Yes. You only say it's crazy because it doesn't work. Like all effective techniques, I don't see why it wouldn't be quite commonplace & eventually well understood.
>Yes. You only say it's crazy because it doesn't work.
How could I be saying that it's crazy because it doesn't work when I'm considering a hypothetical scenario in which it does work? That doesn't make any sense.
It's crazy because we can't construct even the hint of an explanation for why it should be an effective method. Of course, you might in turn imagine a scenario in which we succeed in constructing some kind of explanation -- in which case the method might be rational in addition to being effective -- but there is no guarantee that any such explanation could be constructed, and I am considering the scenario in which it can't.
In any case, in suggesting that scientists should not even be rational (or alternatively, in defining rationality purely in terms of outcomes), you are departing from the mainstream to such an extent that the burden of explanation is clearly on you here. You are certainly not stating a "basic fact" about the nature of science. I'm all for methodological liberalism, but you can't assess a method purely based on its outcomes.
