[MD_Titus]

to ban it is to remove the choice. surely you're all for freedom of choice? it's not about people using it as a gravy train, it's about recognising people's right to freedom of choice, freedom to smoke, whilst mitigating it's harmful effects. i would imagine that a vote to ban smoking altogether would be beaten back all the more comprehensively than a vote to increase tax on tobacco.

please stop misusing quotation marks though, it makes you look silly. as does saying that reading the first couple of chapters of a single book means you understand scientific methodology. it's not different relative to the age, it's a progression and evolution of understanding through cumulative knowledge and experience. it's not "muddling through", it's producing theory and models based on evidence, testing them and refining them or throwing them out altogether if they are unproven. "muddling through" makes it sound like it's made up on the fly.

you are right that you cannot take self-interest/politics out of it altogether, but to say that those are the main motivators in all scientific endeavour is a gross error.