Carl Sagan y los UFO

["Juan Antē Espejo, ApeironSoft Shareware" <apeiron@...>]

>  With a more serious effort, Sagan could surely have made a better
> case against UFO reality -- here and elsewhere.  Then again, had he
> and a team of peers studied ten strong sighting cases with the same
> resources, time, and intellectual energy they applied to -- say -- the
> Voyager mission, maybe he could have ended up arguing *for* UFO
> reality.  Like too many of his prominent colleagues, Sagan was not
> always willing to give the UFO phenomenon his full scientific
> attention.  

I think Dr. Sagan explained this in his last book. Recall that he was a
young man when the UFO craze hit in the early 50's. He records that he was
an avid devourer of pulp science fiction, and regarded the UFO reports with
some interest. It was a little later, once he had been introduced to the
scientific method, that he asked the obvious question - How do we make the
logical leap from 'unidentified' to 'extraterrestrial'?

This is the same question that skeptics have been asking UFO believers
since the start of this whole story, a question which is universally
greeted with a deafening silence. We do not dispute that there are a large
number of sightings which are truly 'unidentified'. All this means,
however, is that there is not sufficient information to be able to make a
positive identification. To extrapolate 'unidentified' to 'extraterrestrial
spaceship' is unwarranted, and runs completely counter to the scientific
method. The are any number of more mundane explanations which, in the
absence of sufficient information, are just a likely (and probably, more
likely) as the 'alien ET' hypothesis.

The other point is that true science requires is that the proponent of any
extraordinary claim must provide proof for his own hypothesis. If such
proof is not forthcoming, said proponent should not be surpised to find his
hypothesis rejected by the scientific community at large. The situation is
no different with the ET hypothesis. Those who claim that 'unidentified'
means 'extraterrestrial' must be prepared to provide physical proof of
these assertions. Blurry photographs and suspicious 'testimonies' are not
going to cut it.

>      All that said, the universe is poorer without him.

Amen.

-Curt