Evolution, relativity and quantum physics are paradigm shifts.
Not sure what “paradigm shift” is supposed to mean, but it sounds to me like “nobody had the slightest suspicion, then came a prophet, told something completely unexpected, and everyone’s mind was blown”. Well, if it is supposed to be anything like that, then evolution and relativity are poor examples (not completely sure about quantum physics).
With evolution, people already had millenia of experience with breeding. Darwin’s new idea was, essentially: “if human breeders can achieve some changes by selecting individuals with certain traits… couldn’t the forces of nature, by automatically selecting individuals who have a greater chance to survive or a greater chance to reproduce, have ultimately a similar effect on the species?”
With relativity, people already had many equations, already did the experiments that disproved the aether, etc. A large part of the puzzle was already known, Einstein “only” had to connect a few pieces together in a creative way. And then it was experimentally tested and confirmed.
By “paradigm shift”, I mean a certain amount of unlearning, overturning previously established beliefs—the fixity of species ion the case of evolution, absolute simultaneity in the case of relativity, determinism in the case of quantum mechanics.
ETA:
You are not merely allowed but required to assign a very low prior, in the range of “bloody ridiculous”, to propositions which contradict all your available information, or require some massively complex rationalization to be compatible with all your available information.
Note the contradicitions to “available information” listed above.
Not sure what “paradigm shift” is supposed to mean, but it sounds to me like “nobody had the slightest suspicion, then came a prophet, told something completely unexpected, and everyone’s mind was blown”. Well, if it is supposed to be anything like that, then evolution and relativity are poor examples (not completely sure about quantum physics).
With evolution, people already had millenia of experience with breeding. Darwin’s new idea was, essentially: “if human breeders can achieve some changes by selecting individuals with certain traits… couldn’t the forces of nature, by automatically selecting individuals who have a greater chance to survive or a greater chance to reproduce, have ultimately a similar effect on the species?”
With relativity, people already had many equations, already did the experiments that disproved the aether, etc. A large part of the puzzle was already known, Einstein “only” had to connect a few pieces together in a creative way. And then it was experimentally tested and confirmed.
By “paradigm shift”, I mean a certain amount of unlearning, overturning previously established beliefs—the fixity of species ion the case of evolution, absolute simultaneity in the case of relativity, determinism in the case of quantum mechanics.
ETA:
Note the contradicitions to “available information” listed above.