Quote of the Day
Most scientists are button counting bottle washers.
Almost all science reporting is complete dreck. If journalists could understand science, they probably wouldn’t be journalists.
McChuck
March 14, 2025
Comment to More Data Supporting Our Universe is a Black Hole
This quote is great for several reasons. The first paragraph originates from a character in the Robert Heinlein book, Time Enough for Love: The Lives of Lazarus Long.
Most “scientists” are bottle washers and button sorters.
Related:
H. L. Mencken’s Law:
Those who can — do.
Those who can’t — teach.Martin’s Extension:
Those who cannot teach — administrate.
Also:
It doesn’t take much effort to realize the application of the second paragraph has extremely broad application. Substitute almost any profession for “science” and observe how well it works.
I did this substitution as I worked downward through the list occupations. I found it worked quite well for nearly everything down to and including “whoring”, “financial fraud”, and “serial killing”.
It seems strange at first. But at a conclusion one might observe through experience that God was just making the “worst” of us a higher example.
By promoting them.
It a known quantity that we learn from survived mistakes as much as we do from listening.
Some will always just except what they have been told. But many will push passed and ask harder question, dig for deeper answers.
As for modern science and journalism.
All the answers seem to be buried under the largest pile of money.
On a side note.
It might be fun to ask AI to write an “Ode to science and money.”
While we’re at it, we should stipulate that it should be able to be sung to “Ode to Joy.”
Virtually everything that matters in a society is accomplished by a distinctly small subset of that society. Perhaps 10%…if that. Without that minority society would still be living in mud huts eking out an existence. And what’s scary is the 90% who can’t do anything useful consistently demonize the 10%.
You are channeling Robert Heinlein’s famous “bad luck” quote.
Or a variation of Cyril Kornbluth’s “The Marching Morons”.
For those that are interested, the complete story is available here.
I’m thankful that I could, I did, and now I have the opportunity to teach the next generation of Soldiers to do what I used to do before I retired from the military.