Crop Circles

[RJM Corbet]

There is a lot we do not know.
Man has learned to identify DNA and how it works, atomic forces, amazing feats of spaceflight, don't denigrade what NASA has achieved -- amazing technology.

But all the same, all man can do is to find out more about how nature works.

It is nature that created DNA and the planets and the galaxies, not man.

It is very arrogant for man to decide what exists out there, unseen. Logic only goes so far.

Our physical vision is restricted to a tiny slice of the electromagnetic spectrum, etc.

Science is only a tool for understanding nature. Man is not inherently superior to a caterpillar or a horse.

The act of observing an electron determines its position. Somehow, everything that I see, or you see, is created by the act of perception.

Strange world we live in ...

[Ursa major]

Originally Posted by RJM Corbet

It is very arrogant for man to decide what exists out there, unseen. Logic only goes so far.

The thing is, the crop circles are not out there, they're down here and very much visible.

Bringing together Occam's Razor with the occasionally true equation (students plus alcohol give rise to pranks) suggests that it would be arrogant to blame some poor innocent alien life form for crop circles.

[JunkMonkey]

Originally Posted by RJM Corbet

Man is not inherently superior to a caterpillar or a horse.

Every Man vs Catapillar smackdown I've ever seen the caterpillar lost. Most of them didn't come back for a rematch.

[RJM Corbet]

I'm just saying we don't know everything. Science doesn't know everything. We can't demystify everything. There are mysteries of nature.

Man vs caterpillar smackdown? How about man vs lion or grizzly bear? Man has no strength or speed or horns or fangs. Man has no right to think he has any more rights in nature than a caterpillar.

There may be beings out there who perceive man as man perceives a caterpillar. Perhaps part of their advancement includes a respect for nature. How do you talk to a caterpillar? We don't know, do we?

[Ursa major]

On the other hand, we ought to be interested in advancing science and logic, and should not be diverted by somethhing that's simply... er... moth-making.

[JunkMonkey]

Originally Posted by Ursa major

The thing is, the crop circles are not out there, they're down here and very much visible.

Bringing together Occam's Razor with the occasionally true equation (students plus alcohol give rise to pranks)

V True.

And

Taking Barnum's Assertion then multiplying it by average life expectancy, I calculate there are (roughly) some 32,587,200 suckers alive at any one time. Though as Barnum failed to say whether his Assertion applied only to the USA and whether this was a finite number, or if it would vary in proportion to the population, this result may well be a hideous underestimate. If the 1 per Min. number is not absolute (see Straczynski's work in the field of Minbari soul migration) then it is obvious that this number is wildly out of date and vastly underestimative. There are a lot of suckers out there. Most of them seem to have internet access.

[RJM Corbet]

Originally Posted by Ursa major

On the other hand, we ought to be interested in advancing science and logic, and should not be diverted by somethhing that's simply... er... moth-making.

Not at the expense of nature and the world that supports us. Oil companies, logging the Amazon, etc.

[Harpo]

Crop circles are logging the Amazon??

[JunkMonkey]

Originally Posted by Harpo

Crop circles are logging the Amazon??

Now they would be really big crop circles. If I saw a few of them I might be more convincable that our little grey brothers were trying to tell us something.


'Look, Earthlings, we just flattened Venezuela; what more proof do you need?'

[RJM Corbet]

Originally Posted by Harpo

Crop circles are logging the Amazon??

Know-it-all human beings are logging the Amazon ...

[Ursa major]

And the latest piece of misheard news: "Amazon is cropping writers' circles!"

[RJM Corbet]

Originally Posted by Ursa major

And the latest piece of misheard news: "Amazon is cropping writers' circles!"

Well anyway, if aliens make crop circles, I hope they tell the caterpillars first ...

[Metryq]

Originally Posted by JunkMonkey

see Straczynski's work in the field of Minbari soul migration

You forgot to mention the Theological Engineering Exam.

[RJM Corbet]

Originally Posted by Metryq

You forgot to mention the Theological Engineering Exam.

Where do you find these things, Metryq?

[Metryq]

Originally Posted by RJM Corbet

Where do you find these things, Metryq?

Someone sent the Theological Engineering Exam to me by e-mail ages ago, and I laughed myself silly. I especially love the bit about Stan being massless and frictionless.