To use the hammer analogy again. Do you think there is such a thing as a anti hammer?? How long could you keep a hammer made out of anti matter stable??
Partly recreation? I hope so... Thats how I come up with some of my best work..

The part I think you missed is how science is treated like a religion. Actions are carried out in faith(based on  a paper written by one of the accepted members of the faith) which is totally anti science. I am always questioning the basic tenants of science. It takes more time but you never become comfortable which leads to better discoveries and more pure science...

Is it necessary that science have the human element to it?? I think that Vulcans would do great science.... Do they do science for sciences sake or because it benefits them...

Here is something people rarely talk about.. I think that the information from the Nazi war experiments should be available...
Now who is to determine if its morally wrong and who is to determine if its good for society.. Which one overrides which one? Dont they always say in the movies" Dont let his death be in vain!".

The idea that intelligence breeds goodness is a great idea but then you have to ask where does evil come from? Because intelligent people do bad things with science... Is it that too much knowledge is a bad thing??

I maintain that you have to seperate the philosophy of science from the actions of science - that is the part where you go this data fits my model vs the part where you say this is interesting data that shows this physical principle and it belongs here in the order of what we know.

Take for example my current investigation into MDI and HMI. They use the absorption line for neutral iron and nickle for magnetograms. This  supposedly oscillates around a 100-250 mile center. Based on solar models this is a layed of neutral plasma dense enough to give accurate helioseismology readings. Based on physical principles you would have to say there is a nickle/iron surface there... I am kinda stuck right because nothing obvious is presenting itself. I have to come up with a more compelling physical reason than the standard model.
Its more a collection notes right now but I believe the data locates the physical surface...
http://qdl.scs-inc.us/?top=4741-4760-5079-9484-9454-9840-8919-6961-9927-9914

A benefit to society presupposes you have godlike powers and can see the future, however you could say that understanding every physical principle of the universe would be a benefit to society because you would now have space travel and limitless energy. Its not necessary to add this into the definition of science thereby eliminating the chance that someone would use the definition for nefarious purposes.  It is very important to understand these two different ways of speaking. One is a physical realization of the other.  The less knobs available for government to turn, they being one of the major funders of science, the less trouble they can get into....

How come you dont have a spell checker... i'm lazy...