Resistant to Change

During my time in Scientific Revolutions I have come to realize that society, as a whole is significantly resistant to, if not downright afraid of new scientific ideas. As Philip Appleman states “A 19th century adage proposed that it is the fate of all great scientific discoveries to pass through three stages. In the first stage, people say, ‘It’s absurd’; in the second, ‘It’s contrary to the Bible’; and in the third, ‘Oh, we’ve known that all along.’” (Appleman 13) This is shown countless times in our past as with every proposed theory we know as truths today there has been direct opposition with gradual acceptance.
To us the struggle of acceptance with a new theory is most dramatically seen in recent years with the evolutionary theories proposed by Charles Darwin. In 1859, Darwin first published his Origin of Species; this caused mass hysteria amongst society as it directly refuted what was previously understood as truth. Less then a hundred years ago creationism was still being taught in schools, as in 1925 John Thomas Scopes was put on trial for teaching evolutionary theory to his students. (Appleman 16) And merely two decades ago, in 1987, did the Supreme Court finally rule that public schools couldn’t teach creationism.
It has taken a considerable amount of time for the populace to recover from Darwin’s initial evolutionary proposition. As we travel through the aforementioned stages of acceptance we seem to have gotten stuck in the second phase, ‘It’s contrary to the Bible’. Last year on CNN featured a debate on creationism vs. evolutionism.




Through the video one can see that the resistance to switch over to Darwinian thinking is still in full swing. The rise of new scientific developments sparks a fear in people as it fundamentally means a previous belief and understanding was incorrect. Therefore part of the resistance lies in admitting you were wrong or what you believe in is false.
I believe this resistance to new theories only lies within the scientific community. I have seen in the Graphic Design and Digital Media major that developmental ideas are seen mostly as advancements in the field and received with open arms. I think the stereotype of the mad scientist is still greatly affecting us, the general public, as science is still considered a dangerous art.

Works Cited and Course Readings:

Appleman, Philip, ed. Darwin. 3rd ed. New York: W.W.Norton, 2001.

Creationism debate on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" Perf. Rob Boston and Sharmane Yoest. You Tube. 16 Aug. 2007. 13 Dec. 2008 .