The problem is that science has become a religion to too many people who should know better. Text books that were initially labelled "correct at time of press", have become stone tablets that must never change no matter how obvious the flaws have become.
Science at its best is like the people who try all the possible outcomes in a rpg and find not only the best intended builds and ideal walkthroughs, but also the developer hacks that were left in and the unintended bugs that even the programmers never even knew about.
I heard a podcast several years ago suggesting that a unknown aspect of gravity could be behind the strange events that occur at haunted houses. I have no idea whether it was a decent theory or not, but I suspect I can guess the response if you went to a university department and asked for the money to research it. The opening of the original Ghost Busters film springs to mind.
On the other hand someone has to decide who gets funding and would you want to be the university who refused money for a project for the next Mars probe to fund a study of haunted houses? Or even worse explaining to the jury why you gave permission for your science lab to clone the T-rex that subsequently escaped and ate all your students.
Finally if you do discover a completely new science, make sure you make it public as soon as possible. That way the powers that be aren't tempted to silence you. Sure they can discredit you and/or seize it under security laws but you are much more likely to live to tell the tale.
Mark
Science at its best is like the people who try all the possible outcomes in a rpg and find not only the best intended builds and ideal walkthroughs, but also the developer hacks that were left in and the unintended bugs that even the programmers never even knew about.
I heard a podcast several years ago suggesting that a unknown aspect of gravity could be behind the strange events that occur at haunted houses. I have no idea whether it was a decent theory or not, but I suspect I can guess the response if you went to a university department and asked for the money to research it. The opening of the original Ghost Busters film springs to mind.
On the other hand someone has to decide who gets funding and would you want to be the university who refused money for a project for the next Mars probe to fund a study of haunted houses? Or even worse explaining to the jury why you gave permission for your science lab to clone the T-rex that subsequently escaped and ate all your students.
Finally if you do discover a completely new science, make sure you make it public as soon as possible. That way the powers that be aren't tempted to silence you. Sure they can discredit you and/or seize it under security laws but you are much more likely to live to tell the tale.
Mark