Comments on: Better Know A Pseudoscience http://www.bnfree.com/better-know-a-pseudoscience/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=better-know-a-pseudoscience Sun, 19 Jun 2011 15:43:20 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Ann T. Dogma http://www.bnfree.com/better-know-a-pseudoscience/comment-page-1/#comment-254 Ann T. Dogma Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:34:47 +0000 http://www.bnfree.com/?p=391#comment-254 Given our material world as scientists currently understand it your points are well-taken. I think it's desirable to have an open mind, but it's equally important to have some minimal standards when it comes to proof. Evidence is not proof. It is just evidence. Sometimes it's of high quality and tips the scales toward proof. Then it's worthy of attention. Believers can marshal gobs of evidence, but if it's slippery, shoddy, non-verifiable, etc., then it hardly deserves the label "evidence," does it? UFOlogy, while entertaining, seems pretty nonproductive. I find it distasteful to believe things that seem cobbled together and don't serve to advance actual knowledge. That is why I consider myself an observer and not much of a believer. Your writing is engaging and beautifully crafted, as usual, Skeptical Rationalist. Given our material world as scientists currently understand it your points are well-taken.

I think it’s desirable to have an open mind, but it’s equally important to have some minimal standards when it comes to proof. Evidence is not proof. It is just evidence. Sometimes it’s of high quality and tips the scales toward proof. Then it’s worthy of attention.

Believers can marshal gobs of evidence, but if it’s slippery, shoddy, non-verifiable, etc., then it hardly deserves the label “evidence,” does it? UFOlogy, while entertaining, seems pretty nonproductive. I find it distasteful to believe things that seem cobbled together and don’t serve to advance actual knowledge. That is why I consider myself an observer and not much of a believer.

Your writing is engaging and beautifully crafted, as usual, Skeptical Rationalist.

]]> By: Happy Skeptic http://www.bnfree.com/better-know-a-pseudoscience/comment-page-1/#comment-230 Happy Skeptic Wed, 14 Jul 2010 04:19:50 +0000 http://www.bnfree.com/?p=391#comment-230 I don't have anything useful to add, but wanted to let you know I enjoyed it. I don’t have anything useful to add, but wanted to let you know I enjoyed it.

]]> By: Jay Pea http://www.bnfree.com/better-know-a-pseudoscience/comment-page-1/#comment-223 Jay Pea Thu, 08 Jul 2010 05:58:05 +0000 http://www.bnfree.com/?p=391#comment-223 Fascinating and informative as usual skepticalrationalist. You are like the Carl Sagan of BNFree and I honestly mean that. Your information is accurate and has a very professional and engaging flow to it. Thanks! Fascinating and informative as usual skepticalrationalist. You are like the Carl Sagan of BNFree and I honestly mean that. Your information is accurate and has a very professional and engaging flow to it. Thanks!

]]> By: ken http://www.bnfree.com/better-know-a-pseudoscience/comment-page-1/#comment-220 ken Wed, 07 Jul 2010 05:12:48 +0000 http://www.bnfree.com/?p=391#comment-220 I once saw a UFO fly directly over my home back in the early 90's, on a summer night under a milky white sky with a low ceiling and no stars or planets observable. It was an enormous, perfectly shaped triangular object with rounded corners having no lights of any kind, but was illuminated from within across the entire surface of the craft. I observed the underside of the object as it passed very slowly from north to south and saw a cylindrical shaped structure spinning on the underside of the craft. Sort of like the rotating blade you see on the head of a Norelco electric razor. What astonished me was that the object made no noise whatsoever, and it could not have been more than a few thousand feet above the ground. Have no idea what it was. You may want to peruse some of astrophysicist and computer scientist Jacques Vallee's fascinating research in the field. I once saw a UFO fly directly over my home back in the early 90′s, on a summer night under a milky white sky with a low ceiling and no stars or planets observable. It was an enormous, perfectly shaped triangular object with rounded corners having no lights of any kind, but was illuminated from within across the entire surface of the craft. I observed the underside of the object as it passed very slowly from north to south and saw a cylindrical shaped structure spinning on the underside of the craft. Sort of like the rotating blade you see on the head of a Norelco electric razor. What astonished me was that the object made no noise whatsoever, and it could not have been more than a few thousand feet above the ground. Have no idea what it was. You may want to peruse some of astrophysicist and computer scientist Jacques Vallee’s fascinating research in the field.

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