Art Bell with his radio equipment.
Art
Bell, founder and original host of the overnight alternative talk
radio show Coast to Coast AM, died this past Friday at his
Pahrump, Nevada home at the age of 72. No further details are
available as of this writing. For a website that often deals with
hard science and reasoned thought, it may seem an odd place to pay
tribute to a radio host whose show often dealt with the paranormal
and other fringe topics.
It
is not. Why? Art Bell dared to openly ask the big questions about
unusual topics before anyone else did so in such a public forum. It
is this, the courage to ask the big questions with no concern about
prevailing public perception, that drives knowledge.
If
no one dared to ask the 'whys,' challenge prevailing opinion, and do
this without fear, we would probably still be living in caves as
hunter-gatherers with no idea as to how or why the world works. The
ability to ask questions and challenge current ways of thought are at
the heart of science, which has built the advanced world we live in
today.
In
the past, the public was often scandalized by science and the ideas
it put forth. In the 1600s, Europe was outraged at the ideas of
Copernicus and Galileo. The Earth not at the center of all creation
and that it was a planet just like the other 5 then known? Heresy!
Both mens' writings were banned in many European nations and Galileo
was tried before the Inquisition for teaching, without apology, this
idea. Galileo was eventually sentenced to house arrest for the
remainder of his life. Bad as that was, it was far better than the
fate that befell Giordano Bruno, who was burned at the stake for
teaching, among other things, that there were other planets orbiting
other stars. Now, 400 years later, we know that all of these
then-heretical ideas are correct.
The
world went through a similar outrage in the 1800s with the rise of
geology and biology. The notion that the world is not 6,000 years old
and that all current forms of life are the products of evolution by
natural selection were scandalous when they were first put forth.
Charles Darwin, in particular, was savaged by his contemporaries in
publication. At least he didn't have to worry about being burned at
the stake. Now, over 150 years after he first published his
scandalous, outrageous, insulting to God theory, we know that, with
almost complete certainty, that he was correct.
These
are just but a few of the great advances in knowledge brought about
by brave men who dared to ask controversial questions irregardless of
prevailing public opinion. There are countless many more examples
throughout history, which brings us back to Art Bell.
Like
these great scientists of the past, Art Bell dared to ask the big
questions regardless of public opinion. Fortunately, in the
enlightened world of today, the worst Bell could get were snickers or
people simply changing the radio station. In the Western world,
censorship and death for speaking one's mind have rightly been
consigned to history.
Yes,
many of the topics explored by Bell during his years ruling the
overnight airwaves: ghosts, UFOs, alien abduction, demonic
possession, prophecy, conspiracies, ESP, life after death, and the
like, would not be considered scientific and are avoided like the
plague by most career scientists. However, they are legitimate
questions about unknown phenomenon and deserve to be asked even if
they can't be tested in a lab, at least yet.
A
big reason that many scientists don't tread near these topics is peer
ridicule. For people devoted to the discovery of knowledge, this is
ironic because suppression of uncomfortable ideas and public ridicule
of people who express interest in topics that one's colleagues deem
'weird' is not the path to knowledge.
Science
should not be about dogma and conformity(leave that for politics and
religion) but should be about open-mindedness. Scientists should not
be afraid to speculate, but should always be clear to distinguish
speculation from fact as no one can know where the next great
discovery will come from. Nothing groundbreaking was ever discovered
by going with the grain, which is far easier than sticking one's
proverbial neck out regardless of risk, whatever that may be.
It
is for this, his courage to go against public opinion and ask
questions that no one else was willing to ask, that the world owes a
debt of gratitude to Art Bell. Who knows when a topic he covered on
the radio will shift from speculation to fact? It could happen
tomorrow.
RIP
Art Bell (1945-2018).
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