2:22:23
“Historically, almost every revolutionary idea has gone through 3 stages until acceptance: 1) being ridiculed, 2) being opposed violently, and 3) finally being accepted as self-evident. Be it Newton's theory of gravity or Einstein's theory of relativity, the sun being the center of the solar system or the theory of continental drift, the Apple computer, the smart phones that are ubiquitous in this day and age, the Mendelian laws of inheritance, or Semmelweis's concept of hand hygiene, all of these ideas which are today considered as pillars of modern science were once brushed off as being absurd. The field of science is filled with such ideas, no matter how revolutionary, that often faced years of irrational resistance before acceptance. This delay results in unnecessary losses that could have been prevented if legitimate discoveries were accepted and instituted in a timely manner once proven with evidence. In this paper, we discuss this irrational tendency to reject new ideas despite adequate proof. Because Ignaz Semmelweis's story is a dynamic example of this phenomenon, we use his life to talk about this intriguing psychologic phenomenon: Semmelweis reflex.1,2 We discuss several other examples in the field of medicine and discuss methods with which we can protect ourselves from being a victim of this reflex.”
