Is this what the kids call "cancel culture"?
I'm judging the quality of the OP article, not the sum total of everything that they've ever written...
No, it's not "cancel culture". If you're not an expert in the area, you need to know how trustworthy the publication is. As it stands, there are indicators that it's not trustworthy.
[edit] Sure, the article might have some value. I can accept that. Thank you.
I have a PhD in physics. I gave my assessment of the article in the first reply above. You're welcome to disagree, but since it seems you're mostly interested in rejecting the article on the basis of who published it instead of the content, perhaps this is a dead end.
Edit: appreciate the edit :)
It’s what the kids call click bait of the subspecies known as “trolling for controversy.” It comes in two flavors: “woke” and “anti-woke.” In all cases the goal is to get you to click so someone can sell ads.
At some point in the past SA contradicted some point of dogma. Now their output is forever picked over for evidence supporting a case for, yes, "cancelling them".
That's how they do it these days.
https://scottaaronson.blog/?p=6202
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasa-needs-to-ren...
Again, their reputation is in the toilet.