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A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new ge
by kv85s 10y ago
A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Max_Planck https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Max_Planck
often summarized as "Science advances one funeral at a time."
- javajosh 10y agoThis is a non-trivial benefit of mortality. Not just in science, but in politics too. Wouldn't it be horrible if, oh, Genghis Kahn was still alive and in charge? Death may limit the good that some people do, but it limits the bad that people do, too, and roughly speaking it seems to be worth the trade-off. Even the most ruthless dictator of the most powerful, untouchable empire will eventually fall to entropy. (One of the reasons _1984_ is such a nightmare was not it's cruelty and horror, but it's all-too-believable stability, even with human mortality. Orwell's appendix gives a ray of hope, however, when he discusses the fact that human language itself would, in the long run, prevent even that world from continuing indefinitely.)
- 0xdeadbeefbabe 10y ago> but it's all-too-believable stability, even with human mortality. Orwell's appendix gives a ray of hope, however, when he discusses the fact that human language itself would, in the long run, prevent even that world from continuing indefinitely. Makes me think of stackoverflow for some reason.
- philh 10y agoI'm willing to slow down science, in exchange for the lives of everyone on earth.
- Retra 10y agoThis a probably true as a matter of status quo, but it is not necessitated by anything. Science advances because it is designed to advance. It just advances faster when social power cycles regularly.