Yet every major advance in science and technology was the result of some rule being broken by somebody who didn't believe the limits set by the authorities.

I strongly disagree with this. Could you please point out which limits or rules set by authorities were broken by Einstein, Newton, Archimedes, Euclid, Euler, Erdös, Von Neumann or Knuth, to name a few? Over the centuries, many scientists were directly or indirectly funded to do research, both practical and theoretical.

Many technological and scientific advances came from curiosity. But that's surely not the only thing that make that make science and technology go forward. Luck, prestige, the need to solve a problem, the wish to make a buck, being observant, and hard work are important as well. Man didn't go to the moon because someone was curious about the big yellow thing in the sky and build a rocket. No, the main drive was prestige between countries, and funding by the the "authorities". Archimedes didn't came up with his buoyancy law because he was curious and breaking some rules - no, he had a "Eureka!" moment when trying to solve a problem for his king.

And Galileo? Sure, he came head to head with the Roman church. But his revelation only came because he had a problem to solve: to explain his data.

Abigail

In reply to Re: In praise of curiosity by Abigail-II
in thread In praise of curiosity by gmax

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