{edited 3/8/15}
I had cause to reread a fun movie review I'd written last month. Reading it again I was thinking I should be posting part of it over here. Because... you know... all this Steele stuff (dealing with vid#4 now, yuck). The way he gives all that lip service to rational and complete science, but then he ignores tons of real Earth observations and instead goes off into totalitarian deep right field. His only defense being to reject the science outright, while conjured up ridiculous conspiracy notions.
Scientists have it hard enough focusing on getting everything to work right, they don't have time for conspiratorial tweaking of data - that would be obvious to any trained, educated observer.
I had cause to reread a fun movie review I'd written last month. Reading it again I was thinking I should be posting part of it over here. Because... you know... all this Steele stuff (dealing with vid#4 now, yuck). The way he gives all that lip service to rational and complete science, but then he ignores tons of real Earth observations and instead goes off into totalitarian deep right field. His only defense being to reject the science outright, while conjured up ridiculous conspiracy notions.
Scientists have it hard enough focusing on getting everything to work right, they don't have time for conspiratorial tweaking of data - that would be obvious to any trained, educated observer.
There's the rub, notice how all these people, such as my pal Jim, don't understand the actual science fields they are attacking. Like little kids with noses pressed against the window watching the train set run, without the first clue of what it takes to make that seeming magic happen. (guess i'm dating myself)
They talk the Talk, but don't walk the Walk.
So I ask: What's it mean to be an honest skeptic?
From the closing paragraphs of
An Honest Liar - Considering James Randi
Taking questions, James Randi responded to one with something I'd already jotted down in my notes as the single best line in the documentary, "People need to believe.” Later, I had a chance to shake his hand and speak with him. I asked: “OK, people need to believe – what can we do with that? Where do we go from there?"
