• jet@hackertalks.com
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    5 months ago

    None. Flat Earth is characterized by their denial of science. By performing empirical experiments then rejecting the results.

    That is antithetical to the very core of science. So any scientist who is given experimental data that contradicts their theory is, should make new theories.

    There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with saying the Earth is flat, and then thinking about the implications, and then verifying the implications match reality, and then when you get bad data you modify your hypothesis. We need creative and curious minds to challenge the status quo with new measurements data and science. It’s the rejection of empirical data that is the death of science

    • Daft_ish@lemmy.worldOP
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      5 months ago

      I imagine there are many academics that won’t budge from their current beliefs even when confronted with proof.

      • BertramDitore@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Yup! I don’t understand the downvotes, because this absolutely happens. Especially when technology has progressed to enable us to answer certain questions that we couldn’t in the past. Old curmudgeonly academics can definitely be resistant to accepting that they’ve been wrong, even when confronted with proof. Sometimes the only way for old theories to die is for their proponents to die or retire. It’s a shame, but ego can be a massive problem in some disciplines.

      • SanguinePar@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Some, sure. And they are indeed acting like flat earthers. I think they’re likely to be the minority though and they’re not acting like scientists if they do that.

        • Daft_ish@lemmy.worldOP
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          5 months ago

          Sorry, it’s just how I phrased the question. Sorry to be a Debbie downer but I was really interested in the answer.

    • jsomae@lemmy.ml
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      5 months ago

      Sounds like you’re saying The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is flawed because those pesky stubborn holdouts weren’t scientists.

      • teawrecks@sopuli.xyz
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        5 months ago

        Holding out on a belief when presented with a mountain of evidence to the contrary is definitively unscientific. What don’t we call people who are unscientific about their methodologies?

        • jsomae@lemmy.ml
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          5 months ago

          I guess I would have called them “bad scientists” – scientists who are bad at their job and hold everyone back. But still scientists.

          For instance they correctly applied the scientific method in most other cases. They just were blind to or intentionally obstructive to certain things.

          I try my best to be rational and apply Bayes’ theorem now and then, but I am sure I am still missing some invisible monsters which will make me look arrogant or foolish in the future. I don’t experiment much with software I am unfamiliar with, even if it could improve things at work. I do now and then of course, but should I allocate more time to trying new things? Yeah probably, but I don’t, and my job still gets done.