Science Paradigms Struggle

The messy, often brutal process described by Thomas Kuhn where an old scientific paradigm (like Newtonian physics) is challenged by too many anomalies, leading to a crisis and eventual revolution, installing a new paradigm (like Einsteinian relativity). The struggle isn't just about data; it's about power, reputation, and worldview. Old-guard professors die, textbooks are rewritten, and what was heresy becomes dogma until the next crisis.

Example: "The conference on consciousness was a full-blown science paradigms struggle. The neuroscientists waved fMRI scans, the quantum biologists talked about orchestrated reductions, and the panpsychists quoted ancient philosophy. It was less a debate and more a three-way intellectual cage match with a cash bar." Science Paradigms Struggle

by Abzugal January 30, 2026

Science Paradigm Struggle

The messy, often brutal intellectual civil war that erupts when a new scientific theory (like plate tectonics, relativity, or germ theory) challenges the established, dominant paradigm. It's not a polite debate over data; it's a fight for the soul of a field, where careers, reputations, and entire worldviews are at stake. Old-guard professors who built their lives on the old model dig in, journals reject radical papers, and the new idea is mocked—until the evidence becomes undeniable, the old guard dies off, and textbooks are rewritten. It's the painful, essential process by which science, an inherently conservative institution, is forced to evolve.

Example: "The conference on consciousness was a full-blown Science Paradigm Struggle. The neuroscientists, armed with fMRI scans, defended their materialist model like a fortress. The quantum biologists, talking about 'orchestrated objective reduction,' were the besieging army. The panpsychists were the weird partisans in the hills, shouting that everyone was wrong. It was less a symposium and more a three-way academic knife fight over who gets to own the future of the mind."

by AbzuInExile February 1, 2026