pldennison - point taken.
I’ll admit in light of your arguements my statement of “blindy following” evolution was harsh and did not fully convey what I was trying to say. However, I did not mean to imply “there are scientists out there just following dead ends and wasting millions of dollars in time and research money for no good reason.” That statement is something you inferred from what I said. There’s a big difference between implying and inferring.
I did not mean to show science as the new religion, I was only trying to give an example of how an accepted theory can rule the day to the point other theories are tossed aside.
Here’s a better one (I hope). IIRC black holes were believed to have such strong gravitational pulls that nothing could escape it, until Stephen Hawking (I think it was Hawking) came up with his theory, showing how particles can escape a black hole (at least that what it says in A Brief History of Time. This is what I was trying to illustrate - questioning the current belief and looking at things from a new angle.
Scientists would have laughed at a diver who says he saw a Ceolocanth prior to 1938. They’ve been extinct for 65 million years. Then that year they found a recently dead one was found in a fish market in southern Africa.
Keeping an open-mind is the key to discovery and coping when something you believe turns out to be false. Just because something hasn’t been proven yet doesn’t mean it never will be or that the idea is impossible. That’s all I was trying to say, don’t dismiss something because science so far can’t prove it. Be skeptical, be wary, don’t believe a picture of an angel by a wrecked car (You’ve seen that email right? Light going through car exhaust looks vaguely human with wings? It’s supposed to be a guardian angel.) But also be ready to accept real proof if you see it.
Do I believe in life forms from other worlds? Yes, the universe is too big for us to be the only intelligent beings.
Do I believe they’ve visited Earth? No, and I won’t until I meet one.
Do I believe in the paranormal? Not really, pictures are doctored, computers generate effects, light does wierd things when refracted through glass, etc.
Does that mean it’s not real? No, it just means I don’t think it is. There is still the possiblity that I’m wrong.
