The Interpreters continue to enforce their "settled science" of M2C and SITH.
At this point, it's just funny.
We all wish they would eventually embrace the idea of "multiple working hypotheses," and maybe even entertain the idea that Joseph and Oliver told the truth about the origin and setting of the Book of Mormon.
But long experience has shown us they are unlikely to ever do so. Too much confirmation bias. Their cognitive dissonance is evident in the articles they post, as well as their social media.
With that in mind, here's a reminder of how "settled science" works.
"The science is settled."
They said that about lobotomies. Drilled into the skull, severed the frontal lobe, sent the patient home quieter. Twenty thousand performed in the US alone. The surgeon got a Nobel Prize.
They said it about radium. Sold in toothpaste. In face cream. In water tonics for "vitality." The factories that made it left a radioactive legacy that required federal cleanup eighty years later. The women who painted the watch dials were told to lick the brush to keep a fine point.
They said it about smoking during pregnancy. Doctors endorsed specific brands. Camel ran ads with physician testimonials. "More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette." The settled science of the 1940s.
They said it about mercury for syphilis. Rub it on the skin. Inhale the vapour. The cure was frequently worse than the disease. The disease, at least, took years. The mercury took weeks.
They said it about bloodletting. For two thousand years. Every major illness. Every fever. Every infection. Open the vein, release the corruption. George Washington was bled of roughly forty percent of his blood in twelve hours on his deathbed. By doctors. Who were certain.
They said it about margarine. Heart-healthy. Scientifically proven. Cardiologist-approved. The trans fat content was not discussed, because the people funding the studies were not in the business of discussing trans fat content.
They are now saying it about red meat. About saturated fat. About cholesterol. About the LDL hypothesis that has never survived a randomised controlled trial with all-cause mortality as the endpoint.
Settled science is where investigation stops.
It is also, reliably, where the funding starts.
The ego makes you think you’re smart. that’s why people laugh at any new discovery.
As Arthur Schopenhauer said, every new idea goes through 3 stages:
1. First they laugh at it.
2. Then they attack it.
3. Finally they accept it as self-evident, something “everybody has always known.”
Question everything.
