Skepticism

Skepticism (British spelling: Scepticism) can mean:

Skepticism as inertia

Scientific skepticism is not only common among, but also useful to, scientists. As most new scientific papers contain material errors that render their conclusions incorrect{{ref|wrong}}, uncritical acceptance of all new discoveries would quickly bog down scientific progress. The bias against new ideas and unusual inventions tends to quickly weed out the hoaxes and experimental flukes. While such a cautious approach towards new ideas may mean that some ideas are initially dismissed, independent corroberation is rarely difficult for legitimate discoveries. Controversy is common among scientists when new hypotheses are first presented, until reproducibility can ensure that experimental results can be repeated according to the scientific method. As a consequence, many scientists reject all new discoveries until the results have been independently confirmed. This may seem extreme, but in addition to honest mistakes in experimentation or statistical analysis, there are also charlatans who seek to profit from the momentary fame of a false discovery.

Related Topics:
Hypotheses - Reproducibility - Scientific method

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In January 1905, more than a year after Wilbur and Orville Wright had flown their historic first flight at Kitty Hawk on December 17 1903, Scientific American magazine carried an article doubting "alleged" flights that the Wrights claimed to have made. With somber authority, the magazine cited as its main reasons for doubting the Wrights the fact that they had not invited the American press to cover the alleged flights, that they refused to disclose the details of their flying machines, and that they were unwilling to repeat the demonstration for verification purposes. Critics of skeptics like to point to this as an example of how scientists slow down the acceptance of new inventions, however the Wright Brothers were intentionally keeping their inventions secret until they could achieve fully controlled flight, mostly to keep their competitors from appropriating their inventions.

Related Topics:
January - 1905 - Wilbur and Orville Wright - Kitty Hawk - December 17 - 1903 - Scientific American

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Most revolutionary modern day inventions, such as the scanning tunneling microscope, invented in 1981, are subject to intense skepticism and even ridicule when they are first announced. However, those inventions which can survive the gauntlet of disbelief are often just as quickly accepted, for example, less than a year after being laughed off a stage in Australia during a presentation on their new microscope, Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer won the Nobel Prize in physics.

Related Topics:
Scanning tunneling microscope - 1981 - Gerd Binnig - Heinrich Rohrer - Nobel Prize

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