If you accept paradigm theory as posited by Kuhn, this does not
happen. In fact, the dominant group nail their colours to the mast
and defend it to the death because their entire career has been
defined by that particular view of the universe. The fact that they
are smart does not stop them from acting in a very human way. US
foreign policy is developed by some of the smartest people on the
planet. Knowing that you are smart can make you very arrogant and
deaf to other ideas. As the anomalies pile up they make increasingly
bizarre adjustments to defend the dominant paradigm (Phlogiston has
'negative mass'?!!) until the whole thing collapses in a heap.
Hopefully after they have retired.
This is why I worry about 'dark matter' - the idea that the present
cosmological orthodoxy can only be maintained by claiming that 80% of
the universe is made up of 'stuff' that we can't see or demonstrate
sounds very much like one of those bizarre anomaly adjustments to me.
Andrew Fildes
afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
On 06/04/2007, at 10:20 AM, Winsor Crosby wrote:
> You have to realize that cosmology is composed of provisional
> hypotheses by some very smart people. Some of them are widely
> accepted because they seem provide a logical explanation for
> phenomena that can be measured. If some genius came up with a more
> satisfactory explanation that could be verified it would be jumped
> on. It would not be much fun if we understood everything. Might as
> well pack it in then.
>
> Those are not the only ideas out there. I personally don't like the
> idea of dark matter either and am rooting for the hypothesis by Joao
> Magueijo at Imperial College in London that the speed of light is
> only constant now and was different at the beginning of the universe.
> Some of the latest data seems to shoot that down though. It is all
> very exciting stuff.
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