yudkowsky In modern society there is a prevalent notion that spiritual matters can’t be settled by logic or observation, and therefore you can have whatever religious beliefs you like. If a scientist falls for this, and decides to live their extralaboratorial life accordingly, then this, to me, says that they only understand the experimental principle as a social convention. h ey know when they are expected to do experiments and test the results for statistical signif i cance. But put them in a context where it is socially conventional to make up wacky beliefs without looking, and they just as happily do that instead.