Reconsidering science

Can humanity adapt to the world that science is creating? - human beings evolved as small bands of hunter-gatherers, and our fundamental, instinctive nature remains adapted to that role. Small wonder then that we are so maladjusted to the world which we have created. As we pursue the path of 'progress', fully expecting that science, technology and economic growth will lead us into a future of happiness and prosperity, we are only drawing further away from our origins, and from our true natures. Unpublished, 25 January 2001.

The fight must go on - Goldsmith looks back to the Blueprint for Survival, published in 1972, and finds that the core messages have only become more relevant and pressing with the passing of time. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 30 No. 5, July / August 2000.

Intelligence is universal in life - a synthesis of chapters 31, 32 and 33 of The Way: an ecological world view. Published in Rivista di Biologia / Biology Forum Vol. 93 No. 3, 2000. Goldsmith argues that intelligence is no exclusive preserve of humankind.

Is science neutral? - a debate between Edward Goldsmith and Professor Lewis Wolpert. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 30 No. 3, May 2000.

My fears about GM food crops In this introduction to "The Monsanto Files", The Ecologist's special issue on Monsanto, Edward Goldsmith engages with the problems of corporate control of the food chain as well as the potential health issues associated with genetic modification. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 28 No. 5, September / October 1998.

Did God really do such a bad job? - a leading article for The Ecologist Vol. 28 No. 3, May / June 1998. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006). "Underlying the world view of the secular Religion of Progress is the fundamental assumption that the world is badly designed. God did a bad job, and it is incumbent on man, armed as he is with all his science, technology, industry and free trade, to transform it in accordance with his vastly superior design ... "

Richard Benedict Goldschmidt - a discussion of the life and works of the German biologist and evolutionist, author of "The Material Basis of Evolution".

Scientific superstitions, or "The cult of randomness and the taboo on teleology". This article is an extended version of a combination of three chapters, 5, 26, and 27, of The Way: an ecological world view. Also published in The Ecologist Vol. 27 No. 5, September / October 1997.

Eggs, eugenics and economics a leading article for The Ecologist Vol. 24 No. 2, March / April 1994, by The Editors. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006). "What makes the new reproductive technologies different is the way they fragment human tissue itself into factors of mass production and commodities - all being enclosed and transformed into scarce resources circulating in a highly centralised market system ... placing new forms of power in the hands of influential economic actors "

The great reinterpretation requires a conversion to the world-view of ecology - chapter 66 of The Way: An Ecological World View, originally published in 1992. This text is taken from the revised and enlarged edition, University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia, 1998.

By increasing its diversity a system increases the range of environmental challenges with which it is capable of dealing - chapter 53 of The Way: An Ecological World View, originally published in 1992. This text is taken from the revised and enlarged edition, University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia, 1998.

Increased complexity leads to greater stability - chapter 52 of The Way: An Ecological World View, originally published in 1992. This text is taken from the revised and enlarged edition, University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia, 1998.

Living things seek to understand their relationship with their environment - chapter 31 of The Way: An Ecological World View, originally published in 1992. This text is taken from the revised and enlarged edition, University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia, 1998.

Ecology is a faith - chapter 16 of The Way: An Ecological World View, originally published in 1992. This text is taken from the revised and enlarged edition, University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia, 1998.

New Lamps for Old - Edward Goldsmith, Publisher of The Ecologist, talks with Satish Kumar, Director Of Schumacher College (video version, hosted by video.google). The interview was published by Schumacher College as a video in the Schumacher Series, produced by Phil Shepherd in 1991.We also have a New Lamps for Old transcript on the website.

New Lamps for Old - transcript. Edward Goldsmith, Publisher of The Ecologist, talks with Satish Kumar, Director Of Schumacher College. The interview was published by Schumacher College as a video in the Schumacher Series, produced by Phil Shepherd in 1991. A video version of New Lamps for Old is also available.

