Moon landing - Did it happen?

January 23, 2008

But do you have belief in your stance of non-belief? Isn't what you have a belief system as well? And doesn't that require some faith with certain situations?

And we all begin with the default position. It is our experiences that swing us one way or the other. In my case, I have (on three separate instances) seen something that I believe originated outside our planet, hence I have a belief towards alien lifeforms.

A lack of a particular belief = a belief system? No chance. I do believe that extraordinary claims need to be backed up with extraordinary evidence.

What makes you believe these things were alien in origin? On the walk home tonight I might see some crazy, unexplainable lights in the sky. I'll wonder what they are; I'll think "that could've been a spaceship!"; I won't believe it's a spaceship, though.

And once again when science turns around and says they got "X amount of different brainwaves and there is clear footage of interaction with something which doesnt look natural or beyond normal" Sceptics will turn around and say that its some one who is making it up even though there is recorded records and footage.

The sceptics that i have met (and talked to online) seem to have faith in not wanting to believe that there is something which cannot be explained without being mocked

Could you give us a link to this "X amount of different brainwaves and there is clear footage of interaction with something which doesnt look natural or beyond normal" experiment? I'll always defer to good science.

Second paragraph looks like an ad hominem anecdote. Can't really add much more than that.

A lot (not all) of scepticism stems from fear of the unknown and the realisation that there could be some things out there beyond their control.

That's not even wrong. I'm scared of ghosts and martians so I don't believe in them?

Edited January 23, 2008 by A.C.

Omega · January 23, 2008

A lack of a particular belief = a belief system? No chance. I do believe that extraordinary claims need to be backed up with extraordinary evidence.

What makes you believe these things were alien in origin? On the walk home tonight I might see some crazy, unexplainable lights in the sky. I'll wonder what they are; I'll think "that could've been a spaceship!"; I won't believe it's a spaceship, though.

Could you give us a link to this "X amount of different brainwaves and there is clear footage of interaction with something which doesnt look natural or beyond normal" experiment? I'll always defer to good science.

Second paragraph looks like an ad hominem anecdote. Can't really add much more than that.

:clap:snf45:

DC · January 23, 2008

There are certain things that don't need any physical evidence to show they exist. A vacuum, for (a bad) example, is nothing, yet I know it exists. Similarly with light. You cannot see light, only the various physicalities it bounces off.

I'm going to ask another question of you A.C.

Do you believe in outer-space (the black stuff beyond our planet)? If so, do you believe that it is infinite in size or finite in size?

Omega · January 23, 2008

There are certain things that don't need any physical evidence to show they exist. A vacuum, for (a bad) example, is nothing, yet I know it exists. Similarly with light. You cannot see light, only the various physicalities it bounces off.

Duh, these things have an effect on the universe! Without light we can't see and you probaly have used a hoover at least once in your life so you can see how that works. Observable phenomenon dispell doubt and therefore to a skeptic can be held as true.

January 23, 2008

There are certain things that don't need any physical evidence to show they exist. A vacuum, for (a bad) example, is nothing, yet I know it exists. Similarly with light. You cannot see light, only the various physicalities it bounces off.

I'm going to ask another question of you A.C.

Do you believe in outer-space (the black stuff beyond our planet)? If so, do you believe that it is infinite in size or finite in size?

"Physical evidence" doesn't ring a bell as something that I've said. Science reaches a point where you can infer the causes and existence of things even if they seem intangible. We can infer light from its effects. We can construct a model that explains the effects of light and make predictions about how that light will act.

As for outer-space, you've offered me a false dichotomy. I don't believe that it's finite or infinite. I seem to remember that it used to be considered practically infinite but that the consensus may have changed to suggest that it's "curved" in some way. If you travel far enough in one direction you end up where you started? Something like that. I know very little about outer space.

DC · January 23, 2008

My main point with the outer-space comment was that either way is (at the moment)unprovable.

If it is infinite, we would never be able to prove that because it would go on forever. If it is finite, then there must be something on the other side, which again can't be proved.

Or, if there is nothing on the other side of (what we call) space, then that is another unprovable thesis.

It hurts my head to think about it for too long.

January 23, 2008

My main point with the outer-space comment was that either way is (at the moment)unprovable.

If it is infinite, we would never be able to prove that because it would go on forever. If it is finite, then there must be something on the other side, which again can't be proved.

Or, if there is nothing on the other side of (what we call) space, then that is another unprovable thesis.

It hurts my head to think about it for too long.

You and me both. Theoretical astronomy's all maths and I'm rubbish at maths. I suppose when that sort of theory (as opposed to an observable one like evolution) is accepted it's because the model that the brainy people produce can make predictions. What little I know about these sorts of things indicates that prediction is very important in the material universe.