Some long-held scientific truths are being challenged

An interesting article in today's Globe and Mail describes how some long-held scientific beliefs, particularly in the human fields of psychology, sociology and economics, are being challenged, and successfully.

For example, if has long been held that making more money does not in fact make people any happier. This is supposed to be scientifically proven, and the paper's principal author, Daniel Kahneman, went on to earn a Nobel Prize and a Presidential Medal of Freedom for his work. But a young fellow at the University of Pennsylvania published a paper in 2021 refuting that finding, and explaining why. So, it turns out that, generally speaking, more money does indeed make you more happy. Which is kind of what I always thought...

Other long-held scientific theories are also starting to topple. For example, the idea that forcing yourself to smile (e.g. by biting on a pen top) actually makes you feel better and happier - more recent data suggests that any such effect is negligible and not significant. 

In the same way, it turns out that: listening to Mozart doesn't actually make you smarter, despite some "scientific" evidence that assures us it does; posing as Superman doesn't actually make you behave more confidently; your ability to resist eating a marshmallow (delayed gratification) as a kid does not lead to success as an adult; etc.

If the results of a scientific experiment cannot be repeated and validated, then it's no longer good or definitive science. Some of the disproven spurious science was merely the result of innocent mistakes or sloppy methodology; some of the data may have been deliberately manipulated. Either way, if the results cannot be replicated, the science cannot stand.

The article, however, encourages the authors of two contradictory papers  on a subject to collaborate - "adversarial collaboration", in the jargon - rather then just butting heads, becoming sworn enemies, and never speaking to each other ever again. That way, the issue can be resolved once and for all, and better science can emerge.