However, if we look at scientific history, the decease of sacred cows is a regular event, and culling the herd an important scientific discipline. This has usually happened by accident. What if one were to deny the postulate of Euclid? Kant said it was impossible—Reimann did it. What if Newtonian mechanics were a special case referring to middle-order events where velocities were «c? It takes either a striking observation or a creative lunatic to do this. What if the inspection were to be more systematic, and there were to be a discipline of hierobooölogy the inspection of sacred cows to see which of them was due for slaughter?
Some of the cows may in fact be sacred and due for a long run. If I had to pick a couple that I think are ailing, I would pick classical evolutionary theory and Hubble’s hypothesis.
Evolutionary genetics is an extremely well-oiled ...
