Facts We Learn as Children Aren't Supposed to Change
People who don't know a lot about science treasure what they do know, what they learned early as children, like:
a) Eskimos have lots of words for snow.
b) Wait 20 minutes after lunch before going swimming.
c) There are nine planets, and the ninth one is Pluto.
d) The biggest dinosaur ever was the Brontosaurus.
e) Triceratops was the one with the three horns.
f) T-rex was awesome.
One of the nice things about growing up is you don't have to spend time thinking about planets, digestion or awesome dinosaurs if you don't want to, because what you were taught was "science" so those things are supposed to stay that way forever.
Notes:
When we learn things as children, we take those things as face value. So when science finds new evidence that changes those facts, we find it very challenging to give up the beliefs we thought were immutable.
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The Triceratops Panic: Why Does Science Keep Changing Its Mind?