"Pentcho Valev" wrote in message
oups.com...
In his book "Science in a Free Society" P. Feyerabend states: "Today
science prevails not because of its comparative merits but because the
show has been rigged in its favour". Also, "the apostles of science
were the more determined conquerors" who "materially suppressed the
bearers of alternative cultures". Sounds realistic and yet the horror
story of George Orwell is much closer to the realities of the
situation:

"In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and
you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make
that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it.
Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of
external reality, was tacitly denied by their philosophy. The heresy of
heresies was common sense. And what was terrifying was not that they
would kill you for thinking otherwise, but that they might be right.
For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the
force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable? If both the
past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind
itself is controllable what then?"

The hypocrisy of using a computer and the internet to publish a luddite
screed is not lost on me.

--
Denis Loubet

http://www.io.com/~dloubet
http://www.ashenempires.com