Does science have a cure for ultracrepidarianism? Richard Dawkins (What’s in a number, Review, 4 June) quotes one of his favourite writers: “Complete knowledge is just within our grasp.” In fact we don’t even have the knowledge to handle many of the problems science has made.
About a month after atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, the distinguished physicist David Bohm, then a young man, dreamed that science had been ruined. This was wrong, but such despair at the destructive power now released is understandable. Many people, including scientists, have shared, and share that despair.
Not all the problems facing humanity are caused by science, but the idea that “comprehension is moving across the face of the Earth, like the sunrise”, as Dawkins’ chosen quote continues, is surely more of a contender for Pseuds Corner than the Nobel prize for literature.
Let the cobbler stick to his last.
Jan Dubé
Peebles, Tweeddale
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
