From: Samantha Atkins (samantha@objectent.com)
Date: Sat Jan 19 2002 - 16:10:57 MST
J. R. Molloy wrote:
> From: "animated silicon love doll" <cheshire@velvet.net>
>
>>i would imagine they would be more like the europeans
>>
>
> Yes, you can *imagine* them to be any way you like.
> That's precisely the point I was making. ETI is completely imaginary because
> there's absolutely no scientific evidence to support the conjecture that it
> exists. Hence, contact with ETI would unsettle science more than it would
> religionism (which is based on imagination to begin with).
>
It does not follow in the least that something we currently have
no evidence for (and I do not agree so easily that this is the
case) will unsettle science if it turns out to be so. There is
certainly no strong scientific argument that ETI is impossible
and there are strong arguments that it is possible and even
quite likely. So actually encountering ETI should come as no
great surprise and would not be unsettling to scientists. In
this area lack of evidence most certainly is not evidence of lack.
Even in the area of religion it would unsettle only those with
extremely provincial views as to the supposed special uniqueness
of humankind. That is not uniformly characteristic of religion
or religious people.
So what is this tempest in a teapot really about?
- samantha
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 13:37:35 MST