Acton Institute Powerblog Archives

Post Tagged 'science'

May 03, 2024

3 Body Problem Has Always Been Our Problem

My bad. When I was asked to write a review of Netflix’s 3 Body Problem, I assumed we had entered a new stage in the gender wars. Having successfully worked around my undergraduate physical science requirement by taking a January-term class on Einstein and writing a paper on his philosophical ideas, I trust I’m forgiven for not knowing that the “three-body problem” refers to an unsolvable problem in physics. Continue Reading...
September 27, 2023

Questioning Science after Darwin

I can find no better way to summarize David Berlinski’s book Science After Babel than to say that it is classic Berlinski. The man himself defies a simple summary. He is a polymath and raconteur, as even his bio at the accompanying website explains. Continue Reading...
April 05, 2023

Is Social Science ‘Science’?

Jason Blakely is professor of political science at Pepperdine University and has written a book, We Built Reality: How Social Science Infiltrated Culture, Politics, and Power, that is likely to perturb some, gratify others, but interest almost everyone. Continue Reading...
May 04, 2020

Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer and the limits of science

There have been many responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in all spheres of life from businesses, educational institutions, churches, and within close intimate human relationships. Most of these responses have arisen spontaneously as people’s duties to protect themselves and others, both individuals and communities, have become plain to them. Continue Reading...
March 14, 2017

Economist as prophet vs. savior

What do economists actually know? What can they possibly know? Assuming his usual role as the insider skeptic, economist Russ Roberts ponders those questions at length, concluding that far too much economic analysis is conducted and promoted with far too little humility. Continue Reading...
June 22, 2015

A Healthy Dose Of Skepticism For Scientific Consensus

My husband and I had a conversation about science on the way home from church yesterday. Since he is a scientist, it drives him a little buggy when people talk about “consensus” as a way to come to a scientific conclusion, or that scientific facts can be “bent” to uphold a particular opinion or viewpoint. Continue Reading...