The War on Science - Lawrence Krauss (Ed.) ****

At first glance this might appear to be yet another book on how to deal with climate change deniers and the like, such as How to Talk to a Science Denier. It is, however, a much more significant book because it addresses the way that universities, government and pressure groups have attempted to undermine the scientific process. Conceptually I would give it five stars, but it's quite heavy going because it's a collection of around 18 essays by different academics, with many going over the same ground, so there is a lot of repetition. Even so, it's an important book.

There are a few well-known names here - editor Lawrence Krauss, Richard Dawkins and Steven Pinker - but also a range of scientists (with a few philosophers) explaining how science is being damaged in academia by unscientific ideas. Many of the issues apply to other disciplines as well, but this is specifically about the impact on science, and particularly important there because of the damage it has been doing.

Dawkins draws an impressively accurate parallel with Lysenko's disastrous poisoning of Soviet science by replacing scientific discovery with theorising driven by Marxist concepts that were unconnected to reality, leading to crop failures and millions of deaths in the Soviet Union and China. Others point to parallels with the 1930s Germany, where only science that fitted with Nazi ideology was accepted, and hundreds of scientists were forced out of their institutions.

While I was aware of the problems faced by universities over DEI, critical race theory and gender issues, I had not realised until reading this book how much this has been driven by the Marxism-based postmodernist thinking that was powerfully parodied in Alan Sokal's famous hoax paper (Sokal is another contributor). The apparent aim to destroy basic scientific principles that seems to have taken over many universities is so strong here, whether it is in denial of the binary nature of biological sex (Dawkins points out the clear distinction of macrogametes and microgametes in all animals and plants), racially discriminatory job offers, assertions made with no metrics or data to support them, and erosion of free speech.

As parts of the book suggest, it does feel as if in some regions of the world the mood is changing, moving back to greater rationality. This volume is an important testament to the importance of undertaking worthwhile science, not hindered by bizarre concepts like decolonising mathematics, and getting universities back to being places in pursuit of knowledge, with open and free debate, not in thrall to the latest social fad, suppressing all dissent Soviet-style.

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Review by Brian Clegg - See all Brian's online articles or subscribe to a weekly email free here