thus the reality he is seeking eludes him. As a materialist he has little hope but perhaps he is content with that for now.

I really enjoyed this mini-series! I love how Alan relates the topic to his connection with nature. It is also refreshing that the PBS website initiates discussion among different personal worldviews, although I missed hearing from eminent scientists of faith in the series itself. As for myself, after I finished graduate work in theoretical physics, I worked with applied physics and engineering in industry for more than 30 years. I recently retired with a chance to pursue theoretical interests. My current personal worldview sees our physical universe as being very highly mechanistic, in that useful properties flow logically from basic principles. I also view the physical universe as part of a larger world outside of our mechanistic models and inhabited by a God who is the embodiment of objective truth. That God interacts with humanity, for example, through the operation of the physical universe by ensuring general properties of nature do not change and by ‘plucking the strings’ of our physical universe as needed without changing those fixed properties – that is, perhaps, until decommissioning. This is one sense in which I consider oversimplified the model that regards every aspect of human life and experience as ultimately following from fundamental physics. Further, while I find exciting the understanding and implementation of mechanistic models of nature, they are not enough for me to live a happy and fulfilled life. I look to the Christian Bible to get information about God’s larger context, and this does help me to sustain a happy and content life. It also encourages looking ‘outside of the box’ scientifically, since God himself exists outside of our physical ‘box’. I therefore believe it is important to bring God into this overall conversation.