SCIENTIFICALLY
BIAS
THE most widely accepted
model of the origin of the universe is known as the “big bang theory”. However,
not all physicists and scientists are convinced that the big bang is more than
myth. One astrophysicist not on the big bang bandwagon is Geoffrey Burbidge. A University
of California–San Diego physicist, Burbidge is best known for his work
concerning the origin of the elements within the nuclear reactions of stars. He
argued against the big bang for 50 years. Although recent discoveries and
studies show the anomalies of the so-called evidences regarding the big bang
theory, but many still hang on it and easilly dismissed any new ideas or
evidences against that theory. About the biases of those insisting on the big
bang model, this is what Burbidge said:
“For most people cosmology
equals the big bang—is synonymous with the big bang. It is not true, in my
view, but that is the way everyone is now talking, working, thinking and
expecting, in the same way that in 1930 people became convinced that the
universe is expanding. It is an idea that people take and now include in their
thinking and their dreaming. We are told that we now understand what happened
in a hot big bang.
“When people make
observations, they want to explain them. In the early days, people were
observing and would publish without trying to fit it to a theory or into a
puzzle. But things have changed. Today if you submit a paper and do not explain
where it fits in, the referees and your colleagues will be chasing you saying
that you must understand this, that or the other.
“The only thing we have going
for us as scientists is the respect of our colleagues. And that comes through
what we say or write. If others don’t like what we say or write, our reputations
suffer, and for most young people that means they don’t get jobs or support for
their work. It is a pernicious system.
“The problem is that
scientists are people. We like to think that we are creative people, and we
are. But also, like other people, we are conservative. We may say we love new
ideas, but if I’ve been working on something for 20 years I become dedicated to
it. Take redshifts for example. If redshifts are a measure of the distance of
quasars, then people who are studying quasars are studying the edge of the
universe. So far so good. But suppose I don’t believe redshift is about
distance, and I turn out to be right. Then all of the other people have to
admit that they have wasted the last 20 years of their lives. People will move
heaven and earth to see that this does not happen. I have seen this happen in
practice. Most people don’t change their mind; most people repeat their thesis
over and over.”
https://www.vision.org/burbidge-interview-big-bang-probably-not-correct-1248
