Why Galileo insisted on his scientific method?

Galileos insistence was because of his ego and of the world he lived in. He was an egoist. His insistence
was probably a display of his personal character. A man with a huge ego will never admit that he was
wrong. This was a man who was curious of his world and who has exhibited an inclination towards
performing experiments. He also lived at a time of discovery. Italy, his native land, was the center of the
Renaissance. A couple of European nations, Spain and Portugal, launched expeditions and began
planting the seeds of colonialism. Furthermore, Europe has been divided by the Reformation and the
Counter-Reformation that followed. Galileo lived at a period wherein discovery can be gratifying and
dangerous at the same time. His discovery, an affirmation of the Copernican view, ran counter to the
teachings of the Catholic Church who was then facing a challenge from the Protestants. His insistence
was a miscalculation on his part. He relied heavily on Cardinal Bellarmine but failed to recognize other
interests that would undermine him. He relied on his close ties with the Pope but made a fatal mistake of
insulting him at a time wherein the Catholic Church, which was based in Italy, was at the offensive. Yes,
he insisted because he knew he was right even though there was some fault on his part.

Will there be another Galilean affair?

There will be another Galilean affair but this will be in a different form. This appears to be the safe bet.
After all, there have been quite a number throughout the history of science. They go along with the
paradigm shifts. These affairs occur at varying scales and at the expense of different power structures.
Galileo has the Roman Catholic Church and the followers of Aristotle. Charles Darwin has adherents of
Creationism. Albert Einstein has Isaac Newton and Classical Science. Rachel Carson has chemical
companies. Currently, climate change scientists face a dangerous mix of religious institutions,
corporations, and governments. Where will the next controversy take place? Biotechnology, with its
fondness of cloning and genetically modifying the things people love, appears to be a fertile
battleground between science and a coalition made up of various interests (religion, ethics, human
rights, Green movement, etc.). Both groups have access to funding. Both groups have their own pool of
scientists. Both will fight it out for the acceptance of a relativist-leaning public. Science will go against
science. Yes, money, in the form of financial backers, would play an influential role.