That is a funny satire of the way that UFOist reinforce their beliefs by attempting to twist logic in illogical ways.

Mmmm, now this is simply not fair for so many reasons. Think about that statement few a few minutes and I think the irony will sink in and become obvious.

The assumptions in this thread about the description of aliens changing throughout history to “match public perception” is also completely wrong; our mysterious abductors have always been tall, skinny grays with large black almond eyes, etc. with only slight variations. Which is interesting enough evidence on its own.

Your closed-minded assumptions about UFOs and Aliens are usually pretty humorous, but this one is downright transparent, Phil. If it wasn’t apparent before, now it’s pretty much set in cement: Phil is on a government payroll. Based on the shallowness of this tripe, I hope it’s not a hefty wage.

Have you seen some of the things on the internet?

If we ever find alien species, somebody, somewhere is going to what to get it on with them…. There are some strange folks out there.

Logic fail.

Since their claims are supposedly based on “evidence”, of which they decide the type and the veracity. They are absolutely, and demonstrably false.

I turn it off for sites I wish to support, but I’ve never even SEEN an ad on Facebook.

This.

As for alien encounters… Wouldn’t rule it out. There are just too many fascinating stories/eyewitness accounts/hypnosis reports for it to be one big psychological manifestation. And I’m not sure what you mean, Phil, by “no tangible evidence”; I’m sure the countless thousands left physically and emotionally scarred by these experiences would convey confusion at that. Do you also scoff at rape victims on a daily basis?

Damon you go beyond stupid, to stupid and incredibly rude.

There is plenty of evidence of rape by humans. I do not know of any statements by Dr. Plait to the contrary.

There is no evidence of rape by extraterrestrial beings. If you know of some tangible evidence, then provide it. In the absence of anything tangible, you should apologize for your insane claim.

As we know, enough anecdotal evidence put together = proof, so that pretty much rules out your abrasive hand-waving dismissal of UFOlogists like myself.

No. You are claiming that there is no difference between quantity and quality.

You are full of hot burning stupid.

I mean, we have entire institutes of people who specialize in this stuff.

Entire institutes of hot burning stupid just means more stupid.

Your fascination with the stars is cute at best but it would take a real cave-dweller to not notice that much more interesting phenomenon are occurring in our closer skies.

Prove it.

I double dog dare you.

Not being able to tell the difference between coincidence and proof is not something you should brag about, but that is probably how you pay for your institute of gullibility. You brag about your cluelessness to the even more clueless and they give you money for allowing them to believe in magic.

Instead, but the route to get to proof of the ordinary is nothing like the proof needed to convince scientists of extraordinary claims.

In fact, they do provide the scientifcally correct answer: “Not sure”.

Apparently, reading comprehension is not one of your strong points. Neither is logic, but why rush things.

the scientifcally correct answer: to “Do you believe in alien encounters?” is “Not sure”. ?!?!?

The scientifically correct answer is that you do not know what you believe?

OK. For you, maybe you are just explaining that for you confusion is the normal state of affairs. That you believe so much nonsense, that you no longer can figure out what you believe. In your case, that might be scientifically accurate. Just don’t try to apply your confusion to everyone else.

Also, extraordinary claims do not require extraordinary evidence. That is injecting human emotion into the scientific method. Every claim requires an equal amount of evidence – an amount that either proves it, or doesn’t.

And you later explain with this –

If someone walks onto the set of the Today Show arm-in-arm with a real, live extraterrestrial, then his claim is proven. What am I going to do – demand “extraordinary evidence” by demanding that he produce *two* extraterrestrials? He’s either proven his claim or he hasn’t. There’s no such thing as “extraordinary evidence”.

Appearing on a TV show with some being you claim is a real, live extraterrestrial would require extraordinary proof that the being is a real, live extraterrestrial. Anything less than extraordinary evidence will not be satisfactory. For a first person perspective on this, read The Man Who Fell To Earth, by Walter Tevis.

If I claim that some being is a dolphin, I do not have to do much to satisfy the scientific community that the being is a dolphin. If I claim that a dolphin is a new species of dolphin, then the claim is more unusual, less regular, and less customary (from @56 Art – definition: extraordinary- 1 a : going beyond what is usual, regular, or customary). The proof needs to be more than the ordinary proof. I expect that you will claim that the ordinary proof for an extraordinary claim is ordinary for that type of claim, which is exactly what Carl Sagan stated. Extraordinary proof is required for an extraordinary claim.

Your lack of reading comprehension does not mean that you have just been successful at disproving Carl Sagan. It just means that you need to work on your reading comprehension. Perhaps you should read The Demon-Haunted World, by Carl Sagan. He takes pains to make himself clear to those, who disagree with him.

If I claim that some being is a real, live extraterrestrial, I have to demonstrate why the evidence I am presenting is in any way appropriate for showing that the being is from another planet, not someone in a costume, or someone with extraordinary mutations, or something else.

