# Do scientists believe they are better than the rest? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 22, 2011, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-scientists-believe-they-are-better-than-the-rest/579303 "2011-04-22T00:17:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-scientists-believe-they-are-better-than-the-rest/579303/141 "2011-04-23T16:31:15Z")
> [@pinguin](#): > > Even Shakespeare sound better in Spanish. “Ser o no ser” it is a lot more poetic than “To be or not to be”. Try him in the original Klingon. ---
**Author:** ![pinguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@pinguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinguin)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2011, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-scientists-believe-they-are-better-than-the-rest/579303/142 "2011-04-23T16:35:29Z")
Sometimes I feel pitty for poor Anglosaxon poets, that had to write poems in such a rough language for ears, such as english. They must have a superb intelligence, and make a supreme effort, to make that language sound good. Something that is natural in other languages. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2011, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-scientists-believe-they-are-better-than-the-rest/579303/143 "2011-04-23T16:44:48Z")
> [@pinguin](#): > > Sometimes I feel pitty for poor Anglosaxon poets, that had to write poems in such a rough language for ears, such as english. They must have a superb intelligence, and make a supreme effort, to make that language sound good. Something that is natural in other languages. I’ve no doubt that your gibberish sounds prettier in the original Spanish. That doesn’t make it meaningful. ---
**Author:** ![pinguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@pinguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinguin)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2011, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-scientists-believe-they-are-better-than-the-rest/579303/144 "2011-04-23T16:50:08Z")
To be or not to be…(sounds) Beeh- beep beeh-beep. That doesn’t sound great either. I preffer Operas in German, than that!.. Anyways. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2011, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-scientists-believe-they-are-better-than-the-rest/579303/145 "2011-04-23T17:09:22Z")
> [@pinguin](#): > > Even Shakespeare sound better in Spanish. “Ser o no ser” it is a lot more poetic than “To be or not to be”. Funny that you mention that, in the Spanish edition of Hamlet there was a note on the “Ser o no ser”, in the original translation it appeared as “Existir o no existir” literally: To exist or not to exist. What happened in later editions was that in other popular media many preferred the other way, so popularity overcame the original official translation and then it was changed in the 19th or early 20th century Spanish editions and later ones. ---
**Author:** ![pinguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@pinguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinguin)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2011, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-scientists-believe-they-are-better-than-the-rest/579303/146 "2011-04-23T17:12:52Z")
In what Spanish edition of Hamlet? I wonder. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2011, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-scientists-believe-they-are-better-than-the-rest/579303/147 "2011-04-23T21:53:09Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > They are now good enough to beat even the best Jeopardy Champions though. > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Puhs2LuO3Zc](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Puhs2LuO3Zc) Yeah - Watson is awesome, but it’s pretty impressive how well Eliza could get people to respond as if there was a real person behind it. I wonder if Eliza ever asked random questions about whether scientists think they’re better than anyone else? ---
**Author:** ![Meyer6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Meyer6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meyer6)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2011, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-scientists-believe-they-are-better-than-the-rest/579303/148 "2011-04-23T22:44:44Z")
> [@pinguin](#): > > I bet I have touched some of your beliefs, or destroyed one of your more prized paradigms, in order for you to feel the need to pay attention to me Mom! Mom! He’s destroying my prized paradigms! And he touched my beliefs too! Make him stop, mom! :rolleyes: > [@pinguin](#): > > Science is not about “HAVING” the “truth”, but to reach up to it. Yeah, and some of us are more qualified to reach for the truth than others. What’s wrong with admitting that? ---
**Author:** ![heatmiserfl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/df705f/32.png) [@heatmiserfl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heatmiserfl)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2011, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-scientists-believe-they-are-better-than-the-rest/579303/149 "2011-04-23T22:52:01Z")
> [@pinguin](#): > > Science is not about “HAVING” the “truth”, but to reach up to it. Many people forget that science is not a religion, Comte style. Science is not a temple full of figures of scientific saints, like Galileo, Newton, Darwin or Einstein, to whom the believers carry flowers.. :rolleyes: > > No sir. Science is a process of discovering and modeling the world. A brutal process of destroying ignorancy by studying **FACTS**. So, there isn’t nothing sacred in science. No theory is sacred either, and even relativity or quantum mechanics could suffer dramatic revisions in the far away future. > > Science is not about fancy mathematics, or high egos with lot of prestige. Fancy mathematics are tools to process and modeling facts: the experiments. The high egos of science, the Nobel prizes and the fame, are simply the carrots to motivate younger generations to follow the hard road to scientific discovery. Awww, look who had their first lesson in the scientific method. Who’s a good little student? Who’s a good little student? ---
**Author:** ![pinguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@pinguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinguin)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2011, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-scientists-believe-they-are-better-than-the-rest/579303/150 "2011-04-23T23:57:27Z")
> [@Meyer6](#): > > Mom! Mom! He’s destroying my prized paradigms! And he touched my beliefs too! Make him stop, mom! :rolleyes: I knew you were a teen :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![pinguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@pinguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinguin)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2011, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-scientists-believe-they-are-better-than-the-rest/579303/151 "2011-04-23T23:58:34Z")
> [@heatmiserfl](#): > > Awww, look who had their first lesson in the scientific method. Who’s a good little student? Who’s a good little student? Don’t worry. Never is too late to learn something. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-scientists-believe-they-are-better-than-the-rest/579303/152 "2011-04-24T00:02:42Z")
> [@pinguin](#): > > I have touched some of your beliefs Pervert. Keep your filthy hands to yourself. ---
**Author:** ![pinguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@pinguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinguin)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-scientists-believe-they-are-better-than-the-rest/579303/153 "2011-04-24T00:08:24Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Pervert. Keep your filthy hands to yourself. And you, pay a visit to your psycologist. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Meyer6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Meyer6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meyer6)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-scientists-believe-they-are-better-than-the-rest/579303/154 "2011-04-24T00:23:18Z")
> [@pinguin](#): > > I knew you were a teen :rolleyes: Really? Score! I just got 15 years younger! But seriously, do you not understand the scientific method? I have never heard of a scientist who ‘forgot that science was not a religion’. If you have that issue, perhaps that’s your own problem. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-scientists-believe-they-are-better-than-the-rest/579303/155 "2011-04-24T00:40:13Z")
> [@pinguin](#): > > Sometimes I feel pitty for poor Anglosaxon poets, that had to write poems in such a rough language for ears, such as english. They must have a superb intelligence, and make a supreme effort, to make that language sound good. Something that is natural in other languages. > [@](#): > > _Gracias quiero dar al divino Laberinto de los efectos y de las causas > Por la diversidad de las criaturas que forman este singular universo, > Por la razón, que no cesará de soñar con un plano del laberinto… > Por los ríos secretos e inmemoriales que convergen en mí, > Por el idioma que, hace siglos, hablé en Nortumbria, > Por la espada y el arpa de los sajones…_. How painful to clip only these small bits from [Otro poema de los dones](http://spanishpoems.blogspot.com/2006_12_01_archive.html). From a poet who had deep knowledge of _several_ languages. Somehow, I doubt The Penguin is worth reading in Spanish, either. ---
**Author:** ![pinguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@pinguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinguin)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-scientists-believe-they-are-better-than-the-rest/579303/156 "2011-04-24T00:43:37Z")
> [@Meyer6](#): > > I have never heard of a scientist who ‘forgot that science was not a religion’. If you have that issue, perhaps that’s your own problem. No issues. Just read history of science, and those phylosophical movements that accompanied it: positivism, social darwinism, scientific marxism… and the list goes on :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![pinguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@pinguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinguin)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-scientists-believe-they-are-better-than-the-rest/579303/157 "2011-04-24T00:50:35Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > How painful to clip only these small bits from …Otro poema de los dones. From a poet who had deep knowledge of _several_ languages. > > Somehow, I doubt The Penguin is worth reading in Spanish, either. Yes, Borges was a superb writer, that could make poetry in any language. As I said before, you must be very smart to make English sounds right in poetry. And that’s not my oppinion only. You can find what Robert Heinlein said about Spanish on his novel Friday: “Spanish is so musical that a soap powder commercial in Spanish is more pleasing to the ear than the best free verse in English” :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-scientists-believe-they-are-better-than-the-rest/579303/158 "2011-04-24T01:00:34Z")
> [@pinguin](#): > > No issues. Just read history of science, and those phylosophical movements that accompanied it: positivism, social darwinism, scientific marxism… and the list goes on :rolleyes: Any particular reason you’re not asking leading questions about philosophers then? Oh who am I kidding. Actually, I’d be more interested in your opinion on religion. Please feel free to ramble. ---
**Author:** ![pinguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@pinguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinguin)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-scientists-believe-they-are-better-than-the-rest/579303/159 "2011-04-24T01:25:43Z")
On religion, I pass. I am agnostic. With respect to Social Darwinism, Racism and the Nazis, I am against it. I believe the differences among “races” are external, and aren’t related to brain wirings at all. I believe societies are different, but people isn’t. And I believe those that want to classify people mental skills by race are wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-scientists-believe-they-are-better-than-the-rest/579303/160 "2011-04-24T01:28:47Z")
> [@pinguin](#): > > You can find what Robert Heinlein said about Spanish on his novel Friday “What are the marks of a sick culture? It is a bad sign when the people of a country stop identifying themselves with the country and start identifying with . . . a language. . . . A very bad sign. Particularism. It was once considered a Spanish vice . . . .” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-scientists-believe-they-are-better-than-the-rest/579303.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-scientists-believe-they-are-better-than-the-rest/579303.md?page=9)