Reacting to my ?Daily Journal? piece yesterday on black holes and public-policy research, Macintosh computer guru and all-around-nice-guy Bob Chandler emailed with a follow-up point on the broader implications of Stephen Hawking?s recent announcement of a new theory to replace his previous one about how black holes function and whether the matter they swallow is ever re-released into our universe:
I was struck by another thing about Hawking’s announcement. He admitted that he was wrong. He didn’t reinterpret his original statement, he didn’t deny making the statement, and he even paid off his bet. He is probably the only person in the world who could disprove his theory. He disproved it and reported it. In our current political climate that’s an important lesson.
