Superior science

Sir, To Dr Antony Roberts’s spirited defence of science graduates, (letter, June 29) I must add that while the study of science and technology has progressively improved the human lot, both materially and intangibly, the humanities have done little or nothing to solve human problems familiar for the last couple of millenia or so. We still have no cures for war, cruelty or greed. We still fail to learn the lessons of even recent history.

Despite the time, waffle and paper expended by pseudosciences, such as sociology, philosophy and the monstrous trinity of PPE (so favoured by our rulers), we still cannot understand, still less prevent, sociopathic murder, nor run a stable economy. Even the arts seem to have lost their way.

If human society were a machine we would seek redress from the maker, but clearly those calls are not being answered either. Yet all the while science improves, but it must endure supercilious sniping from those too stupid or superior to appreciate, let alone understand, the appliances and service that it has brought them and which they demand. We should turn them loose on an island to endure the reality of their Golden Age.