Historically Speaking, Most Scientists Are Morons… part 2 of 2
But at least they are inconsistent about it… 7 examples from history
In the first part of this article, we examined the examples of some very esteemed scientists. All three made their discoveries in somewhat unorthodox fashion and history has proven all three to have been quite a bit wrong. We touched on the danger of theory, the odd discounting of analogy, and the irrelevance of fame & titles.
This article will talk to the remaining four topics on our list. It is less about individuals and more about the world we live in. It is less about how discoveries are made and more about why scientists are so bad at accepting them. We hope to use history to shape your understanding. And finally, we will consider why scientists are so bad at prioritization.
Like last time, remember — all science is theoretical and just waiting to be disproved.
So what else does history have to say?
History hasn’t been kind. It is constantly overturning scientific theory. But even among those theories which have so far survived the test of time (mostly), the story of their adoption can be very insightful. Consider:
The Earth is Round
This scientific fact is still mostly true. The earth isn’t perfectly round but it is still considered close enough for most purposes. It actually bulges at the equator, tends to wobble, and has a rather scaly surface that has a hexagonal theme to it. So… round.
Of course, we all know that as recently as 1492 everyone thought it was flat. Columbus, that intrepid genius, was just so darn convincing that not only did he get the Queen of Spain to provide him the grant money, but he also inspired three ship’s worth of sailors to sail off to their most certain doom… only that never happened.
Columbus was not really a scientist. He was a bit of a moron. Scholars had known that the Earth was round for ages. He simply bamboozled a few less informed souls into believing it was much smaller than most scholars knew it was… the rest, as they say is history… and another example of unorthodox discovery.
The lesson — stop pretending everyone in the past was stupid. Scientific discovery is as old as history itself.
The Earth Moves… On Plate Techtonics
While science supposedly has a recent love of spheres, it has a deep hatred for triangulation. The theory of Plate Techtonics is younger than most of our grandparents. It is a theory that was also well-known long before it was accepted. You see Geologists hate triangles.
For decades, botanists and biologists had recognized that many plants and animals seemed to be oddly similar on either side of the Atlantic. Paleontologists argued that fossils were actually identical. Geographers liked to note that the continents seemed to oddly fit together. All of these groups were observing a fairly clear pattern in geology. Even some geologists noted that the oldest rock layers in Africa and South America were strikingly similar. Still others wondered what might have caused the creation of the Appalachian Mountains.
However, following the long standing traditions of science, it was agreed that moving continental plates was absolute nonsense as no one could provide the cause. Some noted that this was neither a tradition nor helpful — but they were thoroughly berated and widely declared silly. And so Geologists continued to resist this theory until the mid-ocean ridges were discovered by Atlantic survey teams (which properly included Geologists). Now all school children are taught of this wonderful discovery… by Geologists.
The moral of this story… in the face of overwhelming evidence across a variety of channels — delay stubbornly until you can take credit and rewrite history… wait, what?
The Earth Adapts… Gaia Theory
A few decades back, James Lovelock looked at history and came away with some important principles. In scientific terms, this is complete nonsense. One is supposed to conduct science to determine principles and ignore history. Worse still, Lovelock had the audacity to try to apply his principles! He argued that manned exploration of space was not necessary to find life — it could be done with telescopes by examining the composition of planetary atmospheres. This was promptly scoffed at… and certainly had nothing to do with its potential to reduce grant money or NASA’s budget requests.
Lovelock’s principles were declared unscientific. For starters, they predicted nothing! Only… now we look for life using the exact techniques he proposed. Only recent studies have shown that wolf populations are capable of changing the course and shape of rivers. Only every change to global climate models in the last twenty years could easily have been predicted by Gaia Theory…
Let’s close this example with an analogy — Scientists are a lot like Britney Spears.
Oops!… I did it again.
Pluto Must Die… wait, what?
The Earth may be a Double Planet. As scientists can’t even define a planet… we may never know. What we do know is that the Moon is not. It is not a moon. Unlike the moons of Mars, Jupiter, etc — it was not a small planetoid that was pulled into orbit by early gravitational forces. Likely, it was actually once part of the Earth, created by some massive collision. At least that is the theory…
This makes the Earth unique. No other double planets (a term not sanctioned by any scientific body) exist… or do they? In fact, Pluto is part of a double planet. It is locked in a gravitation dance with it’s partner Charon that is not completely unsimilar to the Earth-Moon system.
All of this has been known for decades. So, in 2006, the IAU took action. They declared that Pluto is no longer a planet. This will go down in history as one of the most important and high priority creation of a meaningless designation since… the founding of the IAU.
And so our final lesson — history repeats endlessly, whether science wants to recognize it or not.
Thanks for reading!
