> Jed wrote:
>> They include people such as Kullander, who is chairman
>> of the Royal Academy of Sciences Energy Committee.
>
Joshua wrote:
> He doesn't sound that convinced to me. He says the isotope ratios
> don't fit, and more measurements are needed.
>
This is good example, what skepticism really is. Real skeptics say that
because there is lack of evidence, there is more measurements needed. But
some other skeptics such as Krivit and Ekström cry that because there is
lack of evidence, IT IS A FRAUD!
This is also the difference of pessimist and optimist, what conclusion they
make from insufficient data. And pessimism is a mental disorder that is
caused by brain malfunction (arguments to support this claim was
intentionally left blank).
However here Jed is just plain wrong, because supporting claim with
reference to authority is just naïve false argument. For example, Brian
Josephson got his Nobel from an idea that he got when he was around 21
years old. Currently he is "researching" telepathy and yet people listen
Brian because and only because he has won a Nobel prize. Clearly it does
not follow logically that Brian is smart because he has a Nobel prize.
On the other hand people should not unlisten Brian because he is
researching telepathy. This is the curious aspect of human nature, that
people can be crazy and rational at the same time, and religions, that are
a form of several mental disorder and and often dangerous mass delusion,
are good example of that. Not all religious people are unreliable sources
of information and reasoning.
—Jouni