Evolution, neo-Darwinism and the paradigm of science - "Neo-Darwinism does not provide a satisfactory explanation for evolution and however resilient it may prove to criticism, it must eventually give way to a more realistic theory ..." Published in The Ecologist Vol. 20 No. 2, March / April 1990.

Ecological succession rehabilitated - the science of ecology has become reductionistic, mechanistic and quantified. To achieve this has meant seeking to discredit the basic principles of ecology including that of 'ecological succession'. The motive is for this has been ideological and political, in seeking to force ecology to conform to the world view of modernism. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 15 No. 3 1985.

High technology euphoria - review of The Awakening Earth - our next evolutionary leap, by Peter Russell. Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1982. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 13 No. 5, 1983. "The author recognises the extent of the ecological problems faced by the world today. He recognises too that something drastic has to be done to prevent massive catastrophes. This is as far as I go along with him. In fact, I disagree with just about every other point he makes ... ".

The super-informed society or "Many paths to nonsense: information theory applied to the living world". Published in The Ecologist Vol. 12 No. 3, May / June 1982. Information theory may be useful for modern communication but is it relevant to the world of living things?

Superscience: its mythology and legitimisation - A new breed of scientist sees no contradiction between 'solving' our present ecological crisis and calling for the development of such superstar technologies as fusion and genetic engineering. But, whilst intellectually elegant, the theory underpinning their Brave New World is sadly lacking. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 11 No. 5, September / October 1981.

Thermodynamics or ecodynamics? - Scientists and philosophers have seized on the Second Law of Thermodynamics and hailed it as the key to unravelling the secrets of the Universe. But can the behaviour of the natural world really be understood through the Entropy Law, originally formulated to explain the workings of a steam engine? Published in The Ecologist Vol. 11 No. 4, July / August 1981.

The cover-up society - it is right and proper for civil servants to conspire to deceive the public over the manifold dangers inherent in the manufacture of nuclear bombs. But to tell the truth? That is quite another thing. Editorial article published in The Ecologist Vol. 10 No. 10, December 1980.

Pesticides create pests - Published in The Ecologist Vol. 10 No. 3, March 1980. "Natural selection assures that the fittest survive ... Those that have become the fittest and will now become selected to the exclusion of all others, are those that have developed resistance to the pesticide used... "

Ecologists in a distorting mirror - a review of Systems Ecology by H. H. Shugart and R. V. O'Neill. Goldsmith writes of "the gulf that separates professional mathematical ecologists (with a small e) from Ecologists (with a big E) such as myself who regard ecology as an approach - one that basically involves looking at problems in their total temporal and spatial context, rather than in isolation from each other as is currently the practice among most modern scientists... ". Published in The Ecologist Vol. 10 No. 1/2 January / February 1980.

Can pollution be controlled? - this is a discussion of the multitude of pollutants, chemical and radiological, that are being pumped into the environment in the name of progress and development, and the failure of regulators to tackle the growing problem as to do so would challenge the principle of never-ending economic growth that threatens the entire biosphere. It was originally published in The Ecologist Vol. 9 Nos. 8 / 9, October-December 1979. This revised version appeared in 1988 as Chapter 5 of "The Great U-Turn".

The need for a New Economics - "Economists can no longer predict the course of our economy. The limits of their discipline are now apparent. A broader economic theory is required to deal with the post-industrial age...". Published in The Ecologist Vol. 9 No. 6, September 1979.

The Reykjavik Conference on the Environmental Future - a group of eminent scientists whose specialised work has led them to consider different aspects of the environmental crisis met at Reykjavik. This account of their meeting, and the uncompromising conclusions they reached, was published in The Ecologist Vol. 7 No. 6, July 1977.

What is an electric toothbrush? - editorial article in The Ecologist Vol. 6 No. 10, December 1976. An attack on reductionist science, and its insistence on the atomisation and isolation of whatever it examines. "Today's scientists wince at the suggestion that the behaviour of natural systems is purposive or directive, that, in fact, they have been designed to do particular jobs like electric toothbrushes. This, they maintain, implies 'teleology' - which is, surprisingly enough, still one of the principal taboos of the Religion of Science ... ".

