Science sucks! You read that right. It really does.

So many people today try to cling to this notion that science is a sufficient reason to defend their argument, but they fail to understand the very foundation of scientific research. A good scientist understands that you question everything, and then once you question that you question it more. To put a sharper point on this, consider 4 times in scientific history that science was simply wrong.

The Earth Is Not Flat

Relatively Interesting

Back in the old days, everyone thought the earth was flat. This was actual dogma prior to about 200 BC, when Eratosthenes disproved it. As you might recall from your history classes though, it was still in doubt until 1492 when some thought that Christopher Columbus might end up falling off the edge of the earth.

Heliocentric… What Now?

Haiku Deck

At one point in history, it was accepted that the earth was actually the center of the universe. If you asked any scientist prior to the 1500s, they would all agree. How would it be any other way?

Right around 1500 AD, Nicolas Copernicus actually took the scientific leap and proved that rather than the geocentric model we clung to, the solar system actually followed a heliocentric model. In other words, everything revolves around the sun. The fact that science held onto this old belief for so long is pretty sad.

Spontaneous Generation

Beka Rice

Did you know that up until 1668, scientists believed that certain living organisms could just spontaneously generate from other things? One common example was the belief that flies simply spawned from rotting meet. It wasn’t until Francesco Redi decided to experiment on this in 1668 that people were actually able to realize just how wrong they were.

In his first experiment, Redi took six jars and made two groups of three. Each first jar has an unknown object, each second jar contained a dead fish, and each third jar a chunk of veal. The first group was covered with gauze that would only allow airflow and the second was left uncovered. As you might easily anticipate, the covered group has no flies while the uncovered group was full of flies.

Pluto is Not a Planet

Mathias Pedersen

Up until 2006, there were 9 planets in the solar system. In 2006, Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet, and then in 2008 it was further downgraded to the new classification of “plutoid.” If scientists can just arbitrarily reclassify planets, then where does that leave us?

When Can You Trust Science?

Flickr

Ultimately, the real problem with science is when the uninformed try to use it as a reason to explain something that they simply do not understand. So, the next time you are about to say something like “it’s science,” or “scientists agree,” remember one important fact: you sound like an idiot.

 Additional image: Flickr / Marshall Space Flight Center

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