And actually they (not scientists but technologists) don't really have that much hunger for knowledge as in "understanding the universe," but for the *manipulation* of knowledge in some way without taking the trouble to understand what it reveals about us or the world first.
Altman is that kind of person to a much larger degree than he resembles a scientist like Oppenheimer, whom he admires as a role model.
Good point, technologists are not scientists, a useful distinction.
Another way to look at both is as a new kind of "clergy". That is, leading cultural authorities whose pronouncements are widely accepted by the broad public as a matter of faith.
In the Enlightenment centuries ago we thought we were trading faith for reason. But really we just traded one group of authorities for another group. The cultural authorities changed, but our relationship with cultural authority remained much the same.
Alberto writes, "...technologists (and scientists) often have a hunger for more knowledge that's hard to satiate."
But they only have a hunger for how to get more knowledge, not for knowledge about how to manage knowledge acquisition.
And actually they (not scientists but technologists) don't really have that much hunger for knowledge as in "understanding the universe," but for the *manipulation* of knowledge in some way without taking the trouble to understand what it reveals about us or the world first.
Altman is that kind of person to a much larger degree than he resembles a scientist like Oppenheimer, whom he admires as a role model.
Good point, technologists are not scientists, a useful distinction.
Another way to look at both is as a new kind of "clergy". That is, leading cultural authorities whose pronouncements are widely accepted by the broad public as a matter of faith.
In the Enlightenment centuries ago we thought we were trading faith for reason. But really we just traded one group of authorities for another group. The cultural authorities changed, but our relationship with cultural authority remained much the same.