If science is going to claim any superiority over alternative belief systems, then it should be judged by how well it functions in contrast to those systems in fields of endeavor which are outside the realm of science.

Do scientists make better parents than say, artists or merchants? Are scientists more honest in their affairs than athletes or priests? Would communities led by scientists tend to be more humane and stable than those designed by people in general? From what I can see, this community, the Zone, is organized and populated mostly by those trained in or sympathetic to science, but it seems to have many of the same problems you would expect from one operated by the public at large. We have intolerance, hostility, conflict, hatred, chauvinism and cruelty. There are execrable bullies here, and discourse is often marred by sarcasm, self-righteousness, posturing, humiliation, insults, patronizing and insinuendo.

Robert Heinlein once observed that scientists, despite their virtues, are psychologically unsuited for politics, although he notably failed to come to similar conclusions about businessmen. Why am I not surprised? And of course, there is definitely a difference between scientists and engineers, even though their training is essentially identical.