Possibilities
⇖Killer click⇗
Ivan Seeking said:
Are any so-called skeptics capable of having a discussion that doesn't involve personal insults? After my many years of moderating a forum, my personal inclination is to think that skepticism is often used to mask anti-social behavior. It is used as an excuse to be abusive.
There does appear to be such an antisocial subset. The interesting thing is that many of those skeptics are fallacious insofar as their skepticism only pertains to the object of their skepticism, and the principles and methods of their skepticism are not―cannot be, as some of them advise―applicable to anything else. And in such cases that this happens, we also tend to witness a redefinition of the object of skepticism, a transformation into an object of scorn for the sake of ephemeral self-empowerment; it's a very human behavior.
It occurs to me that I've never had occasion to go to the ballot box in order to cast a vote against the tyranny of ufology or the mythobestiary.
Unicorns? Look, you can't prove to me there absolutely never was such a thing, and if by some quirk of history it turns out they really did exist then I would like to know why they're gone, because as awesome as Uncle Shelby is that poem seems rather quite insufficient. So does the notion that Tim Curry killed them all in an effort to challenge God. That we drove them extinct hoping to get boners might make sense, and would seem tragically human. But in the end I've seen nothing to indicate the unicorn of fantasy and legend ever existed.
EBE's? Honestly, I don't doubt there's life out there; I am rather quite convinced the basic phenomenon exists elsewhere in the neighborhood. Intelligent life? Statistically speaking, that's almost guaranteed; the only questions are whether or not they can get here and if so have they.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure the lights we saw in Nevada, in how many videos circa the late 1990s, are drones and, quite frankly, some really awesome technology. But I can't prove it. All I can say is that it's the far more likely option than alien spaceships or human technology derived therefrom. And while it would seem to me a simple principle, observed by reflecting on such phenomna through history―specifically, that aside from flying, in the old days, or flying in really bizarre, unbelievable ways today―that descriptions of ufos barely escape the technology of their time, I honestly can't absolutely promise anyone there is no extraterrestrial intelligence lurking about the sector.
I can virtually promise you there is life in the Jovian and Callistan systems; I'm expecting thermophilic microorganisms, but neither can I rule out more complex structures. Give me a transparent eel-like something or other with strange minerals for teeth more properly described as filters to collect methane-loving flagella, and I will be prepared to argue that intelligent life comparable to or exceeding humanity absolutely exists elsewhere in the Universe. But I still won't be able to promise you they're here. I accept that we're not alone; I look forward to finding out how it feels to
know it true. But I can't make you any promises about little gray dudes raping and murdering cattle.
And until there are gangs of uforics running around threatening and attacking infidels, I'm hard-pressed to worry about them. Hell, I count witches and even New Agers among my friends and community; my family includes trickle-downers, Christians, and a rash of Einsteinian insanity. And, hell, I'm gay, so furry and puppy play might seem funny to me but they're not weird or scary. Unicorns and basilisks and Smurfs, oh, my! Out of all that list I've only ever had to defend myself against trickle-down, Christianity, and Einsteinian insanity.
Hell, some of it's actually fun. You know, there's a game called
Scruples that has been around for decades; apparently a bunch of adults are supposed to gather for wine and fondue and then ask each other compromising or dirty questions. Honestly? Learn to read tarot; it's a lot more fun, and you learn a lot more about your friends when they slip into a shade of belief long enough to talk about important stuff instead of lying in order to pretend the dirtiest thing she ever did was give her husband a hand job in the car after the Speedwagon show while on their honeymoon in Vegas, and oh, how naughty is she to even say so because what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. If nothing else, tarot cards are good for that.
Sciforums isn't really a place for discussing fantastic ideas like whether we killed all the unicorns because they festered with venereal disease or ... er ... ah .. right. Wrong example.
Oh, hey: So, what about the home condition of the gray aliens does their appearance tell us? Seriously, what kind of planet would such a creature evolve on? Sciforums isn't really a place for such notions; they violate canon by presuming for the sake of argument too sympathetically with the great evil of believing intelligent extraterrestrial life has already arrived at Earth.
I can't wait until I have to actually vote in a real election about this stuff; I'm betting it won't be uforic tyranny driving the ballot question.
Er ... right. What am I on about? Actually, I couldn't tell you; these are just a few reflections having read your post; not sure what else goes here other than maybe to reiterate that yes, sometimes the appearance of skeptical behavior is in fact a mask for antisocial behavior and calculation.
Edit note: You'd think I would have learned to type by now. (17 May 2016 16.50 PDT)
I often got the impression that I'm the only one discussing this who hasn't already arrived at a belief. And the real irony is that I know much more about this than most people do.
