@Rasp ya gotta also publish the notes

that's the really revolutionary idea, *not* keeping your newfound insights into the system of the world as a secret for yourself and maybe your apprentices or fellow guildsmen

@Rasp @Aphelion

> If you f*** around, and take notes,
> you're actually a scientist.

No. This is necessary but not sufficient, I believe. Right now the forces of anti-science want to do this much, but just starting always from scratch, as if the science to date is worthless. They just want to disrespect others who have done science.

A key element of science is trusting the work of others. You can retest something, but to not trust the entire body of everything that you don't personally test is to create a maximum that science can ever do.

There is a limit to how much science you can do on your own. It is essential to get past a certain point that there be a central repository of knowledge that can outlive an individual.

So taking notes is part of it, but the notes must be managed and coordinated, and a general consensus of trust must be built. Without that, you can do all the things you said, and you are just a pretend scientist.

You can do new science, if you do not challenge the old. Or you can challenge the old to the extent you have the time to. But to not have faith that any previous science has any value, and just screw around and take notes is not sufficient and just not to Justice to the rest of science which is now bigger than an individual.

This is upsetting to libertarians who think that rugged individualism implies that it's always possible to just walk into the wilderness and start over. You can do that, and make it kind of toy science on your own from scratch as a hobby, but that is not any longer thing that most of society means by science. And when you come back to the world to talk to anybody about it and claim you are a scientist, If you deny the work of other scientists while claiming yourself one, then you are not one.

The belief in conmunty record keeping and an evolving community consensus is key.

What you see in a lot of Republican policy right now is large scale screwing around with people's lives and wanting to take notes. What they deny is that this has been done and that there are good outcomes and huge risks of doing it all over again. That they do not believe in schools or libraries is central to the evil that is presently going on and cannot be just casually omitted.