In that case science will be done in by its own success. The alternative to stultifying success is frustrating failure. Perhaps there is no final truth to be wrung from nature, or perhaps The Answer exists but will remain forever beyond our reach. Science will follow the path already trodden by literature, art, music, philosophy. It will become more introspective, subjective, diffuse, obsessed with its own methods.
Ironic science can go on forever, but it never gets anywhere.
Of course Horgan's prophecy is itself beyond the reach of scientific inquiry. Other counterarguments are equally futile. It seems to me a rather slender basis for a book, and when looked at closely it is not a true dilemma at all. The quandary, I would submit, stems entirely from defining science in terms of a quest metaphor, as a search for The Answer . That's the essence of the story.