>>Science has made it physically possible for us to put a man on the moon. But is spending the money to put a man on the moon a good or bad use of scarce resources?<<

That is a difficult question. I believe the Apollo Project did more than bring moon rocks back to Earth. It was used as a wake up call to show Americans that we were losing the technology race to Russia, and the technology developed helped other national interest.

>>Science has made it possible to extend the lives of very ill, very old, people by years, sometimes decades, by constant, invasive care, at the cost of thousands of dollars per year.<<

Science makes new discoveries. It is the role of all of society to figure out how these discoveries are then integrated. I’m only arguing that that discussion should also include scientists.

>>I could give many examples, but these two, I think, are apt. Science is very good at figuring out how the world works and how to manipulate it to our ends. But it has nothing whatsoever to tell us about what those ends should be in the first place. That is simply not its job.<<

You and teleologicus have very old fashion views of the role of scientist in society. The truth is that Darwin’s Theory of Evolution changed everything. Our understand of the world changed completely with this discovery. Since Darwin the contributions and esteem of scientist has continued to grow and that of philosopher and theologian has diminished.

Since you two think scientist should only open their mouths when we need to generate empirical data or accumulate knowledge but should not have an opinion on the use or role of that information, why don’t you tell us who should the public look to help solve difficult questions?