Building on the wrong path!?

Question

Why do we have to be exposed to other peoples ideas/ discoveries? They were wrong before, so why alter our thinking with something that was wrong? Do you think we might have taken the wrong path of thinking from the start? I think we should start our own path and make our own discoveries instead of having to memorize something that is not 100% accurate.

Answer 1

people guest ideas because they think they are right but they really are wrong about there ideas so there making a mistake on page one.

Answer 2

mello you are right that we should make our discoveries. Inherent to that is the collection of facts and the weight of EVIDENCE. It does not matter what one believes it is what one can prove with reliable, reproducible and replicative experiments that make scientific theories so much more than beliefs. The falsifiability of the hypothesis and reframing one's directions and hypotheses in light of new and supportable evidence it what makes scientific discovery a rewarding and meaningful experience. The built-in error detection and baloney detection mechanisms have been proven time and time again to offer exceptional direction in educational inquiry.

Answer 3

If everybody were to take their individual paths without regard to what previous people had learned, everybody would have to discover how to survive all over again.  Agriculture would not develop.  Everybody would have to discover how to make their own tools without respect to what had been learned in the past.  There would be no language.  There would be no technology.

In summary, our ability to learn from others and pass this information to future generations is a great step forward for humans.  Of course, some learning will be wrong and must be undone.  Nevertheless, the process works relatively well.

Answer 4

The whole concept of the scientific process is to come up with hypothetical ideas and try and disprove them. if they can be disproved then we can forget about them and move onto new ideas in search of the truth. If they cannot be disproven then they become theories and then tenets over a period of time as society begins to accept them as truth.

The reality is we do not know the truth with an absolute certainty but the point is to try. so even if you were to come up your own discoveries they would go through the same process as the old discoveries.