Is Science Broken?

I admit it.  It tickles me when I read reports of the latest findings of scientific studies and they totally contradict what was believed before.  First, salt is bad for you and now it’s not.  Then, it’s fats and low card diets – they can’t possibly work according to just about every scientist – until they did.  And it not only food, even the hard sciences are full of mistakes.  Check out this article:  http://theweek.com/articles/618141/big-science-broken

This is exactly why writing The Alien Revelation Saga was so much fun.  I got to poke at scientists on my terms.  Most of them that I’ve heard from have been fans, not taking my examples so seriously.  If you haven’t read the series, Book One is now FREE on Amazon, so pick it up.

Here’s an example of the kind of thing I’m talking about.  In the book, a alien asserts that life changes not only due to “survival of the fittest” but also “survival of the luckiest.”  He is greeted with disbelief so he asks “From an evolutionary perspective, what is the luckiest creature alive?”

His answer?  The Panda.  Why?  Because it only eats one thing – bamboo – that doesn’t grow everywhere.  The bamboo has little nutritional value, causing the Panda to have to be visible as it eats for most of the day.  It will not fight, preferring to hide its eyes instead.  The females are only able to become pregnant for a very few days a year and often, the males are not in the mood.  And then even when they do have a child, they are not the best parents.  Twins, for example, are often separated and one ignored by the mother.

So they are lucky to be alive – very lucky.  The other lucky thing about them is the creatures who choose to befriend them.  It’s not wolves, foxes or lions.  Can you imagine the Panda population if mountain lions developed a taste for them?  No, Pandas are lucky because humans find them cute and work to keep them around.

They are lucky, but science can’t quantify luck.