Letter: On the road to disaster

From Tony Lovatt

Joe Costello writes: “The urgent challenge to science is to enter into a
dialogue that affirms its social relevance, and acknowledges that adherence to
‘irrational beliefs’ may ultimately lead to bold new horizons.”
(27 October, p 59).

I disagree. Science is a methodology for inquiry, not a proselytising
religion. If “the public” is increasingly turning away from the “objectivity and
impersonal perspectives” of science, the problem is society, not the scientific
method, which is unequivocally the best way of learning about the Universe the
human race has ever invented.

If the social relevance of science is to be enhanced, it must be done at a
social and political level, not a scientific one.

Bold new horizons? Rubbish. It is time and past time that the general
populace acknowledges that adherence to “irrational beliefs” may ultimately lead
to disaster and death.

Marton, New Zealand