Is There a ‘War on Science’? (And if so, Who’s Waging It?)

Introduction: Welcome to the Quillette Podcast. Quillette is where free thought lives. We are an independent, grassroots platform for heterodox ideas and fearless commentary. And today we’re going to be talking about what astrophysicist and science writer Lawrence Krauss calls The War on Science. That’s the title of a new book of essays he’s edited, featuring 39 well-known scientists and scholars—many of them regular Quillette contributors, who are all concerned that progressive ideological actors are compromising the pursuit of scientific truth by placing constraints on who can become a scientist and what those scientists are allowed to say and study. Many of these writers describe illiberal and heavy-handed university administrators who, in some cases, have sought to investigate and punish academics at their schools merely for questioning policies such as affirmative action and anti-racism training.

Authors in the book include Richard Dawkins, whose lengthy essay describes the persistent campaign to suppress plain truths about the differences between the two human sexes—males and females; Sally Satel, who writes about the unsettling ways in which DEI and related doctrines are undermining the integrity of medical school curricula; and Steven Pinker, who offers a five-point plan for saving universities from all of the problems described by the other authors.

We’ll also talk about the threat to scientific inquiry coming from the opposite side of the political spectrum. While Krauss’s book was published just a few months ago, the essays it contains were written and edited in late 2024, just as Donald Trump was preparing for his second term as US President. As listeners know, Trump has since stripped science research funding from universities and a number of government agencies. And many of his political appointees have advanced extremely dubious theories in regard to important scientific subjects, such as global warming and vaccines. This suggests that if there is indeed a war on science, it might be one that we have to wage on two fronts.

Please enjoy my interview with theoretical physicist and cosmologist Lawrence Krauss about his latest book project, titled The War on Science: 39 Renowned Scientists and Scholars Speak out about Current Threats to Free Speech, Open Inquiry, and the Scientific Process. Lawrence Krauss, thanks for joining the Quillette Podcast.