Ian O. Angell has been Professor of Information Systems at the London School of Economics since 1986. His very radical yet constructive views have gained him a certain notoriety worldwide for his aggressive polemics against what he calls the pixie dust school of technology, where computation is a magic substance that when sprinkled over problems, hey presto they vanish. He is equally vocal when it comes to the number mysticism pervading much of today's management theory. To him it is all bad science, or rather pseudoscience.
His highly articulate presentations of this controversial position means he is in great demand by the media, and as a speaker on the international lecture circuit. In his latest book, co-authored with his friend and colleague Dionysios Demetis, he focuses his highly skeptical insights on the so-called rigour of scientific method. It steps outside the self-referential certainties of science and mathematics to illustrate the absurdities at their core. Science's First Mistake concludes that so-called academic 'rigour' is merely reinforced self-reference, imposed by the power that comes with the utility delivered by the self-reference itself.
His next book will be radically different. Appearing in 2011, and co-authored with another friend, Canadian tax-lawyer David Lesperance, it sets down sensible tactics for High Net Worth Individuals to protect their assets from tax-grabbing states.