Wildlife and systems theory - "Lord Zuckerman appears to regard wild animals as an amenity and nothing more. Their extermination is quite justified if this serves a higher social purpose such as combating starvation or paying for school meals ... ". Editorial article, The Ecologist Vol. 6 No. 7, August - September 1976.

The two Ecologies - published in The Ecologist Vol. 5 No. 10, December 1975. Edward Goldsmith predicts the rise of a radical 'ecological' subculture that "rejects the industrial world because of its mediocrity, its ugliness, its unnaturalness and its hypocrisy - in fact because it fails to satisfy basic social, aesthetic and spiritual needs". Intrinsic to this movement will be a rethinking of the 'scientific' method that pervades the modern world view, and the false science of 'ecology'.

The test tube fixation - a leading article for The Ecologist Vol. 5 No. 1, January 1975. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006).

Naïve correlation - published in The Ecologist Vol. 5 No. 1, January 1975. A discussion of the confusions between causes, effects and coincidences that have guided Government policy on industry, health and other topics - and which have totally failed to produce the desired outcome.

The suntan diversion - a leading article for The Ecologist Vol. 4 No. 6, June 1974. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006). "Scientific research has just revealed that battery eggs are as good as free range ones. Measurements published in Nature have shown that they only differ in their vitamin B12 content. Any difference in taste, we are assured, is without scientific basis and must therefore be purely imaginary. This is a perfect illustration of both 'The Lamp Post Lark' and 'The Suntan Diversion' - associated variants of the same basic fallacy ... "

The logic of reorientation - This article is condensed from a paper by Edward Goldsmith which appeared in Teach-In for Survival, published by Robinson & Watkins Books, London, in 1972. It was published in the journal Manas Volume XXVI Number 41, 10 October 1973. The Teach-In is made up of the talks by the participants in a 'Teach-In' at Queen Elizabeth College, London.

Adam and Eve revisited - In this article Edward Goldsmith spells out the principles which he believes govern the behaviour of social systems, and which none - including industrial society - can violate with impunity. These principles indicate that primitive man is the only one who is actually living a sound and completely ordered existence.

A model of behaviour - A paper originally presented to the International Congress of Cybernetics and Systems, 30 August 1972, on behalf of the Unified Science Institute, 73 Kew Green, Richmond, Surrey. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 2 No. 12, December 1972.

Words and Models - a systems approach to linguistics - on the use and abuse of words and language. Published in Kybernetes (the International Journal of Cybernetics and General Systems) Vol. 1 No. 2, 1972.

So far, so good - a leading article for The Ecologist Vol. 1 No. 16, October 1971. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006). "The experts assure us that current levels of lead in our air and water are safe. Scientific endeavour, it would appear, is something that confers on a proposition some measure of credibility - perhaps even downright certainty. If so, how is this achieved? ... "

Grammatical realism - Language does not merely determine how we formulate out thoughts - it underlies our entire world view. People whose mind set has been formed by different languages may have a profoundly different understanding of things. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 1 No. 14, August 1971.

Can science be reformed? - Can science be reformed in such a way that it can contribute to the long-term benefit of mankind? The author argues that this could be so if the different disciplines into which it is at present divided were integrated into a single unified science, but such a task requires a new methodology and a new theory of knowledge. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 1 No. 5, November 1970.

Is pesticide science based on false assumptions? - a leading article for The Ecologist Vol. 1 No. 5, November 1970. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006). "The scientist is under attack. His image is deteriorating fast. No more do we see a benevolent sage whose infinite wisdom is leading to man's conquest of nature, to the elimination of disease, poverty, misery and everything else that afflicts us. Instead, to more and more, he has become an ogre who, to satisfy his own curiosity, is concocting vile poisons that are bound to get us all in the end ... "