X-Message-Number: 5853 Date: Wed, 28 Feb 1996 10:54:15 -0800 From: John K Clark <> Subject: Green giraffe terrorizes town-- Pictures at 11. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- In #5842 On Tue, 27 Feb 1996 Mac Tonnies Wrote: >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? You are. You hear a report about The Pope riding a green giraffe singing "Louie Louie", if there are lots of razor sharp photographs and video tapes, if there were lots of reliable witnesses who were close enough to see the whites of the popes eyes, if giraffe excrement was recovered and there is a long article about in "Nature" then you might want to investigate this matter further. On the other hand, if the only evidence that the event really happened was the testimony printed in "The National Inquirer" of a drunk who was half asleep in an alley at the time, then you might want to ignore the report and do other things. How you choose to spend your time is up to you, if you pick wisely you will become a great scientist, if you pick unwisely you will not be able to convince other scientists of the value of your work they will not want to waste there time on it because it has no value. >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. Yes, and that's exactly the way things should be. We should each be able to do what we want with our time. You think the paranormal is deserving of your time, fine, go ahead and study it. I think my time could be better spent in other areas. >Thus the maxim becomes more and more arbitrary and-ironically >enough--subjective I wouldn't say arbitrary but I agree it's to some degree subjective. There is no mechanical algorithm for finding out about the universe, you need stochastic laws, rules of thumb, judgment and a little luck. You spend your time on what you think deserves it, I will do the same, time will tell which one of us is right. John K Clark -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.i iQCzAgUBMTSgq303wfSpid95AQEBBwTvSaUPeQi2UjJ+4gXhQrHmbRCfoiqa9mJn 9vpGZ7H7fWXfxHsxuobaqs5HgC0i1Wf1Ll2bl7SwUapoX1AC6SgzymxcYcj15gLZ D3WuI3raiPPJ4DdfvR73cSXp9Rx9vvnLwBF3QLg9qWV7wGD8A3Sg3NZmWuCw6AV0 vt7pk24ZKkkbeeYiHtDWuQkixz4GVI+cnLS3JOvwFLBy8okS6L4= =zlb6 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=5853