There is a really good movie called Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World starring Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany. The setting is a ship at sea in the early 19th century. Crowe plays the captain of the ship, a man of faith, and Bettany plays a physcian who studies the world around him. The two characters are in stark contrast with each other, but are dear friends. This duo is one of my favorite duos of all movies. It's all based on a large book series written by Patrick O'Brian.
In the 19th century it was science that took a back seat to faith which seems the exact opposite today. We still have many religious people in churches around the world or knocking on people's doors, but there's a big difference today. In the past, scientists probably felt the need to hide their work to devout religious people or anyone they didn't fully trust. To many people back then science was lumped in with evil mysticism or regarded as a fools errand. Prejudice has always been a war humans can't seem to get away from.
What seems to happen, however, is that the oppressed can easily fall into oppressing. It's an odd human phenomenon, but is very consistant. Take science for example: what used to be a humble method is now a mainstream consciousness. To call the scientific method a fools errand today would likely get you targeted for vitriol.
The interesting thing about science is that it stands on the weight of it's own accomplishments. We really can't call science in it's infancy stage anymore. That was what gave rise to the people who criticized its existence, they were able to point out it's flaw as something new. They were temporarily greater than it. However, just like Dr Stephen Maturin in Master and Commander the scientists just quietly took samples when they could. While the religionists fought over the resources of the planet the scientists were striving to discover how it all worked. People like you and I today get to reap the benefit of all that hard work. It is a travesty to call science a fools errand. It was something threatening and new to people hundreds of years ago, yes, and understandably. It was magic to them, but it's not to us. We should know better.
But, there is always a way to fudge it all up. Never is there a path that leads straight to the end of the rainbow. Life is not a play you watch from an audience, but a choose your own adventure book. As science stands tall on the pillars of it's own accomplishments will it's adherents ignore the patterns of the past and become the oppressors themselves? That's where the choice lies.
Dr Lawrence Krauss, a renowned cosmologist, put it nicely, he said that if you use a toaster then you should acknowledge the hard work that made it possible. I, for one, eagerly await what the scientists figure out next. They deserve much more respect, and credit, than they get.
-Sab