Do skeptics ever get tired of trying to disprove everything that is amazing?

reply to post by cluckerspud

But
how do you know when you get genuine, 100%, grade A truth?!

I guess when all guesses...assumptions....possibiities can be ruled out.

That is why its important for skeptics to be involved in helping find truth. They can help rule out what something is or isn't...rather then someone just saying "it is this. the end".

reply to post by cluckerspud


Very true. Not everyone sings from the same song sheet or sees the world in the same way. As I said, it takes all kinds to make the world go round and round.

Isnt that the point..to make the world go round and round...ie..make the discussions move forward?

Indeed the contributing skeptic is someone with that other side of view that expands on the topic, expands everyone's prospective and prehaps even helps all come to a final conclusion.

Maybe after the particular ones who just do nothing but disrupt and derail the discussions, after reading this thread, will have another prospective and perhaps start being a part of the soltuion instead of part of the problem.




Cheers!!!!

Originally posted by bringthelight
Now before I get a bunch of replys from you hardcore skeptics saying, "well if it weren't for us, we would have no solid definition of what reality is!!", just stop.

Take a deep breath and think for a second before your mind goes into the "how fast can I find a website that agrees with my current view of reality and push it on other people to discredit a possibly awesome and mind opening topic?

Why is it that every time a thread comes up that challenges your definition or reality, you have to attack something that could be really mind opening to look into and explore as a possible reality.

I see this happen all the time on ATS, the most recent example being the thread on Ancient Extraterrestials.

Now i know your brains will immediately want to challenge me and attack this thread because it challenges your reality, but isn't life about learning new things and letting your mind evolve? I find its so much more fun to just let go and delve into these possible new and exciting realities.

Before the attacks come I am just asking you skeptics, you know who you are, to sit and think before just reacting with ways to disprove everything and tell me something that proves you have to cling to your reality like it is the only thing keeping you going.

There are plenty of topics on here that are outright silly and I get that there has to be some sanity and for that I appreciate skepticism. Im talking about the people who try to shoot down everything that is outside the norm.

Please Discuss.

it has something to do with keeping austin weird.

I'm considered a skeptic.

When I see something that someone calls evidence of something amazing I look at it to see if just maybe there is a not so amazing explanation. It turns out that more often that not, there is more than one such possible explanation. It often turns out that one of those explanations turns out to be the reality.

Sometimes (not often) I can't come up with a "mundane" explanation so I leave it alone. Chalk it up to "huh, how about that!" I won't make the leap from there to extraterrestrial, inter-dimensional, or inter-temporal because there is no evidence that any of the "huh's" are any of those things. While it could be possible, it is not likely.

I've witnessed too many times, people seeing something in the sky and completely misinterpreting what they have seen. I've done it myself. Our eyes deceive, our cameras deceive.

On the other hand I see many amazing things. Well, I find them amazing. I've been lucky enough to see 2 spectacular comets (and a few lesser ones) in my life so far. I've seen a couple of very large meteors. I find satellites, particularly the Iridium birds and the ISS, pretty amazing sights. Early this week we had a great show, a party with Jupiter, Venus, and the Moon. The Milky Way is amazing. With a telescope or even a pair of good binoculars the night sky holds my attention for hours.

It doesn't have to be unknown to be amazing. Often the most amazing things are the ones we know about.

[edit on 12/5/2008 by Phage]

People are entitled to read and disagree.

If you have a problem with
that then reply to their points,
but do not start a thread to bitch about it

[edit on 6-12-2008 by dalek]

First I'd like to say, as a skeptic, I think both sides are out for the same thing: truth. A skeptic can't in good conscience sit by and watch someone delve into topics or make huge claims without something solid to back it up. On the other hand, people who aren't skeptics are more willing to venture into the land of human imagination and ideas without the ideal amount of proof.

Both are necessary to bring us forward. Think of a non-skeptic as an explorer blazing through a foreign and wild forest searching for a city of gold, and the skeptic is their lantern, guiding them away from hazards that may do them harm. We need both to find the city of gold.

Next I'd like to quote some stuff from ATS's "About" section...I think it answers the OP quite nicely:

The simple yet effective motto of our membership is "deny ignorance", which signifies an effort to apply the principals of critical thought and peer review to the provocative topics covered within.

More than a slogan and deeper than a mission statement, our members have embraced the motto of "Deny Ignorance" as our reson detre, demanding everyone who posts to aspire to a higher standard of participation. These simple two words have galvanized a broad membership base that spans the spectrum from highly speculative conspiracy writers to staunch skeptics. The result is a unique collaboration of diverse individuals rallying under this simple statement to learn from each other, discover new truths, and imagine new ideas that expand minds.

The idea of "deny ignorance" isn't a goal that ATS hopes to accomplish. Instead, it's a challenge. A call to all those who come here to aspire to a higher state of awareness through informed discussion and debate.

Sorry about the dislike of skeptics, but considering ATS is all about it, I doubt we'll be going anywhere any time soon. And don't expect me to be quiet!

[edit on 6-12-2008 by Avenginggecko]

By playing the Devil's Advocate, it forces you to develop your theory more. Its quite simple, really.

