Science progressing "one funeral at a time"

The funeral line is funny because it is vicious. Evidence does not always defeat an idea. Sometimes the idea retains tenure, a pension and control of the journal until nature intervenes.

Institutions call this rigour. Often it is simply sunk cost in a lab coat.

The uncomfortable part is that stubbornness is not confined to elderly scientists in sepia photographs. A marketing team can keep a dead customer segment breathing for years because the research cost £80,000. A restaurant owner defends the empty Tuesday menu because it was his original concept. A family keeps an awful sofa because moving it would admit that buying it was a mistake.

New evidence threatens more than a conclusion. It threatens status, friendships, budgets and the story somebody tells about being right. That is why the most elegant rebuttal often bounces off. You supplied facts to an argument whose immune system runs on identity.

This is where younger institutions can be older than ancient ones. A five-year-old start-up may cling to its founding doctrine with the reverence of a medieval church because every promotion, product decision and anecdote at the Christmas party depends on it. Age is counted in assumptions nobody is allowed to question.

There are alternatives to waiting for the coffin. Give people a dignified route to change their minds. Reward the person who kills their own project. Put expiry dates on assumptions. Ask what evidence would reverse the decision before the evidence arrives and becomes politically inconvenient.

Without those exits, the old theory stays in the main document. New evidence is acknowledged, thanked for its contribution and moved to an appendix. The following quarter, someone cites the appendix as proof that the organisation is keeping an open mind.