Did Bruce Maccabee really make this tremendous error?

[Burnt State]

Personally I think the problem is primarily ours. just because the evidence is confusing doesn't by default mean the answer is paranormal or supernatural. I think that's the point Streiber is making in his new book. Its a view ive long espoused too. the universe is mechanistic. Not understanding a mechanism is OK. Ascribing a superstitious or supernatural explanation is not. Nor is denialism a valid answer

classic example

The platypus is so weird that scientists thought the first specimen was a hoax

That's not to say deliberate deception isn't a factor in the UFO mystery, but the platypus didn't need to engage in deliberate deception to invoke what strikes me as the same response dynamic.

It took 100 years to prove it laid eggs. there is nothing paranormal about this critter, yet it created the same cries of hoax the same confusion we see in this enigma.

If UFO's are no more unnatural than the platypus, and it took 100 years to settle the egg issue.............

Of course today there is no confusion about the platypus and its reproductive habits. I suggest the same process that got us there can and will apply to this matter.

The question re the eggs wasn't resolved by saying since I don't know, since the whole thing is strange it must ergo be a hoax

It was resolved by scientific study and research and yes 100 years worth of patience and perserverance

Perhaps even more significant

Two hundred years after its first encounter with Western scientists, a genome analysis helped to unravel more questions surrounding how the platypus came to be: researchers determined, for instance, that venomous reptiles and the venomous male platypus developed the characteristic independently of each other, but from the same set of genes.

Our own level of technological knowledge took 200 years of advancement before we had the tools to answer some of the questions this strange thing presented us with.

If UFO's are themselves advanced technology, the same may apply

The trap here is to make the same mistake many made when presented with the evidence of the platypus, simply write it of as hoax since it fell outside the experience of those examining that evidence. Even those who kept and open mind didn't live long enough to see the scientific tools developed to answer some of the questions definitively.

Just because something is weird, or falls outside our experience or understanding, doesn't make it a hoax. That's the lazy way out

Addendum to my above post: it would be too simplistic to say it's all a hoax, as the platypus, like the many masks of the ufo, is present in nature. But what is it and how do we begin to classify it? Personally I feel it's equally simplistic to say they are an intelligence from outer space. That's grasping at the obvious straw. That's like saying the Platypus must be a duck given just a few clues. I agree we are too limited in knowledge, language and understanding to adequately name or identify the ufo.

 

[mike]

Addendum to my above post: it would be too simplistic to say it's all a hoax, as the platypus, like the many masks of the ufo, is present in nature. But what is it and how do we begin to classify it? Personally I feel it's equally simplistic to say they are an intelligence from outer space. That's grasping at the obvious straw. That's like saying the Platypus must be a duck given just a few clues. I agree we are too limited in knowledge, language and understanding to adequately name or identify the ufo.

Thats the zillion dollar question

Personally i start from a place that dispenses with concepts like paranormal/supernatural.

The reason i do so is there is an established model we can look too.

Its been called things like the shrinking god gap, but the basic idea is humans love to know the anwers, where none are forthcoming most prefer to guess rather than admit ignorance. Thunder was once attributed to Thor, Today science gives us a better idea of the actual mechanism behind it.

Scientific knowledge has a proven track record of replacing supertitious explanations. im personally confident it can eventually do the same with all mysterys.
But just as in the Platypus it may need to be more advanced than the science of the day. It took 200 years of scientific advancement to unravel the mystery of the Platypus's venom.

If UFO's are as some postulate advanced craft employing exotic propulsions systems, then its reasonable and logical our own science may need to do the very same in order to fully understand what they are and how they work.

 

[mike]

The Platypus example is a great one since it mirrors many of the dynamics of the UFO enigma

You have isolated experiencers describing what they saw (Also being Bizarre in nature) and evidence coming via channels known to have been used for fakery in the past

It wasn't easy to decide what to make of this creature, especially as the descriptions of its behavior and characteristics grew more seemingly bizarre to researchers halfway around the globe.

As Hall notes, anatomist Robert Knox argued in 1823 that skepticism of the platypus came from an existing skepticism of "eastern" countries, through which the early platypus samples passed on their way back to England:

"They reached England by vessels which had navigated the Indian seas, a circumstance in itself sufficient to rouse the suspicions of the scientific naturalist, aware of the monstrous impostures which the artful Chinese had so frequently practised on European adventurers; in short, the scientific felt inclined to class this rare production of nature with eastern mermaids and other works of art;

Its not surprising then, that IF and i say If UFO's are simply to our experience rare productions of nature, we would do the same thing.

But, the platypus should stand as a cautionary example in this regard.

 

[Constance]

A platypus in care. Read his story here:

Platypus in care

 

[Constance]

This post on the enactivist nature of consciousness, which I added to C&P yesterday, is relevant to this discussion I think.

Consciousness and the Paranormal — Part 6

 

[mike]

When the first complete skin of a duckbill platypus arrived at the British Museum in 1798, the curators thought it a hoax.
Thick fur, webbed forefeet and a ducklike bill? Too bizarre.

Electric Field - Platypus

And while electricity was being looked into at this time it wasnt until many years later that science discovered the Platypus could sense electric fields.

A good example of something thought to be an impossible hoax, and only fully understood when science advanced enough to have the tools needed to do so

 

[Creepy Green Light]

I have no idea, but he did say the "Guardian UFO footage" was the best video evidence of ET visitation he had seen. I find this laughable and it immediately made me question any of his other "scientific conclusions."

BTW - that's what I mean when I say that some of the guys are so book smart, that they can't get out of their own way. Forget all the technical optical/math analysis that goes on. Just look at the video (Guardian). Even my 9 year old can see that it's something ridiculously fake. Same with McMinnville. Forget all the tech analysis. The object looks EXACTLY LIKE A TRUCK MIRROR. Complete with center "mast" being askew. How an "expert" can't see that is beyond me.