Hi Michael,

> There seems to be a consitent pattern to
> this. And from "men of science"
> who supposedly are about discovering new
> things. (I'm amazed at how so many
> scientists seem to be close-minded about new
> ideas. They have the same mind-set as those
> of old who refused to accept the earth's
> roundness, etc. You'd think after seeing the
> past performance of scientists in putting
> new things down when those new things were
> put forward by individuals and turned out to
> be correct, they'd have learned. Alas.)

Just thought I'd jump in here and agree with you regarding closed-minded scientists.... :)

I've been lucky to have worked with a couple scientists who some would consider geniuses, and also I've also come across more mediocre ones.... My impression was that the more brilliant the scientist was, the more open-minded he or she was to new ideas.... They might be a bit skeptical, but you can be skeptical yet still be open-minded to the possibility of a new idea being right.

However, the majority of scientists are not like this, and tend to "follow the crowd" too much, and just go along with whatever the "standard" view is at the time without questioning it at all.... Unfortunately, they are more likely to ridicule new ideas, than be open-minded to them....

I personally try to keep an open-mind about things in general.... I think it's healthy to question everything, and find out what's right for yourself (if you have the means to do so).... It's through questioning the status quo that we make progress. :)

- Dien