Scientists, like barbers, are made out of humans.

To err is human & unfortunately some errors have consequences which effect more than just the person who erred or the present moment.

Thankfully, to learn is also human–we today and those who came before are not always right forever, irregardless of our beliefs to the contrary.

The human traits which can lead us to err can also be those which allow us to learn from our mistakes–individually &/or collectively.

While a student at Virginia Tech (VT), I audited a graduate course on the historiography* of Sir Isaac Newton’s contributions to science, so I was elated to discover diligent people (some at VT) had looked back to see where a lot of the “assumed” hard truths of our medical beliefs came from.

In the article linked below I think you’ll see why human ego & stubbornness both hindered scientific understanding and ultimately led to the recent (though hushed) correction of said error.

“The 60-Year-Old Scientific Screw-up that Helped Covid Kill”

Having read it I have a better understanding for where the some of the discrepancies in health guidelines came from over the past year +. I admit I’ve been really baffled since I first read about respiratory spread in March 2020.

~ aL

* historiography – the study history
the critical examination of sources; by whom and in what cultural context was it recorded