Harv,

I guess my whole point is that we should never lose sight of the fact that those things we assume to be valid are valid only because they get things done, not because they are "true". I doubt you disagree with that.

You are very close to understanding what my beef with science is. I think most assumptions required by science are fully justified, I have no problem with them at all. The only thing that gets my blood boiling is when scientists claim that the empirical success of science means their assumptions are true. I think one has to be an idiot to believe that, and the idea that many scientists are in fact idiots casts a shade of doubt on the credibility of science as a whole.

That said, my reawakened interested in physics prompted me to read Einstein and Feynman, and that has been an extremely positive experience for me. Today I came to think only lesser scientists deserve my criticism, that the really great thinkers fully understand what science is, which is what makes them great in the first place. It is funny that some people here think I've been "converted" to relativity after reading Einstein, when what really happened was that I realized Einstein never said the stupid things some self-proclaimed "experts in relativity" say. Einstein was fully aware of the limitations of what he was doing, while those lesser thinkers can't see that.

So, once again, all is well with the world. Gosh, I must be in a good mood today, it must have been this morning's "miracle"

Now I'm really really going. Take care,

Aurino

• No disagreement - harvey1 - September 13, 2002 - 20:04 UTC