To be fair, science does gain its (narrow, but useful) power from defying common sense. (For instance, people like Aristotle IIRC explained why things fall to

To be fair, science does gain its (narrow, but useful) power from defying common sense. (For instance, people like Aristotle IIRC explained why things fall to the ground: they go back to their natural places. Ok, that's common sense; it makes sense to enough people until they let themselves get puzzled by it. Galileo's one person who explored the weirdnesses it entails; and Newton couldn't really accept gravity's occult non-mechanical properties that the evidence pointed at.) But I agree that's one thing, and the geek-culture's uncritical fascination with the scientific enterprise is yet another. (Which probably has a bad effect on who gets to become scientists.) Thanks for pointing out Duhem's book; will try to look at it.