You are claiming to prove something that is very far outside the ordinary for the scientific community. You may have a true real, live extraterrestrial. They may be very common in other parts of the universe, therefore the modifier extraordinary is going to depend on where you are. However, on Earth the claim is extraordinary, so the proof absolutely needs to be extraordinary.

Any groundbreaking proof requires extraordinary evidence to persuade the scientific community. Once the proof is replicated many times, it is no longer extraordinary, and with each replication, it loses some of its extraordinary quality, but it started out as an extraordinary claim and making it without extraordinary proof invites ridicule.

If you wish to convince me of something that has no proof, such as abduction by extraterrestrials, or extraterrestrial TV guests, you will need to provide extraordinary evidence. Proof may be a yes or no proposition, but the route to get to proof of the extraordinary is nothing like the proof needed to convince scientists of extraordinary claims.

One bank account and another bank account are both bank accounts. One contains a lot of money, while the other is overdrawn. Are they the same thing? Yes, they are both bank accounts, but not all bank accounts are the same thing. This is like as claiming that the theory of evolution is the same as the theory, but with a different definition, because it is something entirely different of Intelligent Design. One is a scientific theory, the other is a legal excuse to destroy the US Constitution.

Not at all the same thing, unless you believe.

Good grief. There MUST be name for fallacy “so many people talks about it so must be something in it”.

Yep, Bandwagon:
Description of Bandwagon

The Bandwagon is a fallacy in which a threat of rejection by one’s peers (or peer pressure) is substituted for evidence in an “argument.” This line of “reasoning” has the following form:

1. Person P is pressured by his/her peers or threatened with rejection.
2. Therefore person P’s claim X is false.

This line of “reasoning” is fallacious because peer pressure and threat of rejection do not constitute evidence for rejecting a claim. This is expecially clear in the following example:

Joe: “Bill, I know you think that 1+1=2. But we don’t accept that sort of thing in our group. ”
Bill: “I was just joking. Of course I don’t believe that.”

It is clear that the pressure from Bill’s group has no bearing on the truth of the claim that 1+1=2.

It should be noted that loyalty to a group and the need to belong can give people very strong reasons to conform to the views and positions of those groups. Further, from a practical standpoint we must often compromise our beliefs in order to belong to groups. However, this feeling of loyalty or the need to belong simply do not constitute evidence for a claim.

J/P=?

In fact, I think that UFO stories, abductions etc. are modern equivalents of witch stories from past. Times changes, but humanity needs and idiocy are same as ever.

Yeah, STUPID BURNS. Really. :/

I watched documentary about it YEARS ago!

tut tut

If there is an alien civilization out there, it is certainly not unthinkable that they have launched unmanned probes to other solar systems. That’s what we will do ourselves in the future. They may only travel at (let’s say) 10% of the speed of light, but if the manufacturing costs are low enough, we might send them off to benefit future generations.

Even without the Star Trek engines, you can cover a lot of distance traveling at sub light speeds for 10.000 years. With the (possible) introduction of nanobots that can self-repllicate, they could have sent millions of probes to interesting planets.

Well, people start responding to my status choosing option (A) which was yes.

Then a friend of mine posted this gem:

“I hope that everyone knows that “alien life” is really demonic apparitions…..the sad thing is that the only people that can see them are those that are on their way to a devil’s Hell(Sheol)! People wake up and get saved before it is too late!!”

So I replied back saying “hey, it was a joke… I’m mocking the survey” and that was the final word. So I was hit from the one angle of people believing in alien visits/abductions and from another about how aliens are demons and we’re all going to hell.

Thanks Facebook for reviving my faith in humanity.

Kirk was just an oversexed egalitarian with delusions of gender.

Riker was just a free thinker. I can’t recall the first Trek officer to nail an alien babe, but from the original pilot, the captain(name: only known to a chosen few) was in prison and we all know how hard that can be.

Gary 7

With all the probing going on in folks,,,back yards,,,I wonder if we’re just seeing evidence on how much of the populace are secretly of an alternate personal orientation? Maybe they just want to be politicians???

Gary 7

I too await ghhekjxkxiuis’s landing on White House lawn.

As for alien encounters… Wouldn’t rule it out. There are just too many fascinating stories/eyewitness accounts/hypnosis reports for it to be one big psychological manifestation. And I’m not sure what you mean, Phil, by “no tangible evidence”; I’m sure the countless thousands left physically and emotionally scarred by these experiences would convey confusion at that. Do you also scoff at rape victims on a daily basis?

As we know, enough anecdotal evidence put together = proof, so that pretty much rules out your abrasive hand-waving dismissal of UFOlogists like myself. I mean, we have entire institutes of people who specialize in this stuff. Your fascination with the stars is cute at best but it would take a real cave-dweller to not notice that much more interesting phenomenon are occurring in our closer skies.

BTW, I think Kurt #31 nailed it…