In Alice in Wonderland (or was that Through the Looking-Glass – I can never remember which one of the two it was*) it’s stated that it’s possible to believe many (as in six) impossible things before breakfast. Science and associated philosophies have had to deal with impossibilities and wildly improbable things, some of which are straight forward, and some of which aren’t – perhaps to the point where something possible is in fact impossible and fundamentally wrong. Conversely, something considered impossible might in fact be possible and fundamentally right.
A cautionary note: when it comes to what’s possible or impossible; plausible or implausible; probable or improbable, majority doesn’t rule. This isn’t a democracy. If a billion people believe nonsense, it’s still nonsense. This however is in contrast to what has been proven beyond a reasonable scientific doubt. If a billion people continue to disbelieve something that has been proved, then it’s those billion people who are nonsense, not the idea.
Continued from yesterday’s blog…
FOURTHLY, let’s look at the reverse, some commonly accepted notions by scientists that they consider impossible or wildly improbable, but which, in IMHO are ultimately flawed concepts they have – flawed to the point where I suggest these scientist’s ‘impossibilities or implausibility’s’ range from an actual near certainty to only somewhat implausible.
One category that immediately comes to mind is ‘sea serpents’. We know from the fossil record that large marine reptiles like plesiosaurus and the mosasaur once existed. There’s no obvious reason why these creatures went extinct as their marine environment is fairly resilient against environmental change such as salinity, temperature, etc.
There’s the eye witness evidence of sightings of creatures very similar to these apparently extinct beasties both from ship, and from shore.
There are examples of other thought-to-have-been-extinct animals, and I mean extinct for many, many, many millions of years, that have turned up alive and well (such as the coelacanth), thank you very much!
Another item that comes to mind is one of the great mysteries of ancient history – what happened to the Minoan civilization 3,500 years ago on the island of Crete Crete , yet still too far away to totally account for the mystery. By now, you’ve probably guessed the answer. The eruption generated a massive series of tsunamis some 30 meters high which destroyed the villages and towns, all of which were on the coast. The one-two punch, a mega-volcano plus mega-tsunamis and you had the total destruction of the Minoan civilization. That, in turn gave rise to the origin of the Atlantis tale. The legend and mythology surrounding Atlantis has long been consigned to the pseudoscience dust bin. Yet while there’s no proof positive and probably never will be, it is quite plausible that legends and mythology derived from the above Thera (or Santorini) eruption plus associated tsunami wiping out the Minoan civilization on Crete , did indeed, form the foundation for the legend of Atlantis.
The UFO ETH (extraterrestrial hypothesis) also immediately comes to mind, as well as her closely related sister, ‘ancient astronauts’ (the UFO ETH and associated closely related topic of ‘ancient astronauts’ are really two peas in a pod). Why? The answer is twofold. Firstly, there is the theoretical underpinning the two. Secondly, there is the observational evidence supporting the two. Considering those two in turn…
Theoretical Underpinnings: I’d like to think that Planet Earth would be among the cosmic real estate of some interest to any advanced technological species of extraterrestrial being, especially since the Cambrian Explosion over 500 million years ago when complex (multi-cellular) life forms became noticeable. Like the Star Trek mantra says, ‘to seek out new life…’.
Now in terms of cosmic real estate, comets and asteroids are pretty common, ditto airless rocky worlds; gas giants seem to be worth a dime-a-dozen, but real estate that has an atmosphere, and a hydrosphere, and a lithosphere, and a biosphere aren’t dime-a-dozen bodies. So, when one appears on an extraterrestrial’s ‘radar’, either through personally or robotically ‘boldly going’, or via remote sensing (our oxygen rich atmosphere is an obvious giveaway that just screams out as something that should be singled out for extra attention. That’s us! We have a biosphere. We have life. Well, that’s interesting.
Of course for most of our biosphere’s existence, we’ve been interesting in the same way as an ant hill is interesting to an entomologist or a bacterium is interesting to a microbiologist. Just like it doesn’t take all that much effort for an entomologist to seek out an ant hill or a microbiologist to find a bacterium, so, in the cosmic scheme of things, it doesn’t take all that much effort for an alien technological civilization to reach us. Many might dispute that statement, but the fact is, going from point A in our galaxy, to point B in our galaxy, violates no known laws or principles of physics. Once they have the desire and the ways and means of ‘boldly going’, the rest are details. And Planet Earth can no more hide from exploring alien eyes than an ant hill can hide from an inquisitive entomologist! Now you take local A, somewhere in our galaxy, home to an alien civilization. Now take place B – Planet Earth. What’s the distance between the two? It doesn’t matter. If the civilization can achieve 1% to 10% light speed interstellar travel – no violation of physics in that – calculate how long it would take them to get from A to B. Now, compare that with the overall age of our galaxy! You’ll find the ratio is somewhere in the same ballpark as how long it took humans to migrate and explore and colonize Planet Earth!
Observational Evidence: Well, for starters, regarding UFOs (as extraterrestrial vehicles), how about over six decades on, hundreds of thousands of sightings in all countries of the globe, by all walks of life - male & female; rich & poor; professional & illiterate; the young and the elderly, all religions; all races; all nationalities; no category has been left out. Then how about witnesses, passing lie detector exams all the while insisting “I know what I saw”? Then how about the fact that there are those experts in aerial phenomena who should be able to, but can’t explain all the sightings – the usual unexplained residue being between 5% and 10% - the hard core, bona-fide UFOs. Now throw in multiple and independent witness accounts! You don’t care for eyewitness testimony? Too unreliable you say? Well, chuck in a pot full of unexplained photographic and motion pictures, lots of unexplainable radar returns, ground traces, and all manner of other bits and pieces that instrumentation has detected or can do analysis on – no human brain entered into, just iron and silicon. Also, you have the undisputed fact that many countries have undertaken official investigations into the UFO issue – that in itself suggests that the issue has been taken seriously at the highest levels, unlike say, ghosts or stigmata!
Ancient astronauts are a slightly murkier kettle of fish because of the time separation between then and now. It’s easier to come to terms with what happened 20 years ago vis-à-vis 2000 years ago. Still, I’d maintain that there exists a reasonable amount of artistic and literary remnants from those long ago and far away places that are suggestive of otherworldly influences. As but one example, nearly every culture has legends, a mythology if you wish, of ‘sky beings’ who obviously, in most cases at least, were considered some sort of gods. Since of course nobody actually believes they were supernatural gods, that still leaves the pigeonhole of ‘sky beings’.
Now, is all of that proof? No! Is all of that evidence? Yes! It’s the sort of evidence that’s lacking in most of the other paranormal/supernatural bits and pieces that the sceptics love to collectively debunk and rubbish. But, that evidence makes my assertion that some paranormal claims are more equal than other paranormal claims more credible.
To be continued…
* Having since looked it up, I’ve confirmed it as the White Queen’s statement from Through the Looking-Glass.
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