Well, I don’t see any real purity of science honestly.
As an ideal, it’s awesome. It’s great when it works. But there’s no escaping corruption, whether for financial gain, status, one-upmanship, basic career survival, etc.
I’m not saying that Real Science isn’t happening; of course it is. But politics corrupts the most noble of institutions, and the myth of the Lone Wolf Scientist who “fights The System” is a very powerful archetype
The common adoration of Telsa over the wicked Edison/ wicked Westinghouse / etc – is a nice romantic notion and I adore the man. But as romantic of a story “the maligned genius” is… it’s just a story stitched together to fit a man’s life into an archetype.
Here’s the reason why I hold Engineers to a higher level than Scientists:
a) Engineers are not industrialists. They follow orders – and they have MANY bosses they have to please, but a main boss usually.
b) They use the best of heuristics available at the time, whether that be mathematics or science or just “Let’s copy what this other guy did because it seems to work”. No theory required.
c) It’s just gotta work.
d) They don’t have the quest-for-glory syndrome, typically.
e) If there’s a screwup they get all the blame.
f) If things go well, the scientist or the politician or whoever commissioned it takes all the glory.
Of course, I’m fitting thousands of years of human engineers into an archetype as well, the myth of the Unsung Hero / Unknown Soldier / take your pick. But it’s hard not to. These archetypes work really well
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