We know how some people can be early or late adopters of technology.

It occurred to me that some people can be early or late acceptors of scientific information. It rather shocked me when I thought about it to realise that I tend to be a late acceptor of scientific information. I thought I had an open mind.

Eg. with birds descended from feathered dinosaurs I first had to rule out the possibility in my own mind that feathered dinosaurs were descended from birds, because Archaeopteryx is an older fossil than fossils of feathered dinosaurs. According to a book I’m reading, most paleontologists converted to the standard line in 1996, when Sinosauropteryx was found. But I didn’t wholeheartedly accept the standard explanation until 2008.

In what years, or at what ages, did you finally wholeheartedly accept (if at all)?

• Birds descended from dinosaurs
• Big Bang
• Anthropogenic global warming
• The need for air pollution control
• Plate tectonics
• There’s no GUT or TOE
• Special relativity
• The danger posed by AIDS

>In what years, or at what ages, did you finally wholeheartedly accept (if at all)?

meaning convinced

• Birds descended from dinosaurs
  the impressive significance of the similarities, only recently after watching a documentary, and looking closer at bird photographs i’d taken.

• Big Bang
  the scales etc are not really something I can comprehend, though i’ve been convinced of the idea of expansion, somewhat, for some time(~10years), though should add I have a reluctance to use terms like big bang, or singularity.

• Anthropogenic global warming
  probably fairly recently, the last year or so, to be truly convinced, though of the global thermostat (mechanisms etc), i’m wondering if things are worse than expected (could be fear on my part, but justified). I does trouble me humans are a creeping anthropogenic species, that no nature will remain eventually.

• The need for air pollution control
  probably last 5 years, seeing images of smog hanging over large cities contributed.

• Plate tectonics
  convinced of it when learned about it at school.

• There’s no GUT or TOE
• Special relativity
  i’d have to refresh regards those subjects, and maybe’ll come back to them.

• The danger posed by AIDS
  tough question that one, post those grim awareness campaigns on TV, as recall, that was a long time back.

Australia, or of poorer countries?

always been very low risk, personally, but more generally of infections i’ve probably become very aware over the last ~15 years various infections still today cause illness and kill, even with modern medicine, and it being readily available.

Birds descended from dinosaurs: Very young. Seemed logical.

Big Bang: Still a “highly probable” but may be proven incorrect. Anthropogenic global warming:Only if combined with natural causes. The need for air pollution control: Many years ago after I first traveled through Asia as a kid. Plate tectonics: At school There’s no GUT or TOE Don’t know enough to have an opinion The danger posed by AIDS: Yeas ago as a real problem in Africa. Not so much elsewhere.

The scientific ones – never
The engineering ones – as soon as they became more than a remote possibility

The Rev Dodgson said:

The scientific ones – never
The engineering ones – as soon as they became more than a remote possibility

Like it!

But not sure which is which. Do global warming, air pollution and AIDS count as engineering – as each requires a real-world response?

mollwollfumble said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

The scientific ones – never
The engineering ones – as soon as they became more than a remote possibility

Like it!

But not sure which is which. Do global warming, air pollution and AIDS count as engineering – as each requires a real-world response?

Yes, in my terminology anyway.

Anything that has potential adverse consequences is engineering.

In what years, or at what ages, did you finally wholeheartedly accept (if at all)?

Birds descended from dinosaurs 1993 to 2015

Big Bang. late 1960s

Anthropogenic global warming 1970

The need for air pollution control 60s

Plate tectonics 60s?

There’s no GUT or TOE …There may be a GUTIMO

Special relativity 1970

The danger posed by AIDS 1982

Efficacy of Inversion Table (with diazepam) and exercise for lower back pain. 2000s

mollwollfumble said:

It occurred to me that some people can be early or late acceptors of scientific information. It rather shocked me when I thought about it to realise that I tend to be a late acceptor of scientific information. I thought I had an open mind.

On a related note, I prefer to read textbooks and encyclopedia articles than newly released science articles.

When you first encountered the discovery of faster-than-light neutrinos a few years back, did you think:

(A) I wonder what new physics will reconcile this with relativity.

(B) Finally, the one experiment that proves relativity is wrong.

© This is an error.

I heard a lot of (A) but always believed in ©.

mollwollfumble said:

We know how some people can be early or late adopters of technology.

It occurred to me that some people can be early or late acceptors of scientific information. It rather shocked me when I thought about it to realise that I tend to be a late acceptor of scientific information. I thought I had an open mind.

Eg. with birds descended from feathered dinosaurs I first had to rule out the possibility in my own mind that feathered dinosaurs were descended from birds, because Archaeopteryx is an older fossil than fossils of feathered dinosaurs. According to a book I’m reading, most paleontologists converted to the standard line in 1996, when Sinosauropteryx was found. But I didn’t wholeheartedly accept the standard explanation until 2008.

In what years, or at what ages, did you finally wholeheartedly accept (if at all)?

• Birds descended from dinosaurs
• Big Bang
• Anthropogenic global warming
• The need for air pollution control
• Plate tectonics
• There’s no GUT or TOE
• Special relativity
• The danger posed by AIDS
  

I don’t think I can put dates on most of those. I feel like I’ve always known about plate tectonics, although I think it must have been with the early papers in Scientific American (1960’s?) I was recently surprised about how recently it was espoused.

We got a fast and furious training in AIDS in the mid 1980s when Mr buffy attended a traffic accident patient who bled all over him. We knew about it prior to that, but people in general had not much idea. Mr buffy had to phone Fairfield infectious diseases hospital in Melbourne because the ambulance had no protocol, and nor did the hospital. Uniforms and all were incinerated. Mr buffy and the other attenders were tested. Most were very worried. I have to say we were pretty sure of the very low risk, but we also took precautions for some time. We have a letter somewhere here saying quite definitely that Mr buffy was not HIV positive. We thought at the time that probably that was a bit gilding the lily – particularly as there was already information about a long incubation time then. I’m not sure how that panned out in the end, but at one time they said the latency could be 10 years. My brother-in-law, a doctor appalled us. He suggested Mr buffy should not have contact with our nieces. We didn’t like him anyway, but we were very pleased to enlighten him about the almost non existent risk to them.

I have some encyclopaedia britannica from 1971… there is a paragraph about AIDS in that.

of course these days there would be whole chapters I suspect

Arts said:

I have some encyclopaedia britannica from 1971… there is a paragraph about AIDS in that.

of course these days there would be whole chapters I suspect

That would be about Africa? The stuff was just getting started here in the 1980s.

buffy said:

Arts said:

I have some encyclopaedia britannica from 1971… there is a paragraph about AIDS in that.

of course these days there would be whole chapters I suspect

That would be about Africa? The stuff was just getting started here in the 1980s.

I can’‘t remember… i’ll go read it and let you know…

The Big Bang: I’m still unconvinced. I know that all the current evidence points to it, so I am begrudgingly accepting it because the experts seem convinced. But I’m not.

There’s no GUT or TOE: I didn’t know that was a thing. I have just assumed that at some point, the next Einstein would figure it out.

The rest, yeah, about 20-30 years ago.

Kingy said:

The Big Bang: I’m still unconvinced. I know that all the current evidence points to it, so I am begrudgingly accepting it because the experts seem convinced. But I’m not.

There’s no GUT or TOE: I didn’t know that was a thing. I have just assumed that at some point, the next Einstein would figure it out.

The rest, yeah, about 20-30 years ago.

I’ve just taken it in as I have gone along encountering it all.