"This was one of the daily quotes that appear when I log onto my unix
account:"
Evolution is as much a fact as the earth turning on its axis and going
around the sun. At one time this was called the Copernican theory; but, when
evidence for a theory becomes so overwhelming that no informed person can
doubt it, it is customary for scientists to call it a fact. That all
present life descended from earlier forms, over vast stretches of geologic
time,is as firmly established as Copernican cosmology. Biologists differ only
with respect to theories about how the process operates.
-- Martin Gardner, "Irving Kristol and the Facts of Life"
"Compare that quote, just for fun, with this lesson on 'Science and
Pseudoscience':
'Psuedosciences are based largely on dogma and uncritical belief, and
hence tend to resist change once they have been developed. Their
advocates and practitioners generally regard attempts to alter them as
hostile.
Incontrast, skepticism is the very lifeblood of science; it is only by
questioning and testing its ideas and theories that new questions are
revealed and the science can advance.
Psuedosciences tend to be fairly static in this regard; the small amount
of research and experimentation that is carried out is generally done more
to _justify_ the belief than to extend it.
Sciences advance by accomodating themselves to change as new informationis
obtained.
In the psuedosciences, a challenge to accepted dogma is often considered
a hostile act if not heresy, and leads to bitter disputes or even schisms.
In science, the person who shows that a generally accepted belief is wrong
or incomplete is more likely to be considered a hero than a heretic.'
Interesting.