ORIGINAL: Nikademus
If i'm reading your sarcasm correctly, and apologies if i'm not......thats a big part of the "problem". I learned this viewpoint from my psychology 101 teacher.....a really smart guy with an imtimidatingly (and at times, infuriatingly) scientific mind. Had he desired it, he could have taken on the typical superior air of the 'research scientist' who (allegedly) bases everything on THE FACTS and looks down his nose at anyone who he feels DOES NOT.
Instead....on subjects like Aliens or religion....life after death etc.....his answer invariabley to questions regarding it was "Science can't answer this question" because as he saw it.....he broke down "science" to it's most basic element......hypothesis.....experiment.....conclusion. If the subject at hand can't be proven....or disproven cleanly by 'The Scientific Method' than the automatic answer is not a negative......nor is it a positive. The current answer is that the question cannot be accurately answered at all. One can theorize....one can believe and form personal views....but from the VIEWPOINT of science.....the question has no answer (as of yet)
I thought this was a very enlightened view. Typically whenever the whole 'religion' thing comes up, you expect a scientist to sneer and say. "There's no such thing because there's no evidence!!!!!" So his view that "This question cannot (currently) be answered by science" was a real eye opener...and he did it without a trace of conceit.
I'm with your Psych prof to a large degree. There are areas for which we can't know the answer for sure. At least not right now.
Unfortunately, his view, both in professional as well as amateur circles is more an exception. Usually one gets responses like what Omat's sounds like...."Oh!!!!! i'm sorry.....i was using SCIENCE again.........forgive me. I'll get out the Ju Ju beads and stand on my head"
Just sayin......that hiding behind the "Science" card is no excuse to be an obnoxious prig. Unless someone can provide indesputible "Scientific Evidence" of something....whether it be ALiens on the moon, God, or whether or not the established view of history may not be what we've always been taught.....they have no right to claim the mantle of truth.
To claim that anything that can't be proven with science is therefore false is taking a black and white view of the world. It's comforting to be able to apply the scientific method and say, "the data points this way", but sometimes hard data can't be collected. I have an open mind about the gray areas, though my opinion of some are more likely BS than others.
As for this guy's website. Yeah, "Personally" I think his theories are way out there......but i'm not going to jump on the nutcase bandwagon. Actually i'd love to hear him speak. I might laugh internally, but it'd be interesting to see on what exactly and what 'documents' he's using to put forward his theories.
From the short listen to him I had and reading a little of his bio, he claims to have gotten all this information from secret documents he came across while in the military. If he was leaking classified information like this, he would most likely be arrested for it. From what I heard, he struck me as sounding like an unmedicated Schizophrenic. Though I'm no Psychologist.
Bill
