Dear all, What a great discussion! This is the sort of discussion for which I treasure this list.
Still, I just would like to add a testy snarl at any establishment figure who calls himself a heretic. Dennett did this in Darwin's Dangerous Idea, trying desparately to wrap himself in the shroud of The Man Himself but also to appear like a romantic outsider. Frankly a bit disgusting. You cannot be a household name and a heretic in any meanful sense. I admire these folks for their skills in science AND in reputation manipulation, grant getting, editor management, project leadership, etc., etc., but NOT for their courage in going it alone in the scientific wilderness. That honor probably goes properly to people on this list and elsewhere whose names we would not recognize. In the world of science, we do not burn our heretics; we ignore them. Nick ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
