Mugged by Reality

The Guardian's science correspondent helpfully supplies us with a list of intelligent types who have changed their mind about this or that in recent years, as a result of new facts coming to light. (If you've never read Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, well, now is as good a time as ever). The list is actually rather interesting, though not evenly impressive. The last example on the list is simply childish in its banality.

And note: in order for this sort of list to be published in The Guardian, it has to come from the science desk. No chance ever that one of the political pundits might come out and say anything such as "It has occurred to me that there's something disturbing about the Palestinian's ability to be destructive, irrespective of anything the Israelis might do". Or: "The Americans are such bullies, but bless them, they're better than all the other bullies around". Or: "Whew, it's cold out! All these ice storms and things. I wish global warming would hurry up already".