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other forms of speculation are enshrined in the scientific mainstream—the existence of multiple universes, for example, and the extra dimensions predicted by string theory, and this despite the fact that there is no observational evidence for either of these ideas and perhaps never will be.
in comparison to lots of mainstream scientific ideas, the search for alien life—even the intelligent variety—is not such a speculative endeavor. After all, a technological civilization emerged here on Earth, and we know that there are a lot of other planets like ours out there.
“These ideas must be true even without experimental tests to support them, because thousands of physicists believe in them and it is difficult to imagine that such a large community of mathematically gifted scientists could be wrong.”
populated by advocates of popular yet unproven paradigms.
does not require external verification in observable, confirmable data and that advocates for ideas deemed inherently correct due to their mathematical beauty—strikes me as a culture at risk of losing its grounding.
this requires that scientists put themselves at risk of error.
Instead of taking advantage of their job security, they create echo chambers of students and postdocs who amplify their scientific influence and reputation.
the search for the truth can run counter to the search for consensus.
it is not obvious to me why extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence (evidence is evidence, no?),
scientists imagine ourselves the descendants of Galileo rather than the descendants of the men (it was entirely men) who muzzled him. But that is an error akin to a scientist cherry-picking data.
They do, however, have one asset without parallel in any other academic discipline. They have the ability to look back in time.
Just as Copernicus revolutionized the prevailing dogma about our place in the universe, our generation can foster a new revolution by “making the church taller” still.
