Joshua Cude wrote:
> > Contrary to popular argument, science actually celebrates novelty and > > revolution, and scientists are not afraid of disruptive experiments; they > > crave them. This is complete bullshit. Most scientists neither fear nor celebrate disruptive experiments. They do not give a damn how disruptive a result is, or how much it appears to violate theory. They care about one thing, and one thing only: FUNDING. Money. Status. Power. As Stan Szpak says, scientists believe whatever you pay them to believe. You can set up a project with no hope of success, no scientific value, and which is a fantastic waste of money, such as Star Wars or plasma fusion. Scientist will flock to join. They will swear they believe in it. You can present theories with no basis, no means of verification, and no possible use, such as string theory. They will publish happily, and award prizes. The scientific validity and the degree of novelty has nothing to do with resistance to a new idea. The only metric that matters is moola. The least practical ideas often meet no resistance because no one is already being paid to do them. If the plasma fusion people had not been around in 1989, we would have cold-fusion powered aircraft by now. The only reason there was resistance, and continues to be, is because those people are making 6-figures for screwing the taxpayers, and they do not want the gravy train to stop. - Jed
