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Re: Chariots of da Gods?!!
William R. Belcher (wbelcher@students.wisc.edu)
29 Sep 1996 13:10:25 GMT
Why is it when people want to denigrate the efforts of science (and
scepticism is a big part of science), they always say "...keep an open
mind"...extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof - and that proof
just isn't there. Do you all keep an open mind and suspend your scepticism
when you buy a used car? Or do you just keep your open mind and believe
everything they say about said vehicle? Similarly, when von Daniken makes
a claim that Teotihuacan is a map of our solar system and then from there
makes these wild claims based on supposition - I want to go back to his
original claim and have him support it - what's the evidence that it's
really a "map"? As TV Guide said - this show was big on speculation, very
little on evidence. He offers no supposition - his "reconstruction" of
electricity and lighting in Egypt is spurious too - his reconstruction
would have made a very poor light for a tomb yet alone any darkened area.
Just because he has made something that looks like it using modern
technology, doesn't make it so. Does that mean that everything that was in
the movie "Stargate" was true because they used Egyptian iconography? No,
it surely doesn't. There is no evidence used to back up these
extraordinary claims - there wasn't any 30 years ago and there certainly
isn't any now.
If he wants to form a hypothesis that is testable instead of something
purely based on speculation - that would be different. von Daniken
certainly has enough money to mount a very successful archaeological
expedition. Is it have a closed mind to believe that humans of any
continent (not just Europe) have the ability to create fascinating
cultures and create wondrous architecture or is it closed minded to
believe that our ancestors were too damn ignorant to develop complex
societies without the help of "gods from the skies"?
Ah, but you are right, Wolfgang - we shouldn't impune von Danikens
character - that's not science, but keeping an open mind doesn't mean
believing something that someone tauts for over 30 years and still
provides no evidence.
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