Re: Change (was: (TFT) Jobs table: ...)

[Joey Beutel <mejobo@comcast.net>]

Alchemy always gets a lot of criticism, but at its base the idea  
behind it can be very scientific (some alchemists were scientists,  
some were not).

Hypothesis: One can turn lead into gold.
Procedure: TRY EVERYTHING.
Just because they were wrong doesn't mean that they didn't do things  
right, and, as Neil said, they did find out some useful info.

There were also alchemists who didn't do this. So.... yeah.
On Oct 1, 2011, at 2:29 AM, raito@raito.com wrote:

> Quoting gem6868 <gem6868@verizon.net>:
> > "Very much of modern chemistry has its roots in alchemy, for  
> > example. "
> >
> > the results of the work (won't dignify them with the term  
> > "experiments"),
> > but not the thinking behind it.  You're saying that the roots of  
> > NASCAR
> > racing are hairy ancestors with a wheeled cart.  Kinda sorta, but  
> > no, not
> > really.  Science as we know it is fairly recent.  It took a long  
> > time to get
> > rid of all those charlatans who were trying to turn lead into gold  
> > (the
> > basis of alchemy, and alchemists).
>
> Hardly. Many of those charlatans kept very good notes on their  
> experiments. The fact that they didn't achieve their goal does not  
> mean that their work wasn't useful.
> As for the thinking behind it, again, the fact that it turned out to  
> not be true (no chemical way to turn lead to gold), doesn't mean  
> that it was baseless.
> Neil Gilmore
> raito@raito.com
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