"'Vandange was so dogmatically certain that what you reported having seen was impossible, that he didn't take a serious look at your report to see if it might have an orthodox explanation after all.'" (p. 749)
Once, having got into confused discussions with a guy, I asked him how he would respond if someone showed him what looked, on the face of it, like photographic evidence for the existence of a winged horse. His response was only that the scientific categories of biological life are such that an organism like that cannot exist! Scientific categories had become dogmas. It did not seem to occur to him either that he could examine the photographs for fakery or that he could ask to be shown the organism that had allegedly been photographed and could suspend judgment until further evidence was forthcoming.
Vandange was convinced that the Kirkasanters were lying about their "'...Cloud Universe...'" (p. 749)
That someone is lying is always a possibility. Other possibilities are that they are mistaken or that our reasons for disbelieving them are invalid. Of course, in the case of a winged horse, we have good reasons for believing that we never will see such a thing - but any report has to be investigated if only to discover why anyone is making such a report.
Vandange does not believe that there can be two universes, one visible from the other, and in fact there are not, but there is a reason why the Kirkasanters report this and it is not necessarily that they are dishonest. Indeed, if their intentions were hostile, then they would surely concoct a more plausible account of their origins.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And I get very impatient with the wild stories I've seen about aliens and UFOs! I want hard physical, evidence I can touch, before I'll believe a UFO is real. Anderson's story "Peek! I See You!" comes to mind.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
As a matter of fact, I have seen UFOs, flying objects that I could not identify, not that I COULD identify as extra-terrestrial spacecraft.
Paul.
UFO's are one of those things I think are possible but very unlikely and will believe only when hard evidence is presented.
I saw a good cartoon on the issue: it shows a brace of aliens with tentacles pulling on ropes to drag a huge granite block, and the caption is:
"Aliens built the pyramids, but this is why it's hard to prove."
Kaor, Paul and Mr. Stirling!
Paul: I could probably say the same thing, about possible UFOs! Except I probably thought they were merely planes. And I would LIKE to see and touch real UFOs!
Mr. Stirling: That is my view as well: UFOs may be possible, but I want HARD evidence of them being real.
Amusing, what you said about that cartoon! And it was HUMANS who built the pyramids.
Ad astra! Sean
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