From the blog post, which starts as a book review of The End of Science: ... ...
From the blog post, which starts as a book review of The End of Science:
I’m sympathetic to Horgan’s claim that there’s something rotten in the state of science, I can get on board with the idea that our scientific luminaries are a bunch of asses and buffoons, and I’m even open to the possibility that large swaths of supposed scientific activity have basically become interpretative dance.
But the core of Horgan’s argument is that ironic science is inevitable, and this is where I stop nodding along and start shaking my head.
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Lots of low-hanging scientific fruit went unpicked for centuries because nobody ever thought to pick it. Someone could have proven 1000 years earlier that heavier things don’t fall faster than lighter things, for example, or that maggots don’t spontaneously generate from rotting meat. I know I keep banging this drum, but: we only invented the randomized-controlled trial in 1948. Reality didn’t stop us from discovering these things. Our own imaginations did.
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These are the obstacles that have held us back for thousands of years, and we haven’t conquered them yet. We’ve barely even dented them. We have, if anything, cemented them by attempting to professionalize, formalize, and regulate the kinds of questions that may be asked, the explanations that may be given, and the studies that may be run.
From the blog post, which starts as a book review of The End of Science:
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