‘I dread government in the name of science. That is how tyrannies come in’ (C.S. Lewis, 1958).
Laura Dodsworth’s recent book, A State of Fear: how the UK government weaponised fear during the Covid-19 pandemic, is a troubling read. It exposes the extent to which behavioural scientists and their ‘psychological operations’ to manipulate behaviour have become a pervasive tool of government. This coercive power over populations has been amply manifest over the past two years, as has the influence of scientists generally; the voices of the SAGEs have been ubiquitous in the public consciousness, like oracles of a national religion, the source of all guidance and authority.
The pretension of science to pre-eminence in directing public life is not new, nor is the danger it presents. Recently I came across a pastoral letter written in July 1968 by my father, James Philip, to the congregation of Holyrood Abbey Church, Edinburgh. It referenced a serious proposal then being considered: that the House of Lords be abolished and replaced with a ‘House of Scientists’, a body of ‘experts’ to apply scientific knowledge and advances in technology for the greater good of society. I was struck by how prescient these words were, and their relevance today, more than 50 years on.
