Inherent Resistance to New Paradigms

From the Scientific Community

Questions

Why does the scientific community provide such resistance to new paradigms of understanding the world - especially those introduced by Outsiders? Article Summary

Outsider introduces paradigm shift

In The Structure of Scientific Revolution[1] Thomas Kuhn argues convincingly that scientific revolution occurs when there is a paradigm shift, which is frequently introduced by an Outsider. This presumably occurs because the Outsider is looking at the problems of a field from a fresh perspective. Those in the discipline are denied this viewpoint as their education has trained them to look at the pressing issues of their field with a different set of constructs – those that have proved useful in elucidating the subtleties of the field – the mysteries of the past. Sometimes these are constructs that another Outsider introduced to initiate the science.

Examples: Newton, Pascal, & Wegener

For example Newton, who created the science of Physics with his laws of motion, and discovered the equation for the force of gravity, was just an English administrator. And Pascal, who made some major contributions to probability theory, was primarily a man of the cloth, a clergyman. Alfred Wegener – who was a professor, but untrained in the field of geology – collected an abundance of evidence suggesting that South America and Africa had been connected at some time in the distant past. This implied continental drift – the radical idea that enormous landmasses - big enough to be labeled continents, were moving with respect to each other. These are but a few examples of Outsiders making significant contributions.

Handhold to new, perhaps unsuspected, perspectives

Each of these individuals discovered a handhold to a new level. Sometimes, there was not even any awareness, except vague, that there was a problem that needed to be solved. In Newton’s case the celestial spheres just revolved about the earth because God made them that way. No other explanation was needed. Indeed the God explanation is frequently evoked to explain the unexplainable – or that’s just the way it is – as the vast bulk of humankind are too wrapped up in their own affairs to concern themselves with why a balls rolls to a stop or an apple falls to the ground. Even the scientific thinkers of Newton’s day were quite content with Aristotle’s analysis that objects naturally roll to a stop, as their natural state is at rest.

New Paradigm ignored as it violates current worldview

Or in Wegener’s case – the prevalent worldview in his day, held by virtually everyone, was that the earth’s landforms were stable and permanent – the way God had created them. Consequently the fact that South America and Africa have exceedingly similar flora and fauna and even matching coastlines did not evoke even the slightest curiosity or wonder. Frequently those who initiate the paradigm shift are solving problems - providing a ladder to places that the scientific community of the day didn’t even know existed – or to spheres of existence that violated their worldview – inconceivable concepts. Galileo, Copernicus, and Wegener provided these stepping stones to a new plane of understanding.

Fresh perspective solves unrelated questions

Of course this ladder, this bridge to an unknown Universe frequently solves subsidiary questions - as the mysterious link is a fresh view of existence. Just the unique perspective is enough to provide insight into unsolvable problems in unrelated fields. Newton’s laws of motion and force – applied to the heavenly bodies – also explained many earthly phenomena as well - providing the tools to explore the mechanical as well as the celestial. This fresh perspective launched The Scientific Revolution.

Resistance to the Outsider’s Key

Frequently the Insiders perceive the Outsider’s Key to the Lock in the Door as a unusual, or even curious piece of metal with no potentials – as the Insiders don’t even realize there is a Lock, a Door, or even the necessity of a Key to unlock this opening into a new Universe – as they are so heavily invested in their own worlds. The fresh perspective requires a Brain stretch – a looking outside the Box, while most are trapped inside the Box, not even realizing there is a Box. This challenge of the current paradigm elicits resistance from the Insiders. For instance the professional geologists of his day derided Wegener’s ideas – turning him into an international laughing stock[2]. Decades after his death his theories have been adopted as scientific fact. Even Einstein rejected the new discipline of quantum mechanics, because it was outside his Box. Scoffing he made his famous comment: “God doesn’t play dice.”

Complexity of New Box creates New Guardians with vested interests

Sometimes the solution seems impossible. Feynman, who discovered the key to quantum electrodynamics, baffled many scientists of his day. How could these tiny subatomic elements move both forward and backwards in time – and indeed all directions in time simultaneously? Just getting a mind around these concepts was a formidable task – only possible to the best and brightest of minds. However, in each case, because of the brainpower it took to even understand the paradigm shift, these initiates into the mysteries became the new Guardians of the New Box. Those with vested interest – those entrenched in the concepts they specialize in – those resistant to change – those blocking the insights of the next Outsider, who is breaking this old Box apart to reveal a brand new Box, which frequently contains the Old Box inside. For instance Einstein’s Relativity Box contains Newton’s’ Force box.

A Vested Insider rejects the Outsider

“Ouch, Aurgh! How can you, a mere Outsider, presume to teach me about my field? Why you don’t even understand the subtleties of my Box, which I’ve studied my entire lifetime – made a career of. The nuances and subtlety of my research are beyond you. Wegener certainly had no concept of the subtleties and refinements of the dried apple theory – which I’ve spent my entire life refining. How does he as an Outsider have the audacity to suggest that continents move? We Insiders know that the Earth is shrinking – causing it to wrinkle up into mountains and such – hence the dried apple metaphor. Of course there a few minor anomalies in the field, which will, of course, be resolved by the next generation of scientists, who stand on our shoulders - resolving the questions of our good old Box. Of course they will remain within – refining the present constructs of our Box – giving us the proper respect and credit. No one can possibly shatter our Box. After all I’ve spent my entire life and career refining the nuances of our Box. A new Box would mean my life has been wasted – Cognitive Dissonance! Ouch! Hold onto the Past at all costs. Reject the Barbarians who attack our hallowed halls. Destroy them before they destroy us.”

This inherent resistance by Insiders is but one reason that a new paradigm is frequently offered to the educated public at large, rather than specialists. Molecules of Emotions by Dr. Candice Pert is a great example of this phenomenon. Appealing to the general literate public she details her battle with the scientific establishment over the her new sides which challenge the old paradigms. Specifically her research as a tenured scientist at the prestigious NIMH, established the inner-connectivity of the body-mind complex, which was counter to the current paradigm that the body and mind are forever separate. Even she, as the ultimate Insider, had to appeal to a larger audience to get her ideas accepted. However, she accepted this mechanism as essential to the scientific process.

"Truly original boundary-breaking ideas are rarely welcomed at first, no matter who proposes them. Protecting the current pardigm, science moves slowly, because it doesn't want to make mistakes. Consequently, genuinely new and important ideas are often subjected to nitpickingly intense scrutiny, if not outright rejection amnd revulsion, and getting them published becomes a Sisyphean labor. But if the ideas are correct, eventually they will prevail. It may take a good decade, or it may take much longer." (Molecules of Emotions, pp19-20)

 

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[1] This book had a profound influence upon my life’s course, although I only read it just recently.

[2] Am going to do my best to avoid Wegener’s path – attempting to explain and defend his irrefutable results with preposterous theories – which contributed to the international ridicule. Stick with the facts. Allow the philosophers to come up with explanations for the unexplainable.

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