Ian Angell has been Professor of Information Systems at the London School of Economics since 1986. Prior to that he researched and taught Computer Science at Royal Holloway…
Science is a perpetual search for new ideas, but this says nothing of how correct it is. Professor Angell argues that no matter how elaborate, sophisticated or subtle a scientific description may appear, it always generates paradox. Science, the formal enterprise for probing the nature of reality, is awash with such paradoxes, from zero and infinity, to causality, particles and gravity. Reality emerges from our systems of observation, but Ian argues that paradox is a fundamental property of observation within emergent systems. As a scientist and philosopher, Professor Angell challenges us to recognise that as we seek scientific rationality, ultimate reality, concluding formulae or final identities, we will find, or even generate, paradoxes.
