RE:tlt vs BP...their loss our gain “...a hypothesis can become a doctrine to such an extent that people are in danger of forgetting that it is still a hypothesis.”
I have always maintained that the scientific method does not find a warm welcome – or an easy rest – in the human mind. Things that “sound good” or “sound reasonable” seem to have a hypnotic influence – and too easily are assumed to be true without adequate evidence. This accounts for many popularly held beliefs such as religion, anthropogenic global warming – or the saturated fat theory of heart disease.
When hypotheses are given the status of fact, negative consequences seem virtually guaranteed..
Thomas Huxley once noted: “The great tragedy of science -- the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.”