Mikefule
Justified & Ancient
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2009
- Messages
- 1,282
- Location
- Lincolnshire UK
I added the numbering, without changing the words, MikefuleThere you go. And after 30 odd years of 'woo-woo' and berks telling me
- berks telling me '**insert phenomena here**' "doesn't work like that"
- the insane belief that the plural of anecdote is data, and my near favourite, the perennial
- "that doesn't mean it can't be true",
- I'm forced to conclude the material world is surprisingly mundane, obeys the laws of probability perfectly well, and the only odd things that happen are inside people's heads.
- Regret, therefore, have lost interest in any phenomena for which proper evidence is not available. Life genuinely is too short.
But, at least you can study them. They're real.
You write as one who is feeling despondent.
I feel your pain, and I agree that 1, 2 and 3 are irritating. I would add to your list, " 3A: You can't prove a negative."
Your point 4 makes sense except for "the only odd things that happen are inside people's heads."
Most people would define "odd" as something that people perceive as strange, unexpected, peculiar, anomalous (etc.) and there are plenty of odd things that exist outside of people's heads simply because our knowledge of the universe is imperfect.
The first time that we discovered the coelacanth, or the first time we discovered that certain snakes can reproduce asexually, or that fish can change sex, or that the giant squid exists, or that cave dwelling orange crocodiles were a separate species that had evolved for the cave environment, or that blue holes can suck you down, it was "odd".
These things are no longer odd because we have the evidence, we understand them (more or less) and they are part of the scientific mainstream. In the case of the blue holes, for example, the phenomenon exists , although it is not caused by a monster inhaling, as the natives believed. It's caused by he tides acting through interconnecting caves.
There are plenty of other odd things which one day will become normal and accepted.
Part of the fun of being my sort of Fortean is trying to decide which "odd" things are the ones that have a plausible chance of becoming part of the mainstream; which ones are hoaxes or obvious misunderstandings; and which ones are merely fanciful.
I have little in common with the sort of Fortean who is determined to believe regardless of the absence of evidence, or the discovery of evidence to the contrary, except a sense of wonder or amusement when I come across something outside the norm.
As for your point 5 on the list, I have to disagree. Surely the world is full of things which are plausible, or even likely, but as yet there is no concrete evidence. Maybe not yetis, or the mothman, or international conspiracy by a cabal of Freemasons, Templars, illuminati, and shape shifting lizards, but perhaps some of the more interesting if somewhat less superficially spectacular stuff.
I do agree, however, that life is too short.