[dang]

Please don't post unsubstantive comments here, especially not on divisive topics that have been gone over a million times already.

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18802222 and marked it off-topic.

[tCfD]

Unfortunately it's a misunderstanding of alchemy and it's role in the development of modern science that causes these knee-jerk negative responses to what is in fact a useful and non-pejorative comparison. I suppose next time I'll make my case in more detail.