Science and Taboo

Why Rational Minds Need Myths, Metaphors, and Rituals

De: Boris Kriger

Narrado por: Brian Wright

Science is the most powerful method of understanding the world that human beings have ever devised. It splits atoms, sequences genomes, and photographs black holes. But it is also performed by brains—brains that think in metaphors, organize experience into stories, and coordinate collective action through ritual. What happens when we take that fact seriously?

In Science and Taboo, Boris Kriger draws on the predictive processing revolution in cognitive science to reveal the hidden architecture of scientific thought. The brain, he shows, is not a passive receiver of facts but an active prediction machine—and the tools it uses to do science are the same tools it uses to make myths.

The "Big Bang" is a metaphor that generates persistent misconceptions even as it enables extraordinary discovery. The "selfish gene" is a narrative with the structure of a creation story. The doctoral defense is a ritual of initiation as formally elaborate as any rite of passage.

These are not flaws in the scientific enterprise. They are the cognitive infrastructure on which it runs. Kriger argues that unexamined metaphors constrain research programs, unrecognized mythological structures distort how resources are allocated, and unreflective ritual practices suppress the very inquiry science is supposed to encourage.

The question is not whether science will be metaphorical, narrative, and ritualistic—it will, because brains are. The question is whether scientists will wield these tools knowingly or be wielded by them unknowingly.

©2026 Boris Kriger (P)2026 Boris Kriger