196 AMPHISBAENA 



Pascal. To them, everything is so simple. The hypnotic effect of 

 repeating nonsensical statements over and over has produced a 

 general trance that is mistaken for a view of nature. Altogether, 

 I was taught that it is the task of the natural sciences to under- 

 stand, not to outwit, nature. I am often told that this or that is 

 an "educated guess" — a truly nasty expression. Much would be 

 gained if the guessers were educated instead. Some of the dis- 

 cussions on microbial heredity and chemical genetics that I have 

 heard sounded like a bunch of midwives deliberating on the 

 immaculate conception. And what can be done to stem the ever- 

 growing avalanche of rubbish being published? I can think of 

 only one way: to publish all papers anonymously, without 

 authors' names. 



I 

 y: 

 By the way, grapevine has told me that the code has been broken. 



o: 



I hope, someone keeps the pieces; one may need them again. 



y: 



How can you be facetious before such an achievement? Don't 

 you see that we have entered a new era? 



o: 



Thus, slowly, slowly, step by step, scream by scream, drum roll 

 by drum roll, gold medal by gold medal, do you expect to recon- 

 struct the fingerprints of God! But what good will it do you? 

 You could not read them, you could not classify them. All the 

 gimmicks in the world — to use the terminology with which you 

 are familiar — will not help you. 



y: 

 You talk as if we were still in the early middle ages. 



o: 

 Maybe the natural sciences will always be in the early middle 



