Dear mineralogists,

When do you ever get the pleasure of spending time with a German basketball champion? This week, I had the pleasure of talking with this athlete about various topics, such as his participation and success in the over-50 World Championship. Especially interesting for me was the discussion about the two limitations of tolerance. I myself had already thought a lot about the upper limit of tolerance, or to put it in the words of Karl Popper, "In the name of tolerance, we must be intolerant toward intolerance." There is indeed a limit beyond which we, as scientists, must also be intolerant – when it comes to the (denial of) the dignity of the individual. I hadn't thot about the lower limit yet. Often today, the term tolerance is used for things that are taken for granted. With self-evident things, we do not need to be tolerant and do not even need to call it that, as there is nothing that burdens me. That we are allowed to live freely in diverse life concepts – this does not require tolerance, as it is a matter of course – and a fundamental prerequisite for modern science. If you also want to discuss with this exceptional athlete, then you are in the right place in mineralogy – it is always a gain to discuss with Horst Marschall! Whether it concerns the future questions of humanity, the use of our underground, whether as storage (CO2, hydrogen, or heat) or the protection of drinking water – it is good that I can have such discussions with great people on the DMG board. Even if we may have different opinions on the evaluation of various technologies, a fact-based, appreciative discussion is a gain and helps me better understand things.

In doing so, we as scientists should always argue based on facts, aware of the limitations of our knowledge.

Your

Frank Schilling