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CHAPTER erations are of little interest to everyday research. Let us dwell on the world of science for a moment. Do not let the following affect your good mood, because the collective interest requires that the “scientific wall of Berlin” also comes tumbling down. Ultimately, the land that lies behind this wall is not so different from what we find in companies wae . 1 aos c doa 4 or politics: power struggles, protection of personal status and preroga- tives, people holding back information, confidentiality pledges and intrigue. This picture is certainly a bit negative, but we are all still human. Nothing is sterile in this low world, not even in laboratories. We often speak of the pioneers of scientific history. They were few by definition. So why does our culture make an abstraction of all those who were crushed by the train of progress because they held on to their ephemeral certainties? Is it because we hate losers? Let us have mercy on future losers. They become losers only because we lack compassion for the mistakes of others. Let us not be the ones to cast the first stone, for who has not abused his authority, at any level, to impose certain views? Let us be forgiving and simply invite our scientists to acknowl- edge that the perks of their social position are legitimate as they stand united and become dedicated to serving mankind, rather than science, which would be self-justification. Nevertheless, I have the utmost respect for the hours, months and years of dedicated research con- ducted by these brilliant men and women. ,o4 aaa 1 soa coat c l observed that there were always two major types of actions from which all others ensue: justifications and questions; to justify ourselves... or to question ourselves. All the rest proceeds from and depends on these two attitudes! 51 Scientific culture or the cause of errors MEN OF SCIENCE MAY FEEL that these consid-