<how come so many horrors have been conducted in the name of "Science"?> [FN]
Are you referring to the work of "mad scientists" which make good story lines and movie plots? It seems you are confusing between science and technology as hinted at in the sentence about "misuse". The former is generally value neutral. The latter is often value laden. They may also have unintended consequences, toxic side effects etc. You go on to argue that if physical technology can go awry then the same can happen with social technologies. So, you add cynically, "why not give the same benefit to other ideologies, whether it is National Socialism aka Nazism, Facism, the Soviet gulags, Hindutva, or even various forms of religion?" Sure, why not? But hopefully a society has enough wits about it to learn from others' mistakes and nip dangerous experiments in its own before they get out of hand. You go on to say "Alwyn's point about "too much special interest" driving Science is bang on target, even if he states his case very politely. (Instead of talking about corruption and misrule in Goa, can we not talk of "too much special interest" driving Goa too?)What is "objective observational evidence"? It sounds very good in theory." What's wrong with the motive force of "special interests"? Why equate them insidiously to " corruption and misrule"? Arent there enough countervailing forces in society? In Goa's society? If they are weak then the idea should be to identify them and strengthen them instead of crying "woe is me". Btw, what is the "special interest" if any behind the generous grant of democracy to Goa while simultaneously parking an arm of the military in the "heart of town" to keep a watchful eye on things?