A former military intelligence officer-turned-whistleblower told House lawmakers that Congress is being kept in the dark about unidentified anomalous phenomena.

  • DarkThoughts@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Avi Loeb is a high-profile example of this not holding true.

    Yes, a good example of people jumping to conclusions without any evidence, which is very much anti-scientific.

    I’ll entertain ideas based on their likelihood to be actually true. His position is not enough to qualify for this. For this alone I can give you a good and very recent counter example: Michael Yeadon

    He was a high ranking pharmacologist working for Pfizer, so one would think a well established and knowledgeable scientist, one we should be able to trust his words about topics like vaccines, right? Wrong. He spewed a plethora of false conspiracy bullshit about covid, medical advice and the vaccines. Guess who argued similarly about him as you do now? All the antivaxx “kooks” that cry about never being taken seriously.

    • DarkGamer@kbin.socialOP
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      1 year ago

      Yes, a good example of people jumping to conclusions without any evidence, which is very much anti-scientific.

      That’s simply not true. Loeb cited evidence for his outlandish claims, I don’t find it to be very compelling evidence of his interpretation but he did cite evidence none the less.

      I’ll entertain ideas based on their likelihood to be actually true. His position is not enough to qualify for this.

      Perhaps you have a point regarding Loeb, but if you operate on likelihood:

      • The reason the Fermi paradox, (@be_excellent_to_each_other thanks for bringing it up,) is a paradox is because our mathematical estimates regarding extraterrestrial life says it is likely, yet we have not conclusively observed any.

      • Grusch is documented as being in a position where he could have access to the sort of classified information he claims to, and his background suggests he could interpret said information reasonably as it pertains to this. He has been vetted by congress. Although it is certainly not conclusive, what we do know about him corroborates with what we’ve heard so far.

      For this alone I can give you a good and very recent counter example: Michael Yeadon
      He was a high ranking pharmacologist working for Pfizer, so one would think a well established and knowledgeable scientist, one we should be able to trust his words about topics like vaccines, right? Wrong. He spewed a plethora of false conspiracy bullshit about covid, medical advice and the vaccines. Guess who argued similarly about him as you do now? All the antivaxx “kooks” that cry about never being taken seriously.

      Yes, sometimes credible people turn out to be totally wrong. Does that mean we should not investigate and either vet or debunk their claims, should we not listen to credible people because they sometimes go nuts or are totally incorrect?

      Yeadon sounds a lot like Dr. Wakefield, the other totally wrong discredited medical person with a minority opinion who they love to cite because he justifies their irrationality.

      • QHC@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        The Fermi Paradox is a thought experiment, it’s not a physical law of the universe. There are big, essentially made-up assumptions that have to be plugged into the formula to end up with the answer of “there’s probably lots of aliens out there”. I think we probably both agree on those assumptions being reasonable, but they are not proven. For these reasons, I simply do not agree that it’s relevant at all in this discussion.

        Keep in mind that we’re not talking about the existence of an alien civilization, or even specifically that aliens have visited Earth in modern times. Rather, the big question is about whether aliens are visiting Earth and some humans know about it, but are keeping it a secret. That is the core of what people like Grusch are claiming. To prove this we need both evidence of alien life existing (already a huge claim, one of the biggest questions science has yet to tackle) and evidence of a human conspiracy.

        Theoretically this must be happening in other countries, too, right? If not, that means there’s only been very limited incidents and not the hundreds to thousands of incidents over decades that UFO apologists claim. Except all of this is also tied into the UAP sightings which we now know are pretty widespread… looking at the full picture, things start to collapse under their own logic.

        • 50gp@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          yeah anyone talking about aliens is full of shit as long as there is no evidence, also:

          1. if aliens visited and crashed on earth they dont just visit the US lmao

          2. this kind of conspiracy needs way too many people to STFU, which is just not realistic especially as this would be one of the most important discoveries ever

          3. if there were aliens hidden in the US then fucking TRUMP would be talking about that non stop

      • DarkThoughts@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        I don’t know why you think the fermi paradox is somehow a good argument when I don’t even deny the possibility of alien life. Please stay on topic and don’t accuse my of something I haven’t said, thanks.
        Your other point is nothing but a bunch of could’ve would’ve. Just like the hearing and the previous statements, which were basically the same.

        Yes, sometimes credible people turn out to be totally wrong. Does that mean we should not investigate and either vet or debunk their claims, should we not listen to credible people because they sometimes go nuts or are totally incorrect?

        Again, you continue to derail and bring up straw man arguments that I haven’t even said. Also, the burden of proof is still on him, especially when “we” cannot prove or let alone disprove any of his claims. That’s why I consider this to be a nothingburger until there’s actually some proper evidence of anything claimed.

        Yeadon sounds a lot like Dr. Wakefield, the other totally wrong discredited medical person who they love to cite because he justifies their irrationality.

        There have been plenty of people like Yeadon, in and outside of the medical field. It’s just one example that I was able to think of right now because of how recent it was and how much of it made the rounds at the time too. There’s people sitting in governments who did and continue to do the same thing, for whatever their reason may be.

      • stanleytweedle@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        The reason the Fermi paradox, (@be_excellent_to_each_other thanks for bringing it up,) is a paradox is because our mathematical estimates regarding extraterrestrial life says it is likely, yet we have not conclusively observed any.

        The reason people think the Fermi paradox is a paradox is because they assume insanely optimistic values for L in the Drake equation.

      • CmdrShepard@lemmy.one
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        1 year ago

        Grusch is documented as being in a position where he could have access to the sort of classified information he claims to, and his background suggests he could interpret said information reasonably as it pertains to this. He has been vetted by congress. Although it is certainly not conclusive, what we do know about him corroborates with what we’ve heard so far.

        But doesn’t all his knowledge come from second-hand accounts? If so, why should his opinion matter any more than anyone else who’s read someone’s account of being abducted and probed by aliens? Working for the government and having access to classified material doesn’t make his claim any more legitimate if all he’s doing is reading stories written by others. It’s the appeal to authority fallacy in a nutshell.