Ken, the openness to new ideas without empirical evidence isn't inherently against the method and meaning of science. It gives way to the funding of hypotheses which challenge theories which don't yet demonstrate any inconsistencies, but may nonetheless be inaccurate. Einstein's theory of gravity eclipsing Newton's is a prime example. It should be added, though, that Einstein's theory was mercilessly scrutinized by countless scientists, including Einstein himself, until proper empirical evidence was found to support it decades after its inception. Openness to new ideas is, in a very important sense, skepticism of the present body of knowledge. Few people have written on the importance and proper practice of skepticism as thoroughly or as beautifully as Carl Sagan did.