[Another long ramble, pointing out only obvious facts.]

That was some excessively good rambling. I can't add a great deal to it. I agree with almost all of it.

I have a friend who pretends to believe in astrology. She tried to convince me one day that the gravitational influence of stars affected my life. I went through F=G(m*m)/(d^2) with her to show her exactly what she was saying. Her reply was "Well, even though I know it makes no sense logically, I have to believe in SOMETHING."

I think that humans all have a need to believe in something that shows them the reason to their lives. For some, it is religion, for some, superstition, and for some, science. I do not mean to imply that superstition or religion are as valid as science.

Maybe a large part of this problem is the quality of education today. Many people manage to pass high school without having any idea how to think logically, or what science is. I have multiple friends that think all of science is a bunch of voodoo. They managed to get A's in chemistry and physics, without having any idea where any of the concepts that they memorized from rote came from.

I once explained evolution to a very devout person who had passed biology. Since biology teachers are not allowed to teach evolution (evolution being no more valid than creation as a scientific theory), this person went "Huh. And here I was thinking that scientists thought we changed from monkeys by magic." Grrrrr.

I don't think that the idea of stars as fusion engines is any less beautiful than a superstitious idea of stars. I think the universe gets cooler every time I learn more about it.