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I'll take the bait: why is someone considered a lunatic for claiming that he was abducted by aliens? Do we have proof (or even very strong confidence) that ali

I'll take the bait: why is someone considered a lunatic for claiming that he was abducted by aliens? Do we have proof (or even very strong confidence) that aliens don't exist or that they do but don't abduct humans? If we do have strong confidence, then what's the justification for this? Do people likewise call all God-believers lunatics? If not, then what's the difference? In both cases people believe in an entity where there's no strong consensus on its existence.

Mark222 10y ago
Well, why would highly evolved beings with interplanetary travel go to some guy's bedroom to give him a good scare?
- mhb 10y ago
  No cat videos out there?
- zimbatm 10y ago
  Aliens works in mysterious ways?
- mordant 10y ago
  For the lulz?
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
ziszis 10y ago
Acceptable belief vs. True belief are independent. There are some beliefs that are acceptable (Jesus) and others that are not (Zeus, Scientology). They are equally likely depending on your perspective. The Internet has enabled people that think they have found a true belief that is unacceptable to find each other more easily than ever before. The creation of these micro belief systems is one of the most interesting aspects of the Internet. Lots of these on Reddit as an example.
- baby 10y ago
  > There are some beliefs that are acceptable (Jesus) and others that are not (Zeus, Scientology) This I don't agree. I find Greek Mythology more acceptable than Christianity. In some country the belief of Jesus is assimilated to being lunatic indeed. It's hard for me to believe that Creationism is taught in some schools in the US.
jimcsharp 10y ago
>Do people likewise call all God-believers lunatics? We don't call them lunatics. I guess the difference is that there's more of them, and it's just easier for everyone if we get along. Less so for the more fringe beliefs.
simias 10y ago
People claiming to have been personally visited by Jesus (in a non-metaphorical sense) are generally considered lunatics. People believing that alien life exists are also not generally considered lunatics. It's the fact that he claims to have been abducted and "taken to visit a distant star" that makes him sound unreliable. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
- psyc 10y ago
  Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. For you to believe them, sure. Not for them to be true.
  - simias 10y ago
    And where do we go from there? It's a nihilistic argument. I claim that Jesus and the alien from Roswell are sitting next to me at the moment. I'm Tupac Shakur by the way.
- chromalife 10y ago
  Agree with everything you say and it started a web search on Wikipedia. First off, does he have to provide evidence for his claims? From wikipedia on burden of proof, the burden of proof falls on the challenger of the status quo. Yes, to us the status quo is aliens don't abduct people, but living in Roswell during the 1970s the status quo could of been aliens have abducted everyone. Point is status quo changes depending on social and temporal setting. So how can we demand evidence on