[Buddha-l] it's not about belief -= science & empiricism

[curt]

I'm surprised that no one has brought up metallurgy yet - so I'll do it 
now. The mining, processing and working of metals is an ancient art - or 
is that science? Well, whatever. Does anyone really think that the 
knowledge of how to work with bronze and iron and gold and silver and 
mercury etc were arrived at by prayers and astrology? They were arrived 
at by experimentation, with an extremely high value placed on 
reproducibility. In other words, human beings have been doing science 
for a long long time (metallurgy is just one example - but a good one). 
In the 17th century the huge influx of wealth to Europe (a direct result 
of Christendom's violent extension into the Western Hemisphere*) 
catalyzed a previously unimaginably rapid development of new technology 
(developing new technology has always been expensive - it still is 
today). The technological advances and unprecedented concentration of 
the earth's wealth in the hands of people who were previously only 
distinguished by the infrequency of their bathing (that is, Europeans), 
did bring about tremendous changes in "natural philosophy". That these 
changes were momentous is obvious. But that science was invented out of 
thin air by white people in the 18th century is ridiculous.
- Curt
*P.S. In the index to "The Log of Christopher Columbus" there are 20 
entries for the word "gold". From the moment Columbus landed he was 
obsessed with finding gold. Also its interesting to note that Columbus 
relied on calculations made by Islamic geographers. These geographers 
had vastly underestimated the size of the earth - which was what led 
Columbus to believe that he could sail all the way to Asia.