[edit on 12/6/2008 by prototism]

reply to post by mellisamouse


No, what this is called is disinformation. Skepticism, by its nature, doesn't look to PROVE anything other than the nonexistence of the theory in question. The "treasure map" you guys refer to, X marks the spot, the disinformants are the ones you have to watch out for.

They're the ones you guys refer to as shutting everything down including credible theories, or changing key facts and misleading you...

If you mean to think that by objecting to one theory is "helping" you find it better, then a radar would be a better analogy...

[edit on 6-12-2008 by SpencerJ]

Originally posted by cluckerspud

Originally posted by mdiinican
If you don't want skeptics getting all up in your grill, start or join another internet forum dedicated to the creative discussion of far-out ideas, and make critical commentary against the rules.

It isn't against the rules here, so skeptics may as well start a counter thread: "why do believers complain so much?"

Take your own advice: ignore it, or go elsewhere.

It seems you couldn't take your own advice and ignore.

Do all skeptics use the word grill and the idea of getting all up in it?!

I'd be skeptical of your education.

Feel free to be a language Nazi to people on the internet if that makes you feel smarter. I'm sure being confrontational on internet message boards is a great way to show off YOUR education.

Edit: And seriously, if you really, truly couldn't see that was meant facetiously, maybe the internet isn't the best place for you to hang out.

It is, after all, SRS BIZNESS

[edit on 6-12-2008 by mdiinican]

Not really.

I mean seriously we don't.

Though what we do get tired of is answering patently yes or no post topic questions with enough words to pass the muster of the bot that runs this place.

So, again, no.

Thanks for asking.

yah being from a pretty rural part of scotland...i say pretty because its half an hour away from big cities but i never go there anyway..i have since come to notice the abundance of crazy folks with not crazy personalities..ie you could be talking about something fairly rational then all hell breaks loose and they turn crazy...its sort of like religion except aliens,NWO etc pretty intelligent people that put up partitions between each thought and treat it differently than anything else in their day to day life.

Do skeptics ever get tired of trying to disprove everything that is amazing?

About 50%-80% of the members of ATS are "skeptics". Just look at the amount of threads-posts on ATS and BTS. LOL.

Do skeptics ever get tired of trying to disprove everything that is amazing?

No - but we sure get tired of the people who post lame stories whilst displaying no critical thinking.

We get sick of hoaxers and con artists.

We get sick of liars and fantasy prone kiddies.

We get tired of all those who do their best to lower the collective IQ of the ATS community!

IRM

We know nothing, most people are panicked by that fact.

Maybe I am wrong, but wouldn't a discussion about the tooth fairy be a bts topic unless the easter bunny conspired with santa claus to replace the tooth fairy money with easter eggs. I though bts was the feel good have fun anything goes forum and ats was the take no prisoners forum.

Originally posted by Velvet Death
Maybe I am wrong...

No maybe about it. Posting facts increases the possibility you're right (not to mention offending someone who believes in falsehoods) and thus...

Wrong.

Or at least in violation of some TaC.

Originally posted by bringthelight
Do skeptics ever get tired of trying to disprove everything that is amazing?
...
Please Discuss.

Well, for the sake of discussion, I think you're privileging the word 'amazing' and really having a personal and narrow reading of the actual word. I think what you actually mean is 'things I'm quite precious about'. The world is full of truly "amazing" things and yet I never see skeptics trying to disprove "everything". What I do see is skeptics try to disprove or debunk are claims where there's little in the way of actual proof that matches a claim, or where the claimant is unnecessarily privileging one possible explanation over a more likely or mundane one.

I do actually understand and appreciate your point of view; I've long since had problems with people who appear to 'debunk' topics out of a kind of spite, like an adult bursting balloons at a party or something. I think some people genuinely get pleasure out of shattering illusions/delusions and watching the unravelling that follows cognitive dissonance.

However, I think there's actually few people that are like that. As I said earlier, I think most of them are just (fairly) countering claims that aren't quite as solid as the claimant would like to believe.

Keats' poem (Lamia) that touches on this:

Do not all charms fly
At the mere touch of cold philosophy?
There was an awful rainbow once in heaven:
We know her woof, her texture; she is given
In the dull catalogue of common things.
Philosophy will clip an Angel's wings,
Conquer all mysteries by rule and line,
Empty the haunted air, and gnomed mine –
Unweave a rainbow

reply to post by Merriman Weir


That's a great poem Merriman Weir!

IRM

Originally posted by InfaRedMan
reply to post by Merriman Weir

 

That's a great poem Merriman Weir!

IRM

Yeah, it's been a favourite since I first read it at grammar school in the early 1980s at the request of my physics teacher. Keats was concerned with Newtons work on optics taking the 'amazement' - as the OP might put it - out of the rainbow.

Despite Keats concerns or Newton's actual findings, the beauty or 'amazement' of the rainbow is still there, no matter how it's actually made.

Originally posted by Avenginggecko
...I'd like to quote some stuff from ATS's "About" section...I think it answers the OP quite nicely:

"...our members have embraced the motto of "Deny Ignorance" as our reson detre"

Ok, not to be pissy, but please tell me that our defining statement doesn't spell raison d'etre as "reson detre".