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Rather than completely hijack another thread, I'll post a new one. I have a bunch of points to make here (is UFOology scientific, what is its goal, how does it operate, how should (should) UFO investigation be done, the "I Want to Believe" crowd, etc.), but I'll go slow.
First, a lot of information has been collected over the years about UFOs, some scientific, some not so scientific. I'd like to start of by discussing what a scientific discussion of UFOs should look like (IMO, of course), how any conclusions should be phrased, and what recommendations should be made.
In this forum, we generally look at individual events (sightings). These events are chosen specifically because the defy easy/natural/mundane explanation. That's fine, but we can't lose sight of the fact that there are a large number of events that are easily explained. Project Blue Book examined 14,613 events over a 17 year period and found 701 that were unable to be explained by mundane causes. That's 5%. Generally, "reasonable doubt" in a courtroom is expressed as a 90% or 95% certainty and science has a similar standard of proof. Thus, when a new sighting occurs, it can be predicted with 95% certainty that there is a mundane explanation. But with that large of a sample, its not surprising that there are some anomolies, even if all are of non-ET origin.
Now granted, I did say that in this forum, that the events posted are chosen because they are not easily explained. Because of that, it would seem that a scientifically minded person should not dismiss them out of hand but be "open minded." What posture then should be taken about these? What possibilities should a scientifically minded person be open to? Again, we need to look at the statistics:
Of those 5% that defied mundane explanation, how many have been found to have a non-mundane explanation (and let's not mince words - we're talking about ETUFOs. Flying saucers. Alien spacecraft .), beyond a reasonable doubt? None.
This is the reason, IMO, that serious, scientific investigation of the UFO phenomenon is not warranted. If an event occurs that is compelling - and by compelling, I mean beyond a reasonable doubt is ET - it will, on its own merrit, demand consideration. No chasing of blobs of light required.
I have seen statistics argued the other way - that 700 unexplained sightings adds up to evidence of aliens. Not so. Only positively explained sightings constitute evidence of anything. Unexplained sightings do not constitute evidence of another explanation. And this is where, IMO, science and those who pursue UFOs diverge. It seems people believe that a lack of an explanation at the very least implies that more research should be done. It does not. Since not all UFO sigtings can be explained, the fact that not all have been explained shouldn't come as a surprise and does not constitute a justification for further investigation.
First, a lot of information has been collected over the years about UFOs, some scientific, some not so scientific. I'd like to start of by discussing what a scientific discussion of UFOs should look like (IMO, of course), how any conclusions should be phrased, and what recommendations should be made.
In this forum, we generally look at individual events (sightings). These events are chosen specifically because the defy easy/natural/mundane explanation. That's fine, but we can't lose sight of the fact that there are a large number of events that are easily explained. Project Blue Book examined 14,613 events over a 17 year period and found 701 that were unable to be explained by mundane causes. That's 5%. Generally, "reasonable doubt" in a courtroom is expressed as a 90% or 95% certainty and science has a similar standard of proof. Thus, when a new sighting occurs, it can be predicted with 95% certainty that there is a mundane explanation. But with that large of a sample, its not surprising that there are some anomolies, even if all are of non-ET origin.
Now granted, I did say that in this forum, that the events posted are chosen because they are not easily explained. Because of that, it would seem that a scientifically minded person should not dismiss them out of hand but be "open minded." What posture then should be taken about these? What possibilities should a scientifically minded person be open to? Again, we need to look at the statistics:
Of those 5% that defied mundane explanation, how many have been found to have a non-mundane explanation (and let's not mince words - we're talking about ETUFOs. Flying saucers. Alien spacecraft .), beyond a reasonable doubt? None.
This is the reason, IMO, that serious, scientific investigation of the UFO phenomenon is not warranted. If an event occurs that is compelling - and by compelling, I mean beyond a reasonable doubt is ET - it will, on its own merrit, demand consideration. No chasing of blobs of light required.
I have seen statistics argued the other way - that 700 unexplained sightings adds up to evidence of aliens. Not so. Only positively explained sightings constitute evidence of anything. Unexplained sightings do not constitute evidence of another explanation. And this is where, IMO, science and those who pursue UFOs diverge. It seems people believe that a lack of an explanation at the very least implies that more research should be done. It does not. Since not all UFO sigtings can be explained, the fact that not all have been explained shouldn't come as a surprise and does not constitute a justification for further investigation.