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Is this not an issue for anyone?"So it was extraordinary to find myself sitting before a respected huddle of planet hunters with the Government's Science Minister, Malcolm Wicks, last week as they declared they believe in aliens...Until recently, the assembled scientists would (quite rightly) have pointed out that there is no universally accepted definition of life, let alone of intelligence. Any talk of smart extraterrestrials belonged in science fiction.
Today, our understanding of the cosmos has changed so much that for the first time searching for signs of life in other solar systems is not just a philosopher's dream but on the list of planned human endeavours. All the scientists I questioned agreed that alien life is inevitable and ubiquitous.
And all but one believe it could be intelligent - ie with the faculty of reasoning and understanding |
I think I know what it is about this that bothers me. It seems to me that even though we're learning more and more about the universe (maybe BECAUSE of that), we assume that more and more of what we believe MUST be true, because we know so much. It's a fallacy to think that way, of course, but when has that ever stopped mankind? What makes scientists think it's ok for them to make public announcements about their "beliefs" ? Now, maybe this is just a matter of the press using the wrong terminology; obviously it's fine for scientists to have hypotheses, but these must be rigorously tested and verified, not just stated so positively that it sounds like they're stating fact.
And don't get me wrong - obviously scientists can HAVE beliefs. Everyone does. But those beliefs shouldn't be publicly talked about in a forum that's supposed to be about their scientific endeavors. There's enough confusion already about the difference between theories, hypotheses, facts, and beliefs, and this only serves to blur that line more.
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