Science vs Fact

Anytime I disagree with some currently accepted scientific “fact” I am called names, the least of which is ignorant. Now, I may be ignorant on many subjects but just because some segment of the scientific community delivers an opinion as a fact does not mean it is accurate.

True science continues to learn and develop. Few things are absolute. What is accepted as absolute scientific fact today may be accepted as wrong tomorrow. Scientists are often like the weatherman. They can be wrong over and over but all that is considered is the current opinion or prediction.

On a regular basis currently accepted scientific fact is disproved and new theories are accepted.  When I was in elementary school we were given a beautiful chart documenting the progression of evolution.  Now, evolution is a documented scientific fact but the extent of evolution is still being evaluated.

The chart from my childhood school documented the development of mankind.  It showed a steady line progression from a lemur to monkey to Cro-Magnon to Neanderthal to Homo sapiens. It was considered a fact. No other answer was correct.

The current scientific fact chart shows various dead-end branches and does not include Cro-Magnon or Neanderthal in the Human family tree. No one knows how this will change as more information is collected. The only fact that is certain is that the facts change.

We were warned by scientists in the 1960’s about global cooling. We were told that homosexuality was caused by domineering mothers; we were taught that certain races were inferior. We were taught that some races had innate musical ability and we were taught many similar things and all was documented by scientific fact and studies.  All were apparently wrong.

When I was young my tonsils were removed because medical research proved they could cause problems. When my children were about the same age we were advised to insert tubes into their ears to prevent the same medical problems allegedly caused by tonsils. My grandchildren have tonsils and no tubes and have no more medical problems than their parents or I had.

More recently, scientific studies warned about eating eggs and drinking coffee. Current studies show health benefits to both. If you gave up eggs and coffee based on the first studies you were cheated by science.

Billions of dollars were spent to address the damage to the ozone layer allegedly caused by HFC’s. All cooling systems became obsolete. New studies claim the replacements to HFC’s are causing more damage to ozone than HFC’s.

Although I remain skeptical regarding many new scientific discoveries that does not mean I ignore facts. All I demand is proof before I accept the latest scientific theory as fact.