[GJM] [nafsntalk] Who says big ideas are rare?

[robert searle]

--- Nato Welch <nato at slfs.r30.net> wrote:

> 
> This reminds me of the argument people often make,
> along the lines 
> of "what if the Wright brothers had believed claims
> that 
> heavier-than-air flight were impossible?" They then
> use this to justify 
> clinging to their own pet theories. 
> 
> Of course, skepticism doesn't make any theory any
> more likely to be 
> true. People remember the Wright brothers, but fewer
> remember plenty of 
> kooks and fraudsters who were wrong - it happens
> commonly with claims 
> of things like perpetual motion machines, "free
> energy" devices, etc. 
> 
> Now that these two ideas are put together, I wonder
> if there's any 
> correlation between the experimental accuracy of
> theories and their 
> simultaneous independent discovery? Or, say the
> opposite - are 
> hypotheses developed in isolation less likely to
> eventually be 
> accepted?
> 
> --Nato
> 
> On Tuesday 06 May 2008, Jef Allbright wrote:
> > "The history of science is full of ideas that
> several people had at
> > the same time..."
> >
> > A somewhat lengthy, perhaps provocative and
> inspiring, article on
> > innovation by Malcolm Gladwell.
> >
> >
>
<http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/05/12/080512fa_fact_gladwell
> >?currentPage=all>
> >
> > - Jef
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> --
> 
> --
> Nato Welch
> http://n8o.r30.net/
> 
> ------------------------------------
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