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
