The whole [scientific] process resembles biological evolution. A problem is like an ecological niche, and a theory is like a gene or a species which is being tested for viability in that niche.
Our best theories are not only truer than common sense, they make more sense than common sense.
I don't think it would be a good idea for scientists to have more political power. Scientists as a group are more inclined to try to derive an ought from an is, than the population at large.
It is possible to build a virtual-reality generator whose repertoire includes every possible environment.
Time travel may be achieved one day, or it may not. But if it is, it should not require any fundamental change in world-view, at least for those who broadly share the world view I am presenting in this book.
Where we have good, testable explanations, they then have to be tested, and we drop the ones that fail the tests.