http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/09/science/09tier.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
OK, sure, I sensationalized the headline a little, but that threat at the heart of the issue. A Cascade is a term sociologists use when referring to bad ideas disseminating "like a cascade" from a smaller group to a larger group, eventually becoming the accepted view.
Say one group of experts purport that the earth is flat. They use all the best evidence of the time and "prove" their point. Any subsequent theories are cast aside since the former idea has become the common understanding.
It reminds me of the early days of SKnet, back in 2000, when Olivier appeared to tell us Griffith was going to be reincarnated soon.. What a loony!
It makes me wonder what other large concepts have been misinterpreted and thus perpetuated by experts in the field for decades, or centuries...
OK, sure, I sensationalized the headline a little, but that threat at the heart of the issue. A Cascade is a term sociologists use when referring to bad ideas disseminating "like a cascade" from a smaller group to a larger group, eventually becoming the accepted view.
Say one group of experts purport that the earth is flat. They use all the best evidence of the time and "prove" their point. Any subsequent theories are cast aside since the former idea has become the common understanding.
It reminds me of the early days of SKnet, back in 2000, when Olivier appeared to tell us Griffith was going to be reincarnated soon.. What a loony!
It makes me wonder what other large concepts have been misinterpreted and thus perpetuated by experts in the field for decades, or centuries...