Re:Have we already been visited by aliens?
by pdimitar on Thursday January 21, 2021 @10:17AM
(#25859672)
> Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence to establish them as true. But that doesn't mean extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence to investigate.
Even your former claim might not be necessarily true. What constitutes "an extraordinary evidence" exactly?
Example: imagine aliens are freely living among us but our eyes are blind to certain light frequencies (they are in fact blind to most wavelengths) and that's how aliens utilize camouflage.
Would revealing this fact be an extraordinary evidence for aliens? It's IMO extremely subjective. People might get very excited with such a discovery, sure, but the explanation does sound rather bland and super obvious (as all things in hindsight).
So this whole "extraordinary" stuff reads more like popular old men bickering in front of the media for the goals of PR coverage and, who knows, maybe that increases their odds for scientific funding. I'd always look for the financial incentive and potential conflict of interest first.
Even your former claim might not be necessarily true. What constitutes "an extraordinary evidence" exactly?
Example: imagine aliens are freely living among us but our eyes are blind to certain light frequencies (they are in fact blind to most wavelengths) and that's how aliens utilize camouflage.
Would revealing this fact be an extraordinary evidence for aliens? It's IMO extremely subjective. People might get very excited with such a discovery, sure, but the explanation does sound rather bland and super obvious (as all things in hindsight).
So this whole "extraordinary" stuff reads more like popular old men bickering in front of the media for the goals of PR coverage and, who knows, maybe that increases their odds for scientific funding. I'd always look for the financial incentive and potential conflict of interest first.