Joscha Bach

This reminds me of the output of that Deepak Chopra comment generator

I think that he is right, though. In the scholastic middle ages, truth was political: a theory had not necessarily to be epistemologically correct, but conform to pious values and authority. So science languished. Chopra is beelining directly for pious audience approval.

Science languishes now (in some ways, in other ways the genie is out of the bottle) for the same reason. Funding agencies being unwilling to accept risk or failure, for example.

Science seems to flourish in waves (renaissance, enlightenment, positivism, modernism). At the moment, I see a lot of amazing progress in narrow domains, but it is drowned out in the general din. Perhaps because everything else is so loud now?

I am amazed every day by advances made in science. What we lack is the will to take a widespread interest (easier to get whipped into an emotional frenzy) and a consistent delivery system to get advances flourishing in a timely fashion in an archaic healthcare system.

Yes, which is why the notion of a general human "we" in science is absurd. The folks that really care about getting it right are always a tiny minority.

Most people don't care how the light goes on when they flip the switch, or how their food stays cold in the fridge, or heats up in the oven, or how medicine works. Most don't think about the flickering flame of consciousness on this rock in space.

Most people find it offensive if someone pursues truth in an area where the socially preferred way of thinking is settled.

Einstein needed poincare, and maxwell, Boltzmann and the mob of experimentalista to prove his theories. Part of science is the ability to shift to the preciously unthinkable . It’s still a sum, just certain factors are larger and negative with respect to the previous factors.

As an isolated individual, the human mind is too small and short lived to bootstrap itself into general intelligence. But that does not make truth social! Quite the opposite: Science needs to favor the radical pursuit of truth over social alignment.

truth itself is certainly not social! It is truth. But the pursuit of truth is social. Because you are right, the human mind is too small and short. Without the social we would be without the truth. We have to distinguish between Science the tool and science the group of humans.