What is science and why should we care? Third Annual Sense About Science lecture February 27, 2008 UCL Cruciform Lecture Theatre Alan Sokal Department of Physics New York University and Department of Mathematics University College London E-mail:
[email protected] Office telephone: 020-7679-2844 Maths department fax: 020-7383-5519 Biographical Information The author is a Professor of Physics at New York University and Professor of Mathematics at University College London. His main research interests are in statistical mechanics and quantum field theory. He is co-author with Roberto Fern´andez and Jurg¨ Fr¨ohlich of Random Walks, Critical Phenomena, and Trivial- ity in Quantum Field Theory (Springer, 1992) and co-author with Jean Bricmont of Intellectual Impostures: Postmodern Philosophers' Abuse of Science (Profile Books, 1998). His most recent book is Beyond the Hoax: Science, Philosophy and Culture (Oxford University Press, 2008). I'd like to thank Dick, Tracey and everyone at Sense About Science for inviting me to give this Third Annual lecture. But they've given me a hard act to follow. Two years ago, Sir John Krebs provided a superb overview of the messiness of translating science into public policy. Last year, Raymond Tallis gave not only a masterful summary of the achievements of scientific medicine in enhancing human life, but also an astute analysis of the psychological attractions of junk science. Now, my own scientific expertise is in statistical mechanics and quantum field theory | areas of physics that I don't imagine are likely to have urgent public-policy implica- tions anytime soon. So I will have to speak tonight about a more general theme: namely, the nature of scientific inquiry and its importance for public life.