Letters:The reconciliation of beauty and science
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Sir: We know it's Christmas as Bryan Appleyard has come again to entertain us with his prejudices against physics. Scientific understanding stumbles forward like a blind man in strange territory, feeling the way, finding a path around obstacles, s ometimes retracing his steps. Mr Appleyard doesn't understand this; for him an idea proved wrong or incomplete is a failure, speculative theories are a fraud.
Mr Appleyard believes physicists are so often wrong they should be ignored, because he does not want to believe they are mostly right. He prefers to retreat over the centuries (not giving up his contemporary way of life) to a "flat-earth" mysticism because he feels threatened; he fears an inability to reconcile a deeper understanding of how the universe works with his perceptions of his place in that universe. So he finds comfort in an infinite, unknowable complexity which would make further attempts toadvance that understanding futile.
But, and it is his greatest loss, he seems unable to appreciate the beauty of a rose and at the same time the beauty of the principles of physics that deeply underlie its form and all the infinite variety of nature. He subtracts where he should add.
Yours faithfully, JOHN MULVEY Abingdon, Oxfordshire 22 December
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments