Selected Publications
Some recent publications by AC with brief summaries
The Wisdom of Sages
On nuclear physics education, knowledge-inquiry, and wisdom-inquiry .
Policy Futures in Education (2012) (in press)
Logarithmic time: its role in current culture and education
On the need for a bold expansion of our temporal horizons .
Policy Futures in Education (2012) (in press)
Light footprint
On deep history, planning and logarithmic time-scales.
Physics World, vol 24, number 12, December 2011. p 21.
A different kind of time
Urges caution in placing strong emphasis on the individual.
Physics World, vol 24, number 2, February 2011. p 21.
On nuclear physics education, knowledge-inquiry, and wisdom-inquiry .
arXiv:1102.1839
The Shadow of the Bomb: a study of degree-level nuclear physics textbooks.
A report on some of the findings of a study of 57 degree-level nuclear physics textbooks in respect of nuclear weapons – what the authors say, how they say it and what they do not say.
Power and Education Vol 2, Issue 2 (2010) pp 152 - 166. A closely similar manuscript version is also available, at http://www.uea.ac.uk/~c013/nuclear_education/shadow_v13.doc .
Inequality, good and bad
A comment, commending certain kinds of benign, non-economic inequality, on an earlier article by Tony Judt about gross economic inequality.
The Guardian (Review section) 3 April 2010. p 15.
Openness, Confidence and Trust in Science and Society
In this paper I identify confidence (here used primarily in the sense self-confidence) and trust as essential conditions for openness to flourish, and integrity as an overarching quality which fosters openness, confidence and trust.
International Journal of Science in Society (http://science-society.com/journal ) Vol 1, Issue 4 (2010) pp 185 - 194
An Economy with Personal Asset and Income Limits
In this poster I set out briefly some important conditions for an economy to be sustainable. From this, I argue that unlimited assets or income for individuals should be socially unacceptable and outline some features of an economy with personal asset and income limits.
The poster was presented at the Scientists for Global Responsibility Conference 'Building a Low Carbon Economy' London, 24 October 2009 and reprinted in SGR Newsletter Number 38, 2010, p 31.
Open Science, Closed Science: A Study of the Variety of Science Practice
A survey of numerous examples of openness and closedness from earlier and contemporary science. From this survey conclusions are drawn about the practice of science and about some attributes related to openness, such as confidence and integrity.
Abstract of paper presented at International Conference on Science in Society, University of Cambridge, 5 -7 August 2009
The Shadow of the Bomb: a study of degree-level nuclear physics textbooks
A report on some of the findings of a study of 48 degree-level nuclear physics textbooks in respect of nuclear weapons – what the authors say, how they say it and what they do not say.
Abstract of paper presented at Power and the Academy, 8th Conference of the Discourse, Power, Resistance Series. 6 – 8 April 2009, Manchester Metropolitan University
The CO2 and H2O Costs of Bathing
The author compares the main environmental impacts of a bath, a shower and a stand-up wash.
SGR Newsletter, Number 35, Winter 2008, p 13. This item may be downloaded by visiting www.sgr.org.uk/newsletter.html#2008
Wash with Attitude
A stand-up wash is a pleasure and uses much less water and energy than a shower.
A workshop presented at Spring into Action, Eastside Climate Action, Nottingham, April 2007
Camp for Climate Action
A report on the camp, 26 August - 3 September, near the largest CO2 emitting facility in the UK.
SGR Newsletter, Number 33, Winter 2007, p 26. This item may be downloaded by visiting www.sgr.org.uk/newsletter.html#2007
Remembering Hiroshima
A report on shadow painting.
DeFence, September 2006, p 4
Open Science
The author advocates openness from beginning to end.
Science and Public Affairs, September 2006, p 11
Building Confidence in the Nuclear Age
The author recommends a new look at Niels Bohr's early ideas concerning openness on nuclear issues as a path to international confidence and a new world order.
SGR Newsletter, Number 32, June 2006, p 11. This item may be downloaded by visiting www.sgr.org.uk/newsletter.html#2006
Honouring Joseph Rotblat
A report on a meeting in honour of the memory and legacy of Joseph Rotblat, held at the Royal Society on 9 December.
By Alan Cottey and Davida Higgin in SGR Newsletter, Number 32, June 2006, p 27. This item may be downloaded by visiting www.sgr.org.uk/newsletter.html#2006
As Time Goes By. Making the Case for Love in a Time of Fear
A review of a pamphlet by Janet Bloomfield and Pamela Meidell
SGR Newsletter, Number 32, June 2006, p 22. This item may be downloaded by visiting www.sgr.org.uk/newsletter.html#2006
Counting the Costs
A report on a conference of the UK Network of the Centre for Holistic Studies (India) and the New Era Coalition
SGR Newsletter, Number 31, December 2005, p 22. This item may be downloaded by visiting www.sgr.org.uk/newsletter.html#2005
Working Ourselves to Debt? How We Can Make Money Work for Our Individual and Collective Wellbeing
A report on a conference organised by the North Cork Organic Group, Ireland
SGR Newsletter, Number 31, December 2005, p 22. This item may be downloaded by visiting www.sgr.org.uk/newsletter.html#2005
Regime Unchanged: Why the War on Iraq Changed Nothing
A review of a book by Milan Rai
SGR Newsletter, Number 28, November 2003, p 17. This item may be downloaded by visiting www.sgr.org.uk/newsletter.html#2003
Knowledge - Common and Open
Scientists for Global Responsibility has recently promoted two developments concerning knowledge, a discussion meeting on 'Knowledge - Common Heritage, not Private Property', and an essay on 'Open Knowledge'
AESR News, September 2003, p 2. This item may be downloaded by visiting www.sgr.org.uk/newsletter.html#2003
Weapons of Mass Destruction: Rhetoric and Realities
A review of a book by Ronald Higgins
SGR Newsletter, Number 27, July 2003, p 11. This item may be downloaded by visiting www.sgr.org.uk/newsletter.html#2003
Gene Futures
A report on a conference, organised by GeneWatch UK and others, debating the use of GM crops and foods in the UK.
SGR Newsletter, Number 27, July 2003, p 9 - 10. This item may be downloaded by visiting www.sgr.org.uk/newsletter.html#2003
Knowledge - Extending the Commons
A report on a conference, organised by the author for Scientists for Global Responsibility, on 'Knowledge - Common Heritage, not Private Property'. The event was held on 10 November 2002 as a contribution to the first UNESCO World Science Day for Peace and Development.
Communique, Issue 34, Spring 2003, p 11
Open Knowledge
Starts "By the phrase Open Knowledge I mean a certain schema that defines a standard of openness of knowledge. The central element of the schema is a set of guidelines for those who would participate in the generation of OK."
SGR Newsletter, Number 26, February 2003, pp 17 - 8. This item may be downloaded by visiting www.sgr.org.uk/newsletter.html#2003
Use and abuse of our energy supply
A comment on Physics World's earlier special issue on energy. Points out that 'efficiency gains' have been less than 'growth losses' and that consumption by the the rich would be little affected by price increase. Concludes that energy rationing is necessary.
Physics World, Vol 15, Number 9, September 2002, p21.
Vocabulary of the Crisis
A review of the ISIS pamphlet 'Vocabulary of the Crisis' by R Higgins and H Beach, "an attempt, with a temperate tone, to persuade those politicians who might listen, that 'war on terrorism' rhetoric is at best a mistake and at worst cynical opportunism."
SGR Newsletter, Number 25, August 2002, p 13. This item may be downloaded by visiting www.sgr.org.uk/newsletter.html#2002
Science, Peace and Development
A report on the UK Week Of Science and Peace 2001 and on the forthcoming UNESCO World Science Day for Peace and Development.
SGR Newsletter, Number 24, March 2002, p 4. This item may be downloaded by visiting www.sgr.org.uk/newsletter.html#2002
Military links
A letter contributing to a debate 'Do we need nuclear power?'
"... To understand civil nuclear energy, we have to recognise that a psychological dimension is central ... With hindsight we can understand the origin of an exaggerated belief in the benign potential of civil nuclear power ... [This belief] became part of a complex psychic defence against the actual horrors of August 1945 and the risk of even greater horrors in the future."
Physics World, Vol 14, Number 8, August 2001, pp 19 - 20.
And the Rest ...
Summary of an essay to appear in the book version of 'An Ethical Career in Science and Technology?' in 2002.
Opens "To have a career that 'did not cost the earth', but a lifestyle that did, would not make sense. This is obvious, but avoiding this contradiction is not so simple. 'Not costing the earth' applies to the whole of our activities. This includes what we consume and our relations with other people."
An Ethical Career in Science and Technology? (Edited by S Parkinson and V Spedding, published by SGR, 2001) p 27.
Science: beyond internationalism?
This article ends "Science as a search for truth has always been an ideal, constantly under threat. A danger for the near future is that this kind of science will be weakened by commercial influences. ect sponsorship by commercial organisations is the obvious source of such influence. More insidious, however, is the excessive penetration of a commercial ethos into most social transactions."
UNA Norwich and District Newsletter, Winter 2000, p 3.
