Crop Circle Insanity

nico — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 05:44:35 +0000

“I maintain there is much more wonder in science than in pseudoscience. And in addition, to whatever measure this term has any meaning, science has the additional virtue, and it is not an inconsiderable one, of being true.” – Carl Sagan

I witnessed a thread on a forum where someone had watched an old History Channel show on crop circles. Probably, it was being presented as an old re run, or in the context of the pop culture mayhem that this trendy hoax caused in the 80s and 90′s when people started doing them. This isn’t the message they took from the show.

Unfortunately, it seems despite all rational evidence and confessions and analysis that prove these are hoaxes, people still believe it’s aliens, geomancy, fairies, or the Mother Earth, sending us a message.

I don’t recall that class from lectures in plate tectonics and geological activity by the earth. Nor was it ever a topic in all the lectures on Coriolis forces. (So no, it’s not wind or the earth telling us things.)

Nor is it a big dog with an itchy butt, however points have to be assigned for that creative answer.

Just because you see a program on tv and you like what it says, it may not be the truth. When there’s a mountain of evidence to the contrary, believing that something is still “mystical” is likely the very definition of insanity. It makes for a pretty explanation, but it’s not real.

I was accused of being small minded and judgmental when I said it’s irrational to think it’s aliens despite the evidence otherwise, and that it discredits human ingenuity and creativity to mark it up to fairies or gnomes. We humans have done some wildly offbeat feats of imagination for a number of reasons, and attaching a mystical theory because you think science is too boring or dull, just insults all of us.

The polynesians learned to navigate the south seas by stars, alone. That alone’s pretty amazing. We learned to navigate our planet by sight, and careful observation and measurement. We learned biology, chemistry, and now it’s nicer to say it’s herbal folk remedie and fairies. When did we become Anti-Science?

I admit I got pissed off when one respondent claimed to be an earth scientist, but her profile listed none of the sort of thing one would associate with earth sciences education. An herbalist with faery wood wands is NOT an earth scientist any more than Hugh Laurie is a doctor.

And isn’t there enough wonder in science? I think so.

I don’t ordinarily rely on wiki, but these were coherently assembled, and quickly proved a point:

Crop circles were a hoax perpetuated from at least a century ago. A couple guys get to drinking in the 90′s and for a laugh, decide to resurrect said hoaxes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crop_circles

Crystal skulls were deemed to be a relatively modern creation using subpar quartz and modern carving tools, falsified or absent reports, and hoaxes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_skulls

Orbs: are a trick of the light common to modern cameras and flash and debris in the air. Wikipedia:Orb photography

Keeping an open mind is good. Questioning things is good. But somewhere along the line we’ve tossed logical reasoning and critical thinking out the window in favor of fake science, table rapping and conspiracies.

No one stops to ask WHY an alien life would travel for so far just to stomp in our cornfields. ( No one asks why aliens are fond of rectal probes and mutilating cattle either. It defies logic that an advanced race would be interested in our anuses and our cattle.) If they practiced anything like field biology, they’d tag us, measure us from snout to vent and release us.

Why is pseudoscience so much easier to accept? Why are people falling for this stuff?

Skeptical Dog » Credulity

Crop Circle Insanity

The Littlest Skeptic