Will this topic never go away?
Here is what I referenced:
TRANSCRIPT: Michael Shermer: So one of my recent columns in Scientific American was called Sky Gods for Skeptics, or as they used to call it, Aliens for Atheists. Basically the idea is that aliens and extraterrestrials in our imagination—and we haven’t found any yet so they’re all in our imagination—are often portrayed as these almost god-like deities, you know, they’re super advanced technologically, scientifically, morally. They’ve somehow overcome war and poverty and these sorts of things. And so I got to thinking about this. It’s very similar to the religious impulse, which is that: we’re not alone. There is something out there more powerful than us who knows about us and cares about us; who loves us. That’s the kind of deep religious impulse: “We’re not alone.” And that’s the same impulse people get when they think about extraterrestrials. The crux of my article in Scientific American is that there was there was a new paper published that showed that people who have this longing—so there’s variation in this: some people have more of that longing than others—those who have that longing but are not religious are more likely to believe extraterrestrials are out there. In other words, if you have the religious beliefs, God, Jesus, Mohammed, whatever your religion is, you don’t really need the aliens, so you’re satisfied with that. But if you don’t have that then you’re more likely to go for the extraterrestrial hypothesis as a viable one in the sense that “it makes me feel good”. Because let’s face it, religions have no more evidence for god than scientists have for extraterrestrials. It’s all imagination and speculation based on reason and logic and arguments, but we still don’t have any empirical evidence. So short of that I find it interesting that it becomes sort of an emotional appeal or a deep desire for us to feel like there’s somebody else out there, and “I’m not alone”. And let’s face it, that does feel good, and there’s nothing wrong with that—but we should always suspend judgment until we actually have evidence for this. We may be the only ones in the cosmos that are sentient beings, and if so, all the more reason we should care for our world and each other, because that would mean this is it.
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Sigh!
I know God exists, met him.in a nine month coma aged seven. Walked with Him seventy years ever since. I know ghosts exist and no one ever dies spiritually for two reasons, God told me, and l see them, have lifelong. I was seeing ghosts before l met God in the coma. They were talking to me as a child as well. They knew who l was, they told me so.
And despite the many voices of nay sayers telling me existence of aliens should destroy my faith in a creator, l know differently.
I know aliens exist, because l’ve seen UFOs lifelong since the age of four, in 1949. With my dad..a six years long second world war aircraft technician (says so on my birth certificate) who repaired, serviced, and maintained all the fighter planes that landed at the two airfields in England he was based at. He’d so wanted to pilot them, but severe asthma grounded him on day one of his induction flight. He thought then, in 1939 at outbreak of war, that’s it, grounded, useless to the cause. Then, they discovered he had skills they needed, he was many things, a pianist, a watch and clockmaker. A motor mechanic, an automobile engineer, in fact, if it had an engine or working parts with cogs, he was the man to sort it out and get it going. He knew every plane, blimp, and balloon that flew our skies, he taught me the sound of every engine I overhead, so in the dark we could tell him what they were, and bath in his pleasure when we got it right.
The three ufo’s we saw the first time astounded our whole street if more than sixty bungalows. We were all at gates and in the road men discussing as they sat above us for probably half an hour. They were massive, silent, no windows or doors, metallic silver grey, cigar case shaped to two oval ends, not cigar shaped, cigar case shaped. My friend screamed and alerted us.
I know God is real, l know aliens are too. And l’ve met one of them, l’m too old to give a damn if you believe me now, l can’t be hurt anymore by cynics, they hurt my early life, the old one’s too tough to care. About six or seven years ago a strange child of about six l’d assumed dressed in a grey pair of jogging bottoms and a zipper jacket/top came to my door. Hood up, he peered under the top as it fell over his eyes. I wondered what a small child was doing knocking on my door in the evening. But other kids were playing ball round the road, l assumed he was with them, maybe wanting a ball back.
“Yes, can l help you?” Nothing, head still lowered, peering up just beyond my porch step. “Can l help you?” Nothing. I started to feel agitated, which is not me with kids, l love them, they love me, all kids.
“What do you want?” Nothing. Then slowly he raised his eyes under the hood and l had one of my psychic rushes through my chest down into my stomach, like an electric shock. I felt danger, and a warning. His eyes were yellow, like a cats.
I don’t know why l did what l did next, never done it in my life before, l out my right hand out, level with his height, l was about four feet from him, he was about three feet high, l spread my hand as if to grasp a lid, and turned it anti-clockeise, and said, “Go away!” And suddenly he spun like he was on a revolving pin and turned in line with my hand movement, like l’d actually turned him round, and one leg was raised until he put it down and marched, yes, marched, back down my path, and my steps, and away. And l thought, ‘did l just do that, or did he?’
Then l felt l needed answers so l walked to my steps which raise my home high above the road where the kids were playing. I called across, “Do you lot know that kid?” And pointed to a receding child in grey going up the street. They shouted “No!” In unison. And l saw he’d stopped and was listening. From across another section of road rising uphill looking down at all if us. Two teenage girls passing saw, heard, joined in. Stood looking at him with me, As we debated who he was and why so small knocking doors alone, one of the girls said, “oh look, his did he do that?”
This odd ‘kid’ had appeared below us in the roundabout outside my front, he was standing looking at us, now uphill to him. This was impossible, though it was only about fifty yards in distance from his first stop, he couldn’t get past us without us seeing him, no short cuts, no gardens he could sneak through, no way down there unless he flew. The only way to get there was going on his first plan and to keep following the road, through the park, round the village outer lane, back into the road, through the junction, and up the lane which trust me, takes a good twenty minute fast paced walking. Yet there he was, somehow, with a couple if minutes if us talking and watching him, way over the other side of us, almost taking the pee out if us.
