Stephen A. Lawrence wrote:
Oh, and one other thing: Never accept without corroboration an
outlandish claim made by a speaker who received an honorarium for
talking. Once people start taking money for making their strange
claims, they will *never* realize that their claims are, after all,
false.
You should not accept any claim without corroboration, even an ordinary one.
Still, I agree with this general principle. But it can be pushed too
far. See Drasin's classic essay:
. . . if investigators or chroniclers of the unorthodox have profited
financially from activities connected with their research, accuse
them of "profiting financially from activities connected with their
research!" If their research, publishing, speaking tours and so
forth, constitute their normal line of work or sole means of support,
hold that fact as "conclusive proof that income is being realized
from such activities!" If they have labored to achieve public
recognition of their work, you may safely characterize them as
"publicity seekers." Take care not to inadvertently apply such
judgments to those pursuing, in similar fashion, orthodox activities.
There is a version of this essay here, but it is missing the last sentence:
http://www.eskimo.com/~billb/pathskep.html
- Jed
