Ideas worth spreading

Science and democracy

329,286 views |

Lee Smolin |

TED2003

• February 2003

Physicist Lee Smolin talks about how the scientific community works: as he puts it, "we fight and argue as hard as we can," but everyone accepts that the next generation of scientists will decide who's right. And, he says, that's how democracy works, too.

Physicist Lee Smolin talks about how the scientific community works: as he puts it, "we fight and argue as hard as we can," but everyone accepts that the next generation of scientists will decide who's right. And, he says, that's how democracy works, too.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

About the speaker

Lee Smolin

See speaker profile

Lee Smolin is a theoretical physicist, working mainly in the field of quantum gravity. He's a founding member of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Canada, and the author of The Trouble With Physics.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.