Quote of the week: Peter Atkins on woo and faith « Why Evolution Is True

http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2012/12/31/quote-of-the-week-peter-atkins-on-woo-and-faith/

One aspect of the paranormal versus real science should not go
unremarked. As in other forms of obscurantist pursuit, such as
religion, it is so easy to make time-wasting speculations. The
paranormal is effectively unconstrained whimsicality. Original
suggestions in real science emerge only after detailed study and the
lengthy and often subtle process of testing whether current concepts
are adequate. Only if all this hard work fails is a scientist
justified in edging forward human understanding with a novel and
possibly revolutionary idea. Real science is desperately hard work;
the paranormal is almost entirely the fruit of armchair fantasizing.
Real science is a regal application of the full power of human
intellect; the paranormal is a prostitution of the brain. Worst of
all, it wastes time and distorts the public's vision of the scientific
endeavour.

---SPSmith