Reflections on Freeman Dyson, Coronavirus, and Pseudoscience . . . While Listening to Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor

Abstract

Reflections on Freeman Dyson, Coronavirus, and Pseudoscience . . . While Listening to Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor Peter V. Paul, Editor This is a summer editorial, which joins all others with strange but meaningful titles composed during previous summers. Yes, I have been listening periodically to Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor while composing this editorial. (Of course, I have to listen to this a number of times since the version I have is only about 10 minutes long.) It is a great, complicated piece that fits the mood for composing an editorial that ranges from a discussion of Freeman Dyson to issues related to the coronavirus to—horrors—some of the dangers of pseudoscience. Actually, these constructs are or can be interrelated. Let's begin with Freeman Dyson, who died on February 28 at the age of 96. Reviews of his life are available online from, among other sources, The Guardian (Radford, 2020) and the New York Times ("Freeman Dyson, Math Genius," 2020). Dyson's scholarly career provides an excellent backdrop for combating and minimizing the negative effects of the pseudoscience that seems to have proliferated as a result of the current coronavirus pandemic. Well, insane proponents of pseudoscience have always been with us, and the corona-virus is not departing anytime soon. Dyson was a resident at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton for more than 60 years. It might come as a surprise, but he did not earn a PhD degree via a program of study at a university, though he received several honorary degrees as well as a fellowship in the Royal Society. He was nonetheless often referred to as "Dr. Dyson." There is little doubt that he deserved these honors. As is noted in his New York Times obituary, one of his papers, written during his graduate student days at Cornell University, "deepened the understanding of how light interacts with matter to produce the palpable world. The theory the paper advanced, called quantum electrodynamics, or QED, ranks among the great achievements of modern science" ("Freeman Dyson, Math Genius," 2020). My interest in Dyson stems from my understanding of his popular works (e.g., Dyson, 1997) or, at least, of someone's interpretation of Dyson's scholarly products. Clearly, his serious stuff is beyond my ken. What grabbed me most was Dyson's approach to doing science and his fearless demeanor. Here was a person who cherished and invited controversy—consider his unbelievable, but well-reasoned, skepticism toward accepted scientific views on climate change (see, e.g., Lemonick, 2009). Dyson preferred to be wrong rather than vague, and desired to be outlandish and acknowledged rather than timid and ignored. It is nearly impossible to disregard his ideas and comments. More important, Dyson was slow—slower than a moving turtle—in [End Page 303] accepting a consensus, even if there appeared to be an overwhelming amount of evidence proffered by many members of the scientific community. Like Dyson, sometimes I would like to take a screwdriver (or an ice pick, in Dyson's case) and jab persistently at a consensus forming like ice hardening on a near-frozen lake during the winter (Paul, 2011). The point: Never stop questioning or researching an issue even if you are a lone voice in the wild. Nothing is sacrosanct or even final; ideas need to be refined continually. In fact, there may be no absolute final truth—or, perhaps, there can never be a final resolution to deep problems in life. I recall reading a quip about a philosopher who remarked that God could put the "absolute truth" in his clenched left hand and the "relentless pursuit of the truth" in his right fist. The philosopher continued by asserting that his left hand would be permanently clenched and perhaps unusable or impaired. However, he said that the joy from opening the right fist and embarking on that adventure would endure until the end of his days. The relentless pursuit of knowledge and wisdom means engaging in the process of refinement. According to my understanding of Dyson, refinement requires the application of an objective methodology and a keen, imaginative, inquiring mind. In essence, the mind needs...