Review of 'Hiroshima's Shadow: Writings on the Denial of History and the Smithsonian Controversy'
"When one does consider the full picture, conclusions such as Stanley Goldberg's in this volume become plausible - 'rather than shortening the war, the existence of the atomic bomb program probably lengthened it.' "
SGR Newsletter, Number 21, Autumn 2000, p 15. This item may be downloaded by visiting www.sgr.org.uk/newsletter.html#2000
Information Technology: the key to taking Open Science forward
Abstract: "The Open Science Proposal recommends that the scientific community would benefit from a widely recognised protocol of openness, applied to individual scientific projects. Projects performed according to the standard of "radical openness" could claim a 'gold standard' of openness, but it is likely that this would only ever amount to a small fraction of all scientific projects. Such projects would permit detailed scrutiny and criticism, and thereby furnish an efficient route to socially established, reliable knowledge. Open Science has certain particular implications for information technology, which are covered in the latter part of this article."
SGR Newsletter, Number 21, Autumn 2000, pp 8 - 9. This item may be downloaded by visiting www.sgr.org.uk/newsletter.html#2000
International Week of Science and Peace (IWOSP)
Starts "The International Week of Science and Peace is a worldwide action week devoted to the topic 'Science and Peace' which, since 1986, takes place annually during the week (Monday to Sunday) within which November 11th (Armistice Day) falls. The key idea is to increase the public impact of individual events by concentrating many of them in a short time interval and publicising them as part of a worldwide event ..."
Medicine, Conflict and Survival, Vol 16, Number 2, April - June 2000, pp 236 - 9.
Orissa and sustainability (Authors - AC and members of SGR PCV Study Group.)
Starts "The weather disaster in Orissa, on the east coast of India, resulted not simply from a violent cyclone. Numerous other factors are relevant, none of which should be considered inevitable in a world which has long had sufficient technical know-how to avoid those factors."
Sustainability Review, Issue 7, 29 November 1999, pp 5 - 7.
Students misled by bad language
Ends "Concerns about the selective, misleading language used in arms industry recruitment procedures came across vividly in the interview-based research, done by SANA some years ago, and published as 'Your Career and the Arms Industry: Information for Science and Engineering Students'. SGR is currently working on a similar project 'Careers Which Don't Cost the Earth'. The resulting guide for student scientists and engineers will focus on the ethical issues in a wide range of employment. We believe that graduates entering a new phase of their lives and a new century will find it useful."
Guardian (Higher Education supplement), 6 July 1999 p v.
Little and Large: the radioactivity of depleted Uranium munitions compared with that of Cassini's Plutonium-238
Summary: "Opposing the use of depleted uranium (DU) in war, on the ground that it is radioactive, is a poor argument, since the activity is low. Emphasising a poor argument is a mistake, since it weakens stronger points. I mention some such points in the article. I also bring out the weakness of the radioactivity of DU by comparing it with Plutonium-238, which is over ten million times more radioactive than DU. Lack of general appreciation of this fact must be the main reason why NASA was able to initiate the extremely risky Cassini spacecraft programme, with its enormous radioactive load of over ten million billion Becquerel (nearly 400,000 Curies)."
DeFence, June 1999, p 6 - 10.
Open Science and Practicable Politics
Abstract: "Current political discourse contains many calls for openness. They are often simplistic. It is argued in this paper that contrary qualities such as secrecy, privacy, discretion and tact have their place in culture. Among various cultural activities however, basic science has a special character - it is supposed to be open, in the sense that, in principle, anyone may subject its truth claims to detailed review and checking. In practice, basic science does not approach this ideal as nearly as it might. This paper describes an Open Science Protocol, whereby compliant basic science projects could be certified 'open from beginning to end'. The high level of credibility conferred by this certification would be an incentive for scientists to obtain the extra resources and go to the extra trouble to do at least some of their projects in this way. A distinction between 'open science' and 'ring-fenced science' is made. It is suggested that clarity about the difference between these two kinds of science would assist scientists, political decision-makers and the public in their struggles with the difficult practical issues that are thrown up by scientific innovation. The final section includes a brief discussion of the link between the open science proposal and the 'competition versus cooperation' debate."
Green Politics in Grey Times (Ecopolitics XI Conference Proceedings, ed C Star, pub University of Melbourne, 1998), pp 88 - 96.
A strange way to save the world's atmosphere
"Expending many millions of airmiles for the "games" (John Gummer's description) played at Kyoto is a strange way to save the world's atmosphere. There is a need to explain to the general public that air transport is a major environmental and social problem ..."
Peace News, February 1998, p 16.
It's my planet and I'll do as I please with it
"an 'enlightened self-interest' argument can be added to the moral argument for capping the Income and Capital (I&C) of individuals .... Today, the excessive I&C of the rich not only deprives the poor; it endangers the planet's climate ... A sustainable world does not have to be egalitarian. Some people could enjoy considerable, benign advantages. These advantages are not, however, to be freely convertible. This is because many other 'advantages', desired by individuals, are socially and ecologically malign."
One World News, 11 December 1997.
Alan Cottey
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