Quote:
Originally Posted by Botnst
I think the author's last comment is an important one.
Quote: While we may not agree with the answers outsiders give, none of us should be sanguine when some of the greatest fruits of science are unavailable to most of humankind.
If science cannot be effectively communicated in the vernacular, then to believe scientists because they make some assertion or other without an intelligible vernacular explanation, is akin to faith.
The new god and new priests.
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I don't think I agree with that. Just because I don't understand Swahili doesn't mean that there are no other people who can determine whether the Swahili speaker is making sense or not.
Same with the Latin issue. Education becomes more widely available if it's not conducted in a second language but it doesn't mean that faith is necessary, just other Latin speakers.
There may be sociological consequences insofar as the kind of people skilled in advanced Math may share some characteristics not commonly found in the general population but I don't think that translates directly into the view that physics must always be explicible in the vernacular independent of Math.