Dragoness Eclectic's Journal

Some years ago I was in a forum that used Disqus for discussions. I am going to be reposting some of my better comments from there, as I find them.

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2020-01-21:

I read a book on the history of the Continental Drift theory, and it was a fascinating look at what was considered "settled science" nearly a century ago now, and why Continental Drift theory was rejected back then (a combination of personality cult around the main opposing theory and Not Invented Here syndrome, plus lack of a convincing mechanism) and how it kept coming back until it was (a) refined into Plate Tectonics, providing a partial mechanism for it (we're still refining the "but what moves the plates?" part of the theory), and (b) we were able to make precise enough measurements over time to prove that the continents did in fact move laterally, not just up and down.

A century ago, the "settled science" was something known as "isostasis", which posited that continental chunks could rise and fall (clearly observed in the rock strata), but did not entertain the notion of them sliding sideways. In fact, every Lost World romance based on sunken continents (Atlantis, Lemuria, Mu, REH's Hyborian world) was written based on the known science of the time.