It's hard to compare modern groupthink with the past. Today, nobody is going to get burned at the stake if they say something unorthodox, like claiming that th

It's hard to compare modern groupthink with the past. Today, nobody is going to get burned at the stake if they say something unorthodox, like claiming that the world is flat. They might die in a rocket crash if they try to prove it, but the inquisition isn't going to get on their case for defying the scriptures. We might be getting more risk-averse, though. My grandparents' fun childhood memories were of sitting on the tails of fighter planes to help them take off, hopping the iron curtain, and throwing bricks at exposed light bulbs in freshly-bombed buildings. Those were the days when science really happened...