So science will stay, but scientific rubbish, like religious rubbish, like artistic rubbish, like philosophical rubbish, will not, and that's a good thing. It means we're making progress."

I agree, and I never meant to say that if an idea has "SCIENTIFIC" labled all over it then it's valid. There are leeches and idiots in science just like in any other field.

But the day the scientific method is discarded is the day that we begin a descent down a slippery slope to ignorance and another dark age.

I forgot who said it, but someone here said this recently and I can't seem to find the post. But the jist of it was "Science spends too much time taking apart cars to find out how they work, but they don't realize that the entire point of a car is to enjoy the ride."

This is the problem a lot of people have with science. They say "If you know how it works, it takes all the fun out of it." I've always hated that, and I think it's the fundamental problem with society: "Why spoil the fun? All that matters is I'm having a good time, we don't need all those unappealing TECHNICALITIES to taint life."

Well, it's very easy to criticize scientific discovery while you wear your clothes containing polyester, while you sit in a chair made from plastic, while you type your reply on a keyboard with intricate circuitry and electronics, while you press the "post" button and send the information electronically through the telephone lines, and while every aspect of your life is influenced by some scientist who decided to take a small piece of the universe apart to see what makes it tick. In short, it's easy to take past scientific advances for granted while you say that we should just leave the universe's mysteries alone from here on out.

• Whoops - stormcrow - August 24, 2001 - 17:30 UTC