/lit/ - Literature

>>19268109
>theoretically
is there a bigger field of grifters then "Theoretical physicist"?

Science and technology provide the most important examples of surrogate activities. Some scientists claim that they are
motivated by “curiosity” or by a desire to “benefit humanity.” But it is easy to see that neither of these can be the principal
motive of most scientists. As for “curiosity,” that notion is simply absurd. Most scientists work on highly specialized problems
that are not the object of any normal curiosity. For example, is an astronomer, a mathematician or an entomologist curious
about the properties of isopropyltrimethylmethane? Of course not. Only a chemist is curious about such a thing, and he is
curious about it only because chemistry is his surrogate activity. Is the chemist curious about the appropriate classification of a
new species of beetle? No. That question is of interest only to the entomologist, and he is interested in it only because
entomology is his surrogate activity.