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From: "Steven J. Powell" <sjpowell@access.digex.net>
Date: Sat, 18 Jan 1997 12:49:45 -0500
Fwd Date: Sun, 19 Jan 1997 16:53:06 -0500
Subject: Re: Philosophy of Science and UFOs

>Date: Mon, 13 Jan 1997 22:31:49 -0500
>To: UFO UpDates - Toronto <updates@globalserve.net>
>From: "Jerry Cohen" <rjcohen@li.net>
>Subject: Re: UFO UpDate: Re: Philosophy of Science and UFOs

>>I _think_ this was done up in a recent IUR article.  They said it was an
>>airplane, I don't recall who did the research, I don't think it was
>>independently replicated, and I think there were photographs and stuff
>>in the article.

>JC:   I have to go through my IUR issues and find that. I don't remember
>seeing it. If you say its there, we'll take a look.

I said I _think_ it was in IUR...

>>Higher!?  Naaa.  What I'm saying is that we start with a core dataset
>>and then the gov't tells us which ones are theirs.  (Pretend we live in
>>a perfect world.)  ....snip....

>JC:   Now _that's_ a "haha." Only if your original numbers were on the
>money. As I was trying to say, if you find that _one_ case that really
>satisfies your scientific quest for truth regarding UFOs, you may find
>yourself wanting to microscopically examine some of the dust on those rocks
>we've been looking under, and reexamining others we just "tossed" aside.

Ideally, if we "tossed aside" some cases using objective criteria then
looking back at them would not likely enrich what we knew from the ones we
didn't toss aside.  Or, I'll put it another way, if looking back at those
tossed out cases _does_ enrich what we learned then we likely didn't do a
good job of pre-screening to begin with.  That's just a guess of course and
has to remain merely that until the work gets done and we see what we see.

>>Sure, we can all throw away the data once they land and say "Hi!"

>JC:   Gee, I wasn't thinking about a landing.  Even if we had one, if I was
>you, I wouldn't throw that data away. So we have a landing, nationally
>televised from the White House lawn. It could still be a scam by the
>television networks or a publicity gimmick by press-hungry politicians. :-)

Hahahaha!!!!  (Geez, I thought _I_ was cautious...<grin>)

>>Except the question: "How do we presently study other species?"  We
>>snatch a few samples from the field, open 'em up and see how they tick.

>JC:   Or tag them and track them?  Hmmn, then _if_ we found that one case,
>we might also have a philosophical problem (amongst others) here.  :-)
>Some, of what appear to you to be "way-out" claims, might take on new
>meaning. This is purely philosophically speaking of course.

Of course I think most of the claims are "way out" because of the
combination of two important factors:  1) There's no objective evidence to
support them having actually occurred, and; 2) They haven't happenned to _me_.

I'm completely open to the possibility that either or both of those factors
could radically change even by tomorrow.  Who knows?

Sure, we tag and track species sometimes.  But eventually, we snatch one or
two and open 'em up...<grin>

>>I personally think we should be trying to shoot down UFOs every chance
>>we get so we can open 'em up and see how they tick.

>JC:   With the technology being described in cases like the 1989/90 Belgium
>sightings (police version), you better hope you miss.  :-)

Why!?  You put a couple of Stingers up their exhaust pipes and they won't
be so prone to zip-zapping around our atmosphere (<grin>), plus we'd get
that chance to dissect one or two of them.