WTF???
John Pratt wrote:
What sickness science brings to everyday people! They cannot even
believe in mysterious things, such as the divine, without first
thinking it has to show up on a laboratory microscope.
The petri dish has to exist before the thing will be acknowledged as
fitting inside a petri dish.
"We don't have a petri dish for that. It cannot exist. I cannot
study it inside of its petri dish."
"Tell me where its petri dish is first, then I will believe you and we
will go study it."
Mystical things of the past are regarded as superstition, described in
terms of theoretical, mechanical concepts. Automobiles, air planes,
and light rail trains are the indicators of supreme accomplishments
given to man by this modern science.
Computers, electronics are never questioned for what they are
underneath-- a huge mess of chemical circuits. Contemptible expediency
in its approach to making its own version of warped plastic and
silicon clockwork.
Cram as much as you invent into the smallest space possible, sheath it
with cosmetic jewelry cases, and sell it to the world, telling the
world it is pure jewelry, inside and out. When it happens to hit the
floor, the lie is exposed-- a mess of soldering, wires, and toxic
chemicals.
Dazzling athletics, to cram this inelegant approach to match the
world's demand for novelty and excitement.
Pack it all into a tiny package. Call it sheer wizardry and a triumph
of modern science. Its engineers confounded by accusations of
philistine circuitry-- "engineering, math, and science works! our
engineering campus buildings are not ugly-- they are utilitarian! I
like math and was good at it in high school."
If the shoe fits, wear it regardless of whether the shoe is
distasteful in appearance on the outside. Make a distasteful shoe,
cover it up with a cosmetic shell. Where there is a problem, an
engineer will solve it. Make sure that you don't need a solution you
want to know about, however. Just be content that a problem was
solved and look the other way when the details are explained of its
operation.
"That'll do the trick."
I didn't like parabolas because the world cannot be reduced to two,
three, or four axes, thank you very much.
I don't like polynomials because I want to draw the line before I call
it a function of the world, saying that the world consists only of
deterministic, reductionist functions. "Oh, then you are just tired of
'discreteness' and you need its polar opposite of discreteness,
non-discreteness."
Such is mathematics and science today. "Why does no one want to learn
math and science anymore??"
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--
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice, there is. .... Yogi Berra
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