Pop science in general doesn't pay enough attention to which theories are solid and believed to be 99,99% true, and which are just accepted as best guess in lieu of good data. Although history (not science, pop version) is a much worse offender than physics in that regard.
Theories without data are just Philosophy in mathematics based drag.
It doesn't make it pointless but one has to treat it for what it is. It was like String theory, it was all well and good but without a meaningful experiment to test it - it could only go so far.
