'A bunch of big egos' are strangling science, page 2

Originally posted by Josephus

A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.

Unfortunately, that's also how scientific falsehoods become accepted as truth... no, wait, it's not restricted to science, is it? Just look at the Iraq War. Millions of people acted a certain way because they believed a falsehood. "Colin Powell says it's true, so it must be!" And scientists all act a certain way because they believe the theory of quantum mechanics. "Stephen Hawking says it's true, so it must be!"

People have waaaaaaay too much faith in the words of "respected authorities." Myself, I don't even believe E=mc^2 because it was derived from a thought experiment with a fundamental flaw in it (the assumption that the emission of a massless photon changes a system's center of mass, requiring physical motion to conserve momentum energy). Without that wrong foundation, the whole derivation falls apart. And yet, to every physics student or scientist out there, it's GOSPEL because they don't do their own thinking. They just accept whatever's shoved into their heads in between keggers. And think about this: if "virtual particles" are real, why aren't the particle detectors in every collider ring on earth constantly detecting inexplicable particles coming out of nowhere even when no collisions are occurring? Yet scientists believe virtual particle theory because it supports quantum theory... and because they, like the Pope, must always be seen as "infallible" and correct in their beliefs and statements. I don't care if virtual particles do explain the Casimir Effect; a lot of other things can explain it too.

There is nothing more destructive to the advancement of human science than human nature. People want to be right so badly that they'll ignore all evidence to the contrary. Just ask Ignaz Semmelweis.