The Stories Science Tells

Science often echoes cultural stories rather than objective observation.

When dominant culture was enamored with brain-in-a-jar thinking, science overemphasized the blood-brain barrier. But in fact the blood-brain barrier is plenty permeable. And that thing about no lymph circulation? Ridiculous. It was always a brain in a sieve.

During the Cold War, the "Naked Ape" was a very popular book, chest-beating and all, about how humans are really just violent apes without much hair. But in other times with other stories about ourselves, science might instead suggest (identify??) the sexy bonobo as our progenitor.

The "5 senses" framework you are taught in elementary school ignores vibration, interoception, proprioception, and most of the sensing we actually use. That is not science, so what's that cultural agenda?

The distinction between "voluntary" and "autonomous" systems supports cultural myths about willpower and control, rather than reflecting how bodies actually work.

And my favorite: the ongoing overemphasis on the nervous system (leaving out immune, endocrine and cardio) encourages us to ignore mood as a way of knowing ourselves and instead to concentrate on brainy stuff.

These aren't minor oversights - they're examples of science serving cultural narratives instead of describing our dappled reality. The stories shape research priorities, funding, and what gets taught as fact. When the cultural investment is deep enough, contradictory evidence gets ignored or dismissed rather than integrated.