The groupthink of a scientific field entrenched in a dominant paradigm. It manifests as dismissal of heterodox hypotheses, difficulty publishing in top journals for work that challenges established models, and the marginalization of researchers who pursue them. The "thinking" is governed by an unspoken commitment to the field's core assumptions, methodological preferences, and theoretical framework, often mistaking this paradigm for reality itself.
Example: For decades, geologists committed Scientothinking by dismissing the theory of continental drift as absurd. The idea that continents moved violated the paradigm of a static Earth. Evidence like matching fossils across oceans was explained away with ad-hoc land bridges. The field only shifted when the weight of plate tectonic evidence became impossible to ignore, forcing a paradigmatic revolution.
by Dumuabzu February 5, 2026
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