badebade

"Important truths begin as outrageous, or at least uncomfortable, attacks upon the accepted wisdom of the time." ------------------------- I agree that the author's statement, "Important truths begin as outrageous, or at least uncomfortable, attacks upon the accepted wisdom of the time", holds true in most cases, with the qualifier that the situation currently is not as extreme as he(the author) is suggesting. The Earth revolves around the Sun is a basic fact about our planet which everyone knows today. However, this was not always the case. A few hundred years back, an anstronomer by the name of Galileo discovered this fact, at a time, when everyone thought that the Earth was the center of the universe and everything revolves around it. The notion that it could be anything but this was unthinkable. Galileo's findings went against the "wisdom" of that time, and the church made him retract his statement publicly. This serves to highlight that truths of today which we take for granted were not always so. When they were first discovered to be true, there was great hue and cry against them, as they went against the cherished ideals of that time. On a similar note, another common misconception about our planet was that it was flat. If you went too far in a particular direction, you ran the risk of falling off its edge. Before Columbus showed that it was indeed round, by sailing around the earth, no body believed in its veracity. His achievement was antithetical to the accepted wisdom of that time, and while the proof was irrefutable, it was indeed unsettling. History is testament to thousands of examples like these where the wisdom of today is compelely at odds with with the beliefs of a few years back. It is often said that change is the only thing in life which is constant. Yet, the human mind is surprisingly reluctant to change. It takes a great deal of effort to adapt to new ideas and change what you held dear. This is the reason why when you come up with new truths, it is not widely accepted immediately. People tend to view you as a heretic, holding your statements as mere heresay. Regardless, to contribute knowledge, one needs to be open to new ideas and analyze existing beliefs closely and see if they hold up under scrutiny. That being said, with recent advances in technology, and the commom man being much more versed in science, modern truths have started gaining acceptance much more easily. People are scientifically inclined and when presented with evidence, it is really hard to cling to older beliefs. The statement that important truths attack the accepted wisdom of the time, may have been true in an overwhelming number of cases historically, times are changing and in the modern world, people are very open to embrace new knowledge instead of being wary of it.