Will science ever be wrong about something
again? Or have we got everything figured out
correctly now? I'm Forrest Maready and this
is my incredible opinion.
In the history of science and medicine, we
have clung to some pretty horrible theories,
insisting they were safe and effective even
though hundreds of thousands of lives were
being ruined. Bloodletting and mercury treatments,
lobotomies and shock-therapy. These were all
commonly believed medical facts practiced
by the most intelligent, conservative physicians
in the world. If you were to have questioned
any of them, you would have been ridiculed.
So are we through being wrong? Have we got
it all figured out correctly now? No more
mistakes- ever?
If you are a fool, you would say we are done.
We will never make another mistake. Promise.
The reality is- we will make more mistakes.
We will get things wrong. We will take human
life and cause untold suffering because we
did something we thought was good, but was
in actuality bad.
So my question to you is- What is the next
mistake going to be? What field is it going
to be in? Have we already made it? Is it sitting
right in front of us, waiting to be cast upon
a heap of abandoned medical practices? Once
we find it, will we let it serve as another
brick in that artificial edifice of human
pride, or will it serve to remind us- we're
not finished with being wrong yet. It should
burn a hole in our brain, cause us to take
a second look at the obvious, to turn things
over one more time. To not assume anything.
Do you believe that smoking can cause lung
cancer? It wasn't too long ago, that doctor
after doctor, and study after study, conclusively
proved that smoking doesn't cause lung cancer.
There was no debate. The science is settled-
look at the studies. It boggles my mind that
humans can look at events like this and believe
that we are incapable of making another mistake
like that.
Medical advancement can not happen without
mistakes- it's impossible to move forward
without new theories that test the waters
and presume things we once thought un-presumable.
But for some reason, we always believe previous
generations to be less intelligent than us.
That they were the ones with the stupid ideas.
Unlike those idiots from 50 years ago, We
won't believe in anything unless it's absolutely
true and proven to work.
If I had to guess where we might be doing
something wrong right now, what would it be?
Cel phones might actually be causing tumors.
Who knows? I haven't looked into it much,
but future humans might one day look back
at the past 30 years of history and think-
What barbarians! Purposefully putting electromagnetic
devices against their heads for hours at a
time. Even letting their children do it! Maybe?
Who knows. Perhaps it's drug prohibition.
Doesn't appear to have helped anything.
Maybe fecal transplants aren't all they're
cracked up to be. Maybe social media is actually
bad for our mental health. Maybe chemotherapy
kills more people than it saves. Who knows?
I don't know. But I guarantee, there are a
few things we are doing right now that are
killing and/or hurting more people than they
are helping. And despite our best intentions,
and they really are hand on heart good intentions,
we are doing the wrong thing.
How can you find out? You can look, where
you thought you knew everything. You can read
books you disagree with. You can ask questions
you were sure you knew the answer to. Don't
assume anything. Question everything. Perhaps
you are about to discover something amazing.
And that is my incredible opinion.
