The Science of Denial
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Scientists sometimes find themselves wishing things were different. In one sense that’s a thoroughly unremarkable observation. After all, scientists are human, and humans have always found themselves wishing things were different.
But what if some of the things scientists wish were different are the very things they have devoted themselves to studying? In other words, forget about salaries, teaching loads, and grant funding. What if some scientists want the brute facts of their own field of study to be other than what they really are?
As odd as it may seem, particularly to non-scientists, that tension between preference and reality has always been a part of doing science. Like everyone else, scientists don’t just
have ideas—they
favor them… even
promote them. And for scientists, as for everyone else, sometimes those cherished ideas are just plain wrong.
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For decades now, a growing minority of scientists have argued that the standard explanations of biological origins are prime examples of this—cherished ideas that are spectacularly wrong. That raises an interesting question. If these ideas are really so wrong, why do so many experts affirm them?
Some, of course, would call this a false paradox. By their way of thinking, the mere fact that so many experts accept these ideas shows that they
can’t be badly wrong. But paradigm shifts do happen in science, and every time they do the world is treated to the memorable spectacle of lots of experts being badly wrong.
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