X-Message-Number: 5842
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 14:42:59 -0600 (CST)
From: Mac Tonnies <>
Subject: Green Giraffe terrorizes town--Pictures at 11.

   One of the problems of the "extraordinary evidence" maxim is the definition
of "extraordinary."  Who's to say what's extraordinary and what's not?  John K.
Clark mentioned the difficulty of prooving having seen a green giraffe with the
Pope riding and singing "Louie, Louie."  This is a good example of an
extraordinary claim.
   Now suppose he had a camera (or, better yet, a camcorder) at the time of
this remarkable sighting and was able to get extensive photographic evidence. 
There's nothing "extraordinary" about clicking a few good Polaroid shots or
getting a few minutes of quality footage, but if the case is real, sufficient
evidence of this sort can satisfy juries.
   Ideally, what would happen if people up and down the street saw the Pope
cruising on a green giraffe and were able to provide independent collaboration
to the town's befuddled local newspaper.  Nothing about reporting a strange
event is innately "extraordinary," and yet many rational poeple would accept
this as evidence that something highly unusual indeed took place pretty much
as claimed.
   The sentiment behind Sagan's sound-bite is a good one, but it allows any
self-appointed judge the _decide_ whether the evidence is "extraordinary"
enough to fit the claim.  Thus the maxim becomes more and more arbitrary
and--ironically enough--subjective...possibly more so than the claim/s
in question.
   
Mac Tonnies      
509 Phillips Hall                          
Northwest Missouri State University
Maryville, MO 64468
(816) 562-6716
   http://www.nwmissouri.edu/~0211555/apu.html
_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_
"He runs after facts like a beginner learning to skate, who, furthermore, 
               practices somewhere where it is forbidden."
                           --Franz Kafka


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