Once upon a time, everyone knew that the earth was flat.
Once upon a time, everyone knew that the earth was the center of the universe.
Once upon a time, everyone knew that the universe was made of earth, air, fire and water.
Once upon a time, everyone knew that Newton’s laws explained the physics of everything in the universe.
Once upon a time, everyone knew that ulcers were caused by what you eat.
Once upon a time, everyone knew that fats and carbs were good for you, until they were bad for you, until they became good for you again.
How much of what “everyone knows” today will be laughed at by people 100 years from now as ignorance and superstition?
There is no such thing as “settled science”; the phrase itself is an oxymoron. Anyone who uses it can be safely ignored.
The experts are often wrong.
“Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts.”
― Richard P. Feynman, PhD, Nobel Prize winner in Physics
Every day you have to make decisions based on the best information you have available. Some of those decisions will prove to be wrong. Fortunately, the consequences will almost always be small. Make the best decisions you can and move on, but be ready to admit you were wrong and change course when new information is available.
Don’t forget that today’s science can become tomorrow’s superstition when some young Madame Curie does one laboratory experiment or some young Einstein does one thought experiment and changes everything we think we know.
