The Blind Spot
Why Science Cannot Ignore Human Experience
Adam Frank, Marcelo Gleiser & Evan Thompson, 2024
About the Book
Modern science has achieved extraordinary success by observing the world with remarkable precision. But what happens when it overlooks the very experience that makes observation possible? In The Blind Spot, Adam Frank, Marcelo Gleiser, and Evan Thompson challenge one of the deepest assumptions of modern scientific thought: that reality can be understood independently of human experience.
Bringing together physics, philosophy, biology, cognitive science, and the history of ideas, the authors propose a renewed vision of science that places lived experience back at the center of inquiry. The result is a compelling invitation to rethink not only how science works, but also how knowledge itself is created through the dynamic relationship between observer and world.
What People Are Saying About The Blind Spot
“An intriguing and important reflection on the complexity of the role that we ourselves play within the scientific world picture.”
— Carlo Rovelli, author of The Order of Time and Seven Brief Lessons on Physics
“Can we aspire for knowledge more comprehensive and truer than our current scientific one? Frank, Gleiser, and Thompson’s brilliant answer is yes: one that celebrates its accomplishments yet is fully aware of what still needs to be done—and urgently. The Blind Spot breaks ground for research and education in the third millennium, shielding science from its worst enemies by offering a realistic and original program to heal our divided world and our ailing planet.”
— Jimena Canales, author of The Physicist and the Philosopher: Einstein, Bergson, and the Debate That Changed Our Understanding of Time
“We are in a crisis that is global, civilizational, existential in scale. A conceptual transformation is needed. The Blind Spot shows us why.”
— Stuart A. Kauffman, author of A World Beyond Physics and At Home in the Universe
“This is a very important book that has the potential to become a classic text. ... Being aware of the Blind Spot is a necessary step toward reinscribing human experience back into science’s core.”
— Science
“This is by far the best book I've read this year.”
— Michael Pollan, Professor of the Practice of Non-fiction, Harvard University; #1 New York Times bestselling author
“(A) stimulating manifesto for changing the way we look at things.”
— Wall Street Journal
