  The Mayan culture collected exquisite astronomical data for over a
millennium. However, it failed to come up with the breakthrough ideas of modern
astronomy because the data was analyzed within a mythological culture of
astrology that rested upon false but mathematically sophisticated theories
about the Universe. Have we learned the necessary lessons to prevent our
current scientific culture from resembling Mayan Astronomy? Clearly, data
collection by itself is not a guarantee for good science as commonly assumed by
funding agencies. A vibrant scientific culture should cultivate multiple
approaches to analyzing existing data and to collecting new data.
