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"Book suggestion: "The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag" by Robert Heinlein. Covers that very idea."

That is one of my favorite short stories by Heinlein. In it, a man meets a character who is an "art critic"--critiquing universes. This one is considered very good. "Who would ever think of eating strawberries, something so pleasurable, as a means of gathering energy for life?" he comments.

I'm surprised to see it mentioned--I thought it was fairly obscure. It is very appropriate to this discussion.

Since you asked, here is my definition of a scientist: one who studies a science.

Science - a body of knowledge; knowledge in general. Derived from experimentation and observation, especially using the "scientific method"

scientific method - a process for discovering knowledge. 1. Devise a hypothesis, an idea about how some feature of the universe might work. 2. Devise an experiment to test the hypothesis. 3. Conduct the experiment and see if the hypothesis passes or fail. 4. repeat until you have a theory that fits all the observations.

These are my personal definitions, not from a dictionary.

> In it, a man meets a character who is an "art critic"--critiquing universes. This one is considered very good.

As opposed to the *previous* one... the one this universe was "painted over," and which sometimes bleeds through. Neat idea.

> my definition of a scientist: one who studies a science.

Useful enough. However, when one considers the requirement for the scientific method, "God" ceases to be definable as a "scientist." "Artist," perhaps, "engineer," perhaps... but not "scientist." Or "politician." Maybe "lawyer."

> Here's an experiment for God's existence: Ask Him to contact you.

An experiment that billions have tried with no noticable response. Some claim success. However, asking "Allah," Buddha," "Shiva," "Odin," "Zeus," etc to contact you also has had successes.