https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Marshall had to drink a beaker of Helicobacter pylori because no one would believe it caused ulcers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis wound up in an insane asylum for suggesting surgeons should wash their hands.

Scientists get hidebound just like the rest of us, at times.

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glenstein 32 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Those are definitely unfortunate examples and I can see how those environments pushed them to their limits. But if we're talking large-scale systematic thinking about what kind of data would be necessary to show that there's such a thing as a typical, characteristic civilization scale negative reaction to scientific revolutions, these don't demonstrate that this is the usual case. Obviously they're important in their own right.

But also the book doesn't suggest that scientists going missing was just a function of humanity's customary response to scientific progress. In the book, it's a very intentional sabotage campaign.

	▲	ceejayoz 22 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> In the book, it's a very intentional sabotage campaign. Active malice seems more likely to succeed, doesn't it? They can gaslight people in their own heads, after all.
	▲	applfanboysbgon 23 minutes ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		The point being made is about the general reaction to weird results. The original supposition was that it would be implausible for scientists at large to have an adverse reaction to results that defied their current worldview. Given that we have seen this play out, there is in fact nothing implausible about it at all. The specifics (proton-scale supercomputers sabotaging scientific experiments by altering the outcomes into incoherent results, the adverse reaction being suicide) aren't important here, because that's obviously the realm of fiction -- we don't need an actual instance of scientists committing suicide to suggest that it's plausible, because we don't have an actual instance of proton-scale supercomputers sabotaging results[1]. We just need to acknowledge that adverse reactions to unexpected results do happen, so plausibly in a fictional story if you have very unexpected results then your scientists could have very adverse reactions as well. [1] That we know of.

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onraglanroad 22 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Both examples from medicine rather than physics. Can you give an example from physics? Preferably from the last century or two?

	▲	ceejayoz 8 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		The parent post said scientists; medicine is something I've more knowledge of. You can carry the goalposts yourself, if you wanna move them around! (The parent post also already mentions Einstein on quantum physics.)

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pton_xd an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

> wound up in an insane asylum for suggesting surgeons should wash their hands.

Was rejected and mocked by the medical community for his idea, developed a drinking problem and eventually committed to an asylum by his colleagues after having a nervous breakdown. While in the asylum he was beaten by the guards and died from a wound infection ... yikes!!