[MD] What all is about.

[ian glendinning]

Ham, Ron,

Prompted by Ron quoting Ham as saying ...
Most scientists I know would be insulted by Pirsig's phrase "the
throes of creative discovery".  Scientists don't want their
discoveries to be creative; they want them to be objective if not
totally random or "accidental".

And what is good, Ham ?

The kind of scientist you are describing Ham is some cricature of a
brain-dead scientific technician, not a real, quality scientist. It's
a cliche to quote Einstein yet again .... so I won't. Look at any
philosopher of science or philosophical scentist in the last 100 years
and you'll find that the creative spark is well recognised as the hard
bit.

As Ron says - even if we start from the existence of a physical world
out there - the vast, vast majority of it is alien to direct human
experence or even any indirect observation. A large and important part
of good science is concerned with understanding, explanation and
metaphor, a hugely creative task, and art.

Why be in such ignorant denial of this Ham ?
Why drive in a divisive wedge ? Cui bono ?
Ian