People don't do computer science for the mere theory of it. In the end, CS should yield utility--solve problems in the real world and those problems are solved through the medium of computers.
There is a reason it is called COMPUTER science while astronomy is not "telescope science". The analogy is faulty as well:
>> "Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes":
You can't compare astronomy to CS--astronomy needs both computers and telescopes and spaceships--but in CS, the computer is the central figure. If not, can you think of ANY other tool that represents CS?
>> "Calling it computer science is like calling surgery knife science." is another faulty analogy. The knife does not have the same amount of critical importance both as a mean and an end in surgery, as does the computer for CS; in other words, a knife is merely a means to an end in surgery, but in CS, the computer is both the mean and the end: in the latter case, the computer is a sort of representative of all the knowledge and practice in CS, in a given time. The sophistication of the computer and what it can do, represent, to a large extent, what we have achieved in CS--but you can't say the same about a knife vs. surgery. Capisch?
First of all, you're a brave man going after Dijkstra. Even two decades in the ground he's still going to win this argument.
The domain of astronomy is the starry sky and the Universe it reveals. The domain of surgery is anatomy, physiology, metabolism. In Informatics (not everyone calls it "Computer science", eh?) the domain is formal systems.
In each case the instruments (telescope, scalpel, digital computer) are not the main focus of investigation, they are tools, not the domain of study.
> the computer is the central figure
This is precisely the misunderstanding that Dijkstra tilted against.
> can you think of ANY other tool that represents CS?
Yes. The human brain.
I'll leave you with another joke, one of my favorite, although I don't know who said it, "Computer science could be called the post-Turing decline in the study of formal systems."
Considering how it were the Greeks that prevented Calculus from being discovered for 2000+ years, I would rather err on the side of Descartes and Leibnitz and still ask questions like these.
I think you mistake my using the term "computer" for the machine that everybody is using nowadays--but that is just an instance of the Class of computers. The ultimate goal of formal systems is making better Class of computers that should solve real-world problems more efficiently (any other formal systems digression into logic and linguistics always boomerangs back to machines).
Consider how Bayesian probability was looked down upon for decades before computers became powerful enough to reveal how the academic world was wrong about dismissing it--big names from the Frequentist school, just like EDK is in CS....
Even if you still disagree--which you will--there is no denying the fact that not using technology when you ARE an expert in the said technologies is rather odd, and perhaps a bit silly. Have you seen astronomers shunning mathematics? Math is a tool that simplifies a great deal of issues not ordinarily possible with a "naked" mind. So does the computer (as an instance of the computer Class); that someone did not even want to use a typewriter let alone a computer is bewildering to me.
> People don't do computer science for the mere theory of it.
Are you sure? If I were to pick any arbitrary computer scientist (even stipulating it won't be EWD himself, this would still be "demonic choice", from your point of view), are you prepared to argue that whomever I pick does/did not do cs for the "mere" theory?
Exercise N: Was Euclid's GCD doing computer science?
Exercise S: Is watching TikTok doing computer science?
Hint: Gurfr dhrfgvbaf ner zrnag gb vyyhfgengr gur fhssvpvrapl naq/be arprffvgl bs pbzchgref gb qbvat pbzchgre fpvrapr.
When I say "don't, I mean "should not", but if they do, hey, that is what pedantry is for isn't it?
Exercise Q: Is doing theory for the sake of theory not ultimately about better theories that, in the end, should always yield utility in the real, applied world of computers solving hard problems?
Answer N & S: Yes, in a way, but it still, ultimately has sth to do with computers. Re TikTok I am not sure how you classify "watching". It can have something to do with CS and therefore computers in the sense that the original Tiktok source-code is written ON A COMPUTER--and when users watch Tiktok, the real data is analyzed ON A COMPUTER.
There is a reason it is called COMPUTER science while astronomy is not "telescope science". The analogy is faulty as well:
>> "Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes":
You can't compare astronomy to CS--astronomy needs both computers and telescopes and spaceships--but in CS, the computer is the central figure. If not, can you think of ANY other tool that represents CS?
>> "Calling it computer science is like calling surgery knife science." is another faulty analogy. The knife does not have the same amount of critical importance both as a mean and an end in surgery, as does the computer for CS; in other words, a knife is merely a means to an end in surgery, but in CS, the computer is both the mean and the end: in the latter case, the computer is a sort of representative of all the knowledge and practice in CS, in a given time. The sophistication of the computer and what it can do, represent, to a large extent, what we have achieved in CS--but you can't say the same about a knife vs. surgery. Capisch?