April 8th Show

[Ankhes]

Gah, I know this thread is a few days old, but I am a bit slow to be able to listen to a new show, so I just listened to part 2 yesterday.
My thoughts on Pye are - I don't really know what to believe. I found him knowledgable and engaging, but he did show a tendency to make everything fit what he wanted it to. That doesn't impress me. He is diligent, and I credit him for that, but I think he is so biased that he may not be able to accept it if the "starchild" is indeed a deformed human.
Also, as much as I understand that people want to make a buck, I can't help but intensely dislike the fact that he is peddling his book BEFORE all the tests are concluded. This rush to judgment to make a buck not only irritates me but makes me question all of his "sources."

Lorraine Warren was, well, Lorraine Warren. I am fairly familiar with how she and her hubby managed to find portals to hell in every other home they investigated, and had to arrange exorcisms to save helpless people. Argh, but she was painful to listen to at times! At least at the end she listened and didn't constantly interrupt as some guests do when the conversation steers into waters they don't like.
I was intrigued by the claim she makes that a girl dematerialized. Does anyone know if she has proof of that? Constantly running film or something?
And she mentioned Harry Price. I enjoy reading of some of Price's exploits, but the fact that he was shown to be a fraud on occassion makes me wonder why she and her husband idolized him so much. At least, if memory serves, I believe he was shown to be a fraud when he really wanted a case to be what he desired it to be.

Well, enough of my babbling. I hope to listen to the newest show before days pass. I'm looking forward to it! I really enjoy the Paracast and I'm already learning a lot.

 

[Aaron LeClair]

If it is held against Pye that he has books before all tests results are in (the book raised more attention and interest, without it the tests wouldn't have been done as quick, which was rather slow even with it) then what of Roger Leir? He went on using the term alien implants, selling books and dvds. This under-mind his work? I see people not like other's for their spin, yet spin the researchers intention and level of possible greed. I recommend sitting back and letting the results speak for itself. Pye does have a question mark in the title of his book btw. If you are looking for a perfect researcher, that has no need for money, donations, promotions, attention, or are perfect in their articulation and not label things that irritate certain semantical sensitivities, you're going to be sorely disappointed. If there are such ones, we won't hear of them since they aint on radio and tv etc.

Having said that, I have seen a few things with Pye that I can *interpret* as less than objective. But I'm used to it I guess, since I see it by mainstream scientists all the time. I see him as no worse than what flies at universities. That's not good, but I don't understand why what he does is held against the case, when it's not held against others. A sort of double standard, or at least inconsistent logic. A bit of selectivity which flies in the face of objectivity which some criticize Pye as lacking.

Just as MH shouldn't make or break the Meier case, hopefully Pye won't make or break the actual skull in people's eyes (I did see him nearly drop the skull once and kinda knock it over). As an example, you can remove MH from the picture, and look at the pictures alone and determine whether or not it's legit. Hurling mud at him or Pye is futile, especially when it's highly subjective and open to multiple interpretations that are both reasonable. Plus putting people on the defensive doesn't increase their objectivity and ability to do good science. It usually takes their focus off of related issues and get rather fuzzy, or fuzzier in their thinking. I wonder if that's what's happened with some of those who's lost it in the field.

So in short, the spin we have about people's spin makes us all dizzy in the end.

 

[Ankhes]

I do see your points and thank you for your response to my thoughts. Yes, I guess I am disappointed in people quite a bit, but that's just me. I can't really help it. I suppose when someone doesn't strike me as being open to having his pet theory be proven wrong I have a bigger problem with the money-making project. I know he said he could cope with it, but I don't know. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
Regardless, the subject is fascinating and he tells it quite well. I personally don't care if "Starchild" is an alien hybrid or not. I think the story of her life would be quite moving because her life was likely quite tragic. Obviously if she IS an alien hybrid then all sorts of new doors would be opened up. I'm going to have to follow this story.

 

[Rick Deckard]

Also, as much as I understand that people want to make a buck, I can't help but intensely dislike the fact that he is peddling his book BEFORE all the tests are concluded. This rush to judgment to make a buck not only irritates me but makes me question all of his "sources."

This sort of activity has always bothered me - but, in the end, if he wants to have 'credible' testing done on this thing then that isn't going to be cheap, so he has to get the funds from somewhere.

At least this case differs from MH/BM in the sense that Pye does have some physical evidence that can be tested to the satisfaction of the skeptics (or not; only time will tell), whereas MH/BM/FIGU seem to be running some sort of money-making cult based purely on faith.

I haven't looked too deeply into the 'star child' case (read "not at all") but one question that immediately came to my mind while listening to the radio show was "where is the rest of the skeleton?"



I find this 'human/alien' hybrid possibility interesting especially when you put it against another popular hypothesis, which is the idea that the reason we haven't found fossil evidence of Darwin's 'missing link' is because it doesn't exist and that we *modern humans* are ourselves some sort of alien-engineered 'hybrid'...

...therefore, the idea that 'civilisation' is only 5000 or 6000 years old could be true in the sense that it may have been around that time that we 'modern' humans were first 'introduced' to the planet.

 

[Manu]

the one single thing I absolutely did not like how David had made up his mind from the beginning, and stuck with it no matter what.

I couldn't agree more. It seemed that David had some agenda to protect Gould.

A good friend of mine used to work with Gould, and she is clear that while brilliant, he was absolutely narrow-minded about facts challenging his relatively view of anthropology, especially if the facts supported any so-called fringe theories.

This is typical of most "scientists," who cannot see beyond their own view of their disciplines.

Calling Pye (who went to some lengths to try to validate his researches scientifically) a liar, and then encouraging the caffenated ramblings of some woman telling "ghost" stories was incredibly hypocritcal.