Do you have statistics or studies concerning the claim that Buddhist physicists are not advantaged in science? How would you even begin to rationally approach the issue? It seems complicated—you’d have to adjust for education levels, the possibility that meditators are inclined to pursue subjects other than physics, the fact that meditation takes up time that could otherwise be devoted to studying physics, different cultural backgrounds of meditations vs. controls...
Intuitively, I think your claim is likely to be true, but I can’t really see how you can rigorously support it. Data on the % of Buddhist physicists, if it even exists, would only be scratching the surface of what you would need to support your claim. (Not that I want to debate the claim. But if you feel it’s important, I want a non-handwavey argument.)
A better model for enlightenment, meditation and rationality, I’d say, is that these things give you tools that allow you to be more rational if you’re so inclined. As with everything in life, it’s your own goals and inclinations that determine what you do with them.
An analogy is drinking coffee. Paraphrasing Paul Erdos, a mathematician is one who turns coffee into theorems. Do coffee drinkers have a special advantage in mathematics? Probably not. So perhaps Erdos was wrong; perhaps having to empty one’s bladder more often actually interferes with being a good mathematician? Again, probably not. Most likely, drinking coffee leads to mathematical productivity for people who are interested in increasing mathematical productivity.
Do you have statistics or studies concerning the claim that Buddhist physicists are not advantaged in science? How would you even begin to rationally approach the issue? It seems complicated—you’d have to adjust for education levels, the possibility that meditators are inclined to pursue subjects other than physics, the fact that meditation takes up time that could otherwise be devoted to studying physics, different cultural backgrounds of meditations vs. controls...
Intuitively, I think your claim is likely to be true, but I can’t really see how you can rigorously support it. Data on the % of Buddhist physicists, if it even exists, would only be scratching the surface of what you would need to support your claim. (Not that I want to debate the claim. But if you feel it’s important, I want a non-handwavey argument.)
A better model for enlightenment, meditation and rationality, I’d say, is that these things give you tools that allow you to be more rational if you’re so inclined. As with everything in life, it’s your own goals and inclinations that determine what you do with them.
An analogy is drinking coffee. Paraphrasing Paul Erdos, a mathematician is one who turns coffee into theorems. Do coffee drinkers have a special advantage in mathematics? Probably not. So perhaps Erdos was wrong; perhaps having to empty one’s bladder more often actually interferes with being a good mathematician? Again, probably not. Most likely, drinking coffee leads to mathematical productivity for people who are interested in increasing mathematical productivity.
Coffee drinkers may well have an advantage in mathematics
Attributed to both Alfréd Rényi and Paul Erdős
Heh, coffee (and caffeine in general) is such an ingrained part of the culture here.