I have actively NOT participated here because I saw no impact I could make. Bill D was also a philosophy major and explains logic in a fine manner and Wolfgang......Well, I don't have words to say how well you have made your points and it would be folly for me to believe that anyone, especially me, could do better. Many others have contributed insights as well and I have enjoyed this lurking immensely. As the thread winds down, I have a few small comments, not even worth the 2 cents I'm assigning to them, but what the hell.....

Anyone who believes that a true scientist does NOT believe in the impossible is mistaken. The best also take great pains to view experimental results for what they are, even, and especially if, they disprove a particular theory. It is the essence of science to theorize and experiment and accept the reality to formulate new theory.

IMHO, the absolute greatest free thinker and most wondrous mind of the past century belonged to Richard Feynman, a Nobel physicist in Quantum Mechanics, artist, drummer, lecturer, and critical thinker. He professed to have no knowledge of the social side of life, and yet had one of the most beautiful and touching love affairs in history. "The Feynman Lectures" should be required reading in every school, no matter what the couse of study or major. He was never afraid to question anything and never so vain that he allowed reality to be negated by his own theories. And....he had a wondeful sense of humor to boot. For a lighter read, try, "Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman" or "What Do You Care What Other People Think?" Like most physicist, he believed in "elegant" solutions. The universe is simple and it exists in organized chaos......but we have not yet found all the keys to the filing system. We will never find them until and unless we apply the rules of experimentation and logic to that we believe is impossible.

Wolfgang, Bill, Grab, and others......you have my sincerest respect.

Spaw

Spaw