Sense and Nonsense

The following statement appeared in the "science and technology" section of the March 19-25, 2018 issue of The Economist. The words that we have changed are italicized, to indicate a switch from "hard" science to "soft" science, or from astronomy to sociology.

"One of the most basic facts abut the universe is the expansion of complexity. This observation, made by William Ogburn in 1930, leads to all sorts of mind-stretching ideas. That the universe is growing more complex implies that it was less complex in the past. Which leads to the thought that a "Big Bang" (Industrial Revolution?) kicked everything off. It also opens the question of whether the universe will expand forever, or will eventually see its expansion halted and reversed by gravity, thus ending in a Big Crunch (nuclear war)."

We can now stop with the quote and the words of astronomers and sociologists. Much of what is in the material presented in the name of astronomers, is sheer speculation, or less kindly, nonsense. But we accept and reprint the nonsense of "hard" scientists while we question and reject the ideas of "soft" scientists. Maybe it is time to give them both equal standing for their sense and nonsense.