Author: Michael Harris

Why Pay Attention to the So-Called Science Wars? Michael Harris You might expect mathematics, abstract as it is, to be immune to free speech controversy. But a particularly vicious one broke out in the fall of 2018, over the decision to retract a paper by mathematician Theodore Hill proposing a statistical model that aimed to explain why males of certain species show greater variability in various traits than females. The paper was controversial because — as Hill made clear on the very first page — he was particularly interested in mathematical ability among humans. Hill’s appendix consists of a...