This made the two teens mad and they chased him, he never ran at all, yet his strides tiny though he was, left them way behind. They chased him up the lane, round the corner, and he turned into a cul-de-sac, no way out. They ran around the corner and met an old man standing there, no sign of the ‘child’.
“Excuse me, did you see a little boy come round thus corner?” He said no. They didn’t like him, didn’t know why And when they’d returned to relate this to me, l had a sudden rush inside and heard my inner voice say, “Shapeshfter;”
And again l had my heavy warning psychic feeling of sinking in my stomach. It’s always saved me from mistakes and bad situations in the past, and it happens if l shake hands with, or meet face in, people who later turn out to be not just bad, but bloody evil too.
And though l’ve pondered in the goodness of aliens like the ancient aliens chasers do, l don’t believe they are our friends. You wouldn’t like my thoughts on what they want from us. So, for now, l’m not going there.
I believe he was an alien because l’d been seeing UFOs a lot that summer, right outside my home while other people never looked up, l did, do, always have, since 1949..
No edit. Arthritic fingers hurt on tiny screen.
No, there are notion aliens.
Shermer defines the parameters and then makes his arguments solely based on these parameters. What I mean is that Shermer wants to apply an empirical model to religion and the issue of extraterrestrials, the so-called modern scientific method, which is actually a complete joke because there is nothing that is more politicized than science. Just look at the views on the pandemic. If you disagree with the mainstream “scientific narrative,” then you are censored and ostracized. Religion and God will never be understood by applying an empirical method of analysis, because these things are intuitive and experiential in nature. I also disagree that there is no empirical evidence for the existence of God (the code-like structure of DNA, the gaps in the fossil record, the conflicting definitions of natural selection even among biologists, etc.) That said, an individual will never be able to understand the supernatural by viewing the issue under the microscope of the “empiricism,” since religion is highly experiential and personal. Things have happened to me that convince me of the reality of God, and yet, if I simply describe these events objectively, no one will really understand, because these things have to be experienced to be understood.
In the West, religious sentiment is very superficial and ritual and tradition have little importance, but these things — ritual and tradition — that exist and have been practiced for centuries in the East are necessary elements of the experiential nature of religion. For example, the practice of fasting is used in the Eastern Orthodox Church (it is sometimes practiced by Western adherents without fully being understood by many of them) to draw closer to God and there is an element of asceticism or self-denial that is completely lacking in the Western varieties of Christianity just as an example. Yet, asceticism is viewed as an absolutely necessary element of spiritual growth in the East. Shermer defines the lens through which religion and supernatural events should be viewed, that of empiricism, and then not surprisingly he is able to conclude that there is no evidence for such things precisely because such a model is biased against the finding of such evidence. Additionally, his statement is factually false, because there has been evidence recently released by the US military, which, while it does not prove the existence of extraterrestrials, is not explainable according the current level of “scientific” knowledge. For example, images have been released of unidentified flying objects that seem to violate the laws of physics, exhibit anti-gravity technology, etc. Scientists can’t even agree on the nature of the universe and there is now an electrical theory of the universe that is gaining traction to counter the conventional gravitational model with its imaginary black holes, comets of ice, etc.
Emil… I like your brain, both it’s logic, and it’s unscientific pattern. My life is littered with paranormal that’s impossible to prove to others, unless they are there as witnesses, and yet, has its own unique way of imprinting the existence of the inexplicable on those around me. Your analysis is spot on. I wish we’d spoken in my youth. I thought like you alone, ally growing years, inside a sea of bigots, and pretenders. Well written.
We come from aliens??? Whats next from devils?
By the way, where do they think they come from? Do we have to remind them the meaning de “rhesus”???
We don’t come from aliens, but aliens exist.
So I’m catching up on articles I missed this year and seeing the alien thing again made me laugh. I’m sorry Mike, I don’t think this one’s going away. I think I understand where this might be coming from though.(besides heavy alien propaganda). I think people are possibly seeing things from our past ancestors, like the pyramids in Egypt for example, and thinking it must be aliens. After all it couldn’t possibly be from former rh-‘s right? Because people were so dumb and primitive and blah blah blah. I now believe that Atlantis did exist and that we are descendents of the survivors. And the powers that shouldn’t be probably push the alien propaganda to hide this history. Just my opinion. I could be wrong and I reserved the right to change my mind on a day by day basis.
While the possibility of a “sunken” continent (see Doggerland) exists, there should be remains detectable via sonar as is the case with Doggerland. We also have Doggerbank which used to be a mountain peak in Doggerland. In other words: It wouldn’t be a sunken continent, but rather the sea levels having risen and covering the still intact shape of what was once inhabited.
I haven’t seen any indication of such being present and have been reading up on what sonar technology has been able to find and unsuccessfully been searching for.
Let’s also not forget that the thought of Atlantis originates in Plato’s science fiction.
Similar to L. Ron Hubbard’s progressing from being a science fiction writer to suddenly convincing some his fiction was fact.
Plato didn’t do that, but a few hundred years ago, others did.
So the usual question is where your “opinion” actually comes from.
I personally prefer to talk about “thoughts” and ignore opinions, because thoughts, though they might be wrong, make it a lot harder for me to represent something baseless as a possibility to others.