From the talk, their main point about alchemy: > Now alchemy is OK, alchemy is not bad, there is a place for alchemy, alchemy worked, alchemists invented metal

From the talk, their main point about alchemy: > Now alchemy is OK, alchemy is not bad, there is a place for alchemy, alchemy worked, alchemists invented metallurgy, [inaudible] dyed textiles, our modern glass making processes and medications. > Then again, alchemists also believed they could cure diseases with leeches and transmute base metals into gold. > For the physics and chemistry of the 1700s to usher in the sea change in our understanding of the universe that we now experience, scientists had to dismantle 2,000 years worth of alchemical theories. > If you're building photo-sharing systems, alchemy is okay. But we're beyond that. > Now we're building systems that govern health care, and mediate our civic dialogue. We influence elections. > I would like to live in a society whose systems are built on top of verifiable rigorous thorough knowledge and not on alchemy.