Excellent point, Bill. Yes, even some of those in the science community will sometimes cling to their own pet theory in the face of evidence which strongly (even conclusively) suggest they are mistaken...and they will go on clinging to it one way or another...because they will put a different interpretation on the evidence.

Why do they do this? Well, for the same reason that people cling to their own viewpoint in any theatre of human thought: they have grown emotionally attached to their own viewpoint, that's why. ;-) To ever change it would be to admit they had been WRONG! (gasp!) This they will not do.

One finds this attitude even more, needless to say, among religious fundamentalists of all kinds since they are free of having to deal with any actual evidence of a verifiable sort. Their "evidence" is normally the text of some ancient books or the past traditions they are attached to. That's not really evidence for much of anything at all (though it is interesting in its own right)...but it does carry a powerful emotional charge for those who are attached to it, that's for sure.

And it's the degree of emotional charge that determines how tenaciously the person will cling to his favorite viewpoint, in my opinion.

Then too, it also depends on how insecure he is. If he (or she) is quite insecure, then all the more tenaciously will he or she defend a favorite viewpoint and refuse to alter it no matter what. He may also presently stoop to the pointless tactic of personally insulting and attacking those who have another viewpoint. At the deepest emotional level of insecurity, he may even begin to want to humiliate or destroy them in order to hammer home the fact that he is RIGHT and they are WRONG!

That is the unpleasant engine driving the most contentious threads on this forum and it will drive them to literally thousands of posts... ;-)

Anyway, it can be fun if you like to talk, and most of us do...and if you don't lose your temper or your sense of humor about it while you talk.

Everyone would do well to ask themselves now and then: Am I talking here in order to communicate with others? Or am I merely srguing in order to conquer and win? And which would yield a better result? And why?