(via Edge.org)  Great Quote from Lee Smolin:

Science is a kind of open laboratory for a democracy. It's a way to experiment with the ideals of our democratic societies. For example, in science you must accept the fact that you live in a community that makes the ultimate judgment as to the worth of your work. But at the same time, everybody's judgment is his or her own. The ethics of the community require that you argue for what you believe and that you try as hard as you can to get results to test your hunches, but you have to be honest in reporting the results, whatever they are. You have the freedom and independence to do whatever you want, as long as in the end you accept the judgment of the community. Good science comes from the collision of contradictory ideas, from conflict, from people trying to do better than their teachers did, and I think here we have a model for what a democratic society is about. There's a great strength in our democratic way of life, and science is at the root of it.

The rest of Lee's interview / article is about Loop Quantum Gravity.   A topic far far far outside of my weight class to even begin to summarize & comment about.  

Smolin's quote about science & democracy, however, is fair game for me  ;-)   I've written before about the relationship between science & democracy but focused my argument more around grasping the discovery process -- the idea that there isn't a singular Truth that has been bestowed in a sacred book but rather that Truth, like governance, must be constantly refined and experimented with.

Smolin brings up a different, interesting angle -- the give and take between individual excellence and community mandate for refinement of the truth.   Inspiration is individual but dissemination & refinement requires community involvement.   This is a perfect analogy for the development of pro-social norms within communities of individuals.