Well, Andrew, I will be equally impolite. Maybe you can't read. That was a QUOTE from Isaac Asimov's novel FOUNDATION. And you didn't even quote it right -- it was "the religion of science WORKS (not "is right").
I said that I was quite prepared to believe that this was not the case in Glorantha, and was uninterested in the debate about what "really happened," was, in fact, interested in what would happen NOW.
"Marxism and Freudianism,
both eminently "scientific" are, shall we say, not always right."
What on earth makes you think that either Marxism or Freudianism are
scientific? Their assertion that they are? They always seemed religious
to me.
"Finally, one wonders, has the "white man" ever learnt anything from other
cultures? Has someone elses magic potion ever turned out to be genuine in
the scientific scheme of things? It's as well to be aware that so-called
primitive or subordinate cultures can be quite sophisticated, by any
standards." All true -- of course all meetings of cultures are syncretic --
both sides "learn" from each other. However, that doesn't change the
fact that the Ghost Dances didn't work against bullets (any more than a
similar religious movement worked in Zaire -- err, the Congo -- two
decades ago).
It seems that you have mistaken your argument here -- if you want to argue against "white man's culture" (whatever on earth that is) or for the value of other cultures, it isn't really appropriate for this line.
It doesn't have much to do with Glorantha, and even less with me. Go argue with some neo-conservatives on a line about Ebonics, or something.
Jim Chapin
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