Danny Ross Lunsford <[email protected]> wrote:
> Anyone who has a real love for thinking and has been through an academic > science program, particularly in the hard sciences, will remember many > moments of utter disgust, because more often than not, the main purpose for > doing science - a love for knowledge and the excitement of being on the > frontier - is usually the last thing on the agenda. > I agree this is widespread. I think it more common nowadays than in the past because scientists are better paid than they used to be. Around 1900 it was said you should not become a professor or a doctor unless you first marry money. Another dynamic works with people who sincerely love knowledge and science. It was described by Tolstoy, and quoted in "Fire from Ice:" "I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions they reached perhaps with great difficulty, conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives." > PS - a good read - "The Twilight of the Scientific Era" by Martin > Lopez-Corredoira. > You mean, "The Twilight of the Scientific Age" http://www.amazon.com/Twilight-Scientific-Mart%C3%ADn-L%C3%B3pez-Corredoira/dp/1612336345/ - Jed
