Survey on science, astrology, aliens & article

by Madame Quixote 31 Replies latest social current

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  Terry

  What would you do if an alien came to you and took you for a spin in his "saucer"? You would have sufficient evidence for YOU to believe in such things. But it still wouldn't be science. There is a certain consensus involved with evidence that can be called "scientific". If you were going to be completely objective you would have to view yourself as having experienced a temporary condition of insanity. In such a case you would be wise to go to your doctor and get an MRI.

  You actually raised the most essential issue!

  We, as individuals, don't require consensus to convince us of our own experience. That is group-think and it is dangerous (as Nazi Germany reveals). Our individual personal experiences inform US with advantage.

  It is only when the group at large is presented with choices which involve your input that skeptical inquiry is useful for the group.

  Objectivity means "the same for all". Personal experience can never be objective.

  "Others" can only extract from personal testimonials the particulars and not the emotions, the impact and the resonances. Religion most errs in accepting testimonials lock, stock and barrel by assuming the emotional "truth" while ignoring the untestable nature of the data which "caused" the emotions.

  I believe my experiences as they pertain to me. When I start extrapolating beyond what I suffer I'm on shaky ground. A thirsty man in the desert actually "sees" water on the horizon. But, the group can only learn from his experience when it ends in death due to buying in to a mirage. You see?
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  proplog2

  Terry:

  I think both mind sets can be dangerous if they are out of touch with reality. Science is the way you can test your personal data and group data.
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  dh

  i've seen aliens, so there.
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  Terry

  i've seen aliens, so there.

  I've had one cut my lawn!
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  proplog2

  Terry:

  Was it in conentric circles?
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  Madame Quixote

  Well, I was abducted by one who also raped me inside the concentric circles it made on my lawn.

  Afterwards he read my horoscope. He foretold my future perfectly by predicting I'd skip breakfast today and have a cafe mocha instead, would be late for work, and that I'd have fast food for lunch.

  So THERE! Astrology and aliens are real. Pfft.
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  Abaddon

  Sadly, me claiming to be an alien is no more provable than any other paranormal claim if one uses any reasonable set of definitions for 'evidence', 'fact' and 'theory'.

  I actually would love alien shit to be true. I mean, I think it is true, as in likely there are 'aliens' out there. I just find the experiences people have 'being caused by aliens' a little unlikely.

  Unless it is an alien equivalent of Frat boys going around playing baseball with peoples' mail boxes, I just can't see their motivation unless intelligent life is very unique, and even then their methods sloppy and questionble. Any FTL civilisation would make our Stealth look like an Amish person at Mardi Gras. A non-FTL civilisation is coming to stay. The plurality of claims doesn't leve one with a reasonable (for me) logical explanation. Why is it always the pig farmer in Albama with the out-of-focus Super 8 and not the lawn of the White House?

  I think 'aliens are watching us we are special' is just the latest version of 'god is watching us we are special'.

  Ha, now I have spread more dis-information amongst the cattle I can now enjoy a nice, fresh rat. Bwa-ha-ha!
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  proplog2

  Abaddon:

  Why is it always the pig farmer in Albama with the out-of-focus Super 8 and not the lawn of the White House?

  It isn't always dummys. That is a popular way of portraying it. Smart trained observers have had a lot of these experiences. Go to MUFON and you will get a different picuture. Usually the smart people don't talk about it because of the possibility that the publicity could affect the perceptions of those that have to review fitness for their jobs.

  Really, if you were an alien looking for intelligent life on earth would you go to the White House?
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  Midget-Sasquatch

  Because all of these plausible explanations seemed unlikely - the idea of an extradimenional/extraterrestial cause moves up the list of possibilities.

  But like Terry already mentioned, maybe the list of plausible explanations is too narrow, excluding the actual one....For example:

  So what was it. You can't say conclusively. But, I know what 12 people witnessed that night. I know what I witnessed. I feel comfortable with an extra-dimensional/extraterrestial explanation. Does this mean that there certainly was such a cause? No! But it is more plausible than the conspiritorial explanations of "dark government projects". I tend to think more in the direction of an extradimenional source because the idea of traveling long distances from another galaxy seem highly unlikely.

  Occam's Razor. We know that money has been funnelled to highly secret operations and development in the past. Its very likely that some projects are currently in the works. I'm not claiming that the US government has reverse engineered saucers. But why couldn't what you have heard come from, say, some new experimental VTOL craft? Maybe they're aiming for more extensive hovering capabilities and that could account for the prolonged duration? Isn't it more plausible than craft that cross between conjectured parallel realities?
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  proplog2

  Midget-Sasquatch:

  This subject is a natural for you.

  I thought about the deep projects. The noise abatement guy made it clear to me that my city is not a testing grounds for anything. He also said he doesn't do UFO reports. I told him I don't believe in UFO's. He said he does and that the noise I heard - I will probably never hear again for the rest of my life. (I take that with a grain of salt)

  Similar reports about prolonged loud noise go back to the 1960's - some in other countries.

  Technology is a funny thing. It is hard to believe that only 180 years ago Faraday, a self-educated scientist, discovered you could produce electricity by spinning a wire coil in a magnetic field? Our world has been completely transformed by that.

  Who knows what simple science may be involved in something like interdimensional travel. It would NOT be surprising. One day we know nothing about it. The next day we are on the way to electric lights, electric motors, record players, radios, tv, radar, computers, and all the other sciences that could not have moved ahead without using these things.

  It could very well be that some Jar-Jar culture somewhere in space-time has discovered this already. It may have happened an infinite number of times. So it is a possible explanation. And indeed becomes a plausible explanation as you go through the process of elimination.

  After my experience I am very optimistic that there are greater things awaiting our discovery.