Science After Babel

Polymath and raconteur David Berlinski is at it again, challenging the shibboleths of contemporary science with his inimitable blend of deep learning, close reasoning, and rapier wit. In Science After Babel he reflects on everything from Newton, Einstein, and Go¨del to catastrophe theory, information theory, and the morass that is modern Darwinism. The scientific enterprise is unarguably impressive, but it shows no sign of reaching the empyrean heights it seemed to promise a century ago. "It resembles Bruegel's Tower of Babel," Berlinski says, "and if it suggests anything at all, it suggests that its original plans have somehow been lost." Science endures. Scientism, it would seem, is guttering out.

Polymath and raconteur David Berlinski is at it again, challenging the shibboleths of contemporary science with his inimitable blend of deep learning, close reasoning, and rapier wit. In Science After Babel he reflects on everything from Newton, Einstein, and Gödel to catastrophe theory, information theory, and the morass that is modern Darwinism. The scientific enterprise is unarguably impressive, but it shows no sign of reaching the empyrean heights it seemed to promise a century ago. "It resembles Bruegel's Tower of Babel," Berlinski says, "and if it suggests anything at all, it suggests that its original plans have somehow been lost." Science endures. Scientism, it would seem, is guttering out.