Sorry if this gets a little philosophical. I've been sitting on this one for a while because I was a little afraid of potential reactions to it. But, screw it, here it is anyway.
The second conference I attended last year was specifically on duckweed. Duckweed is very useful as a model species for a number of reasons that only a few members of my audience will care about, so I won't list them.
In addition to being a good model, duckweed is also useful for cleaning waste-water and producing biofuels. It's almost the perfect system. Duckweed grows on waste-water and absorbs contaminants, such as fertilizer run-off, and in doing so it absorbs carbon dioxide and produces oxygen. The duckweed can then be harvested and turned into biofuel, animal feed or even eaten by humans. It's actually pretty awesome.
However, possibly the weirdest part of the conference, was the 'spiritual fervor' surrounding duckweed. It's hard to describe; there were times when I felt I was being preached to by and evangelist, rather than lectured by a scientist (that's not to say that these two things never overlap). People really believe that this plant can save the world. Don't get me wrong, I think it can certainly help. But there are problems it won't solve.
There were also a number of talks on how this plant can help developing countries. There is a group of duckweed researchers who are trying to set up a duckweed farm in Bangladesh to help those living and working in rubbish dumps. It is clear that these people really care about the planet and future generations; they stand to gain nothing out of the programs they are trying to implement (except, I guess, the satisfaction of a job well done). They are model examples of compassion. But I cannot help wondering why. Why do they care? Why does it matter to them that people are sick, starving and dying? Why are they willing to put their time and effort into such programs, when they could be investigating far more interesting questions, and probably making a larger income? I can't help thinking everyone knows deep down they human beings are more than just rearranged pond scum. Most people believe that humans have intrinsic value. But from a purely naturalistic standpoint, this is illogical. I am sure many of the people at this conference are atheists, who claim to believe that humans are merely a product of time and chance. They believe that humans are just another species. And all individuals of a species have only one goal: passing on their genetic information. The logical conclusion of a naturalistic evolutionary worldview is selfishness. But, as exemplified at this conference, people's lifestyle and their choices betray them; they cannot live out their worldview; they are altruistic, even though they have no basis for it.
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