… Half of the Facts You Know Are Probably Wrong - Reason.com. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Arbesman applies the concept of half-life, the time required for half the atoms of a given amount of a radioactive substance to disintegrate, to the dissolution of facts. For example, the half-life of the radioactive isotope strontium-90 is just over 29 years. Applying the concept of half-life to facts, Arbesman cites research that looked into the decay in the truth of clinical knowledge about cirrhosis and hepatitis. “The half-life of truth was 45 years,” reported the researchers.In other words, half of what physicians thought they knew about liver diseases was wrong or obsolete 45 years later.
I'm surprised it's not more than half!
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