Talking about 'velocities' at reciprocal headings where 'speed'
might be more appropriate, reminded me of Sokal's Hermeneutics piece,
and even more amusing, the opaque Bohr paper mentioned in the on-line
science report Science-Week, sampled below.
"In 1996, theoretical physicist Alan Sokal
concocted an article consisting mostly of the ideations of so-
called "postmodern" cultural studies of science, the article
concerned with "a transformative hermeneutics of quantum gravity"
and purporting to be an application of theoretical physics to
affirm the thrust of postmodern cultural studies of science in
the humanities and social sciences.
The article was accepted and
published by the journal *Social Text*, and shortly afterward,
in the journal *Lingua Franca*, Sokal revealed that his article
was a complete hoax and designed as a parody of contemporary
postmodern thought. In the academic furor that followed, Sokal's
article was characterized as "an ingenious exposure of the
decline of intellectual standards in contemporary academia," and
"a brilliant parody of the postmodern nonsense rampant among the
cultural studies of science." ...
... Bohr was notorious for the
obscurity of his writing. ... in a widely used compendium of papers in
theoretical physics published in 1983, there is an often cited
reprinted paper by Bohr whose pages are out of order, and yet no
complaints are heard and the mistake, which occurs in both
hardcover and softcover editions, is apparently rarely noticed.
Extracted from:
M. Beller (Hebrew University Jerusalem, IL): The Sokal hoax: at
whom are we laughing?
(Physics Today September 1998)
QY: Mara Beller, Hebrew University, Jerusalem IL.
As Reported in Science-Week.
(Attractive $1 p.a rate for 50+ non-profit subs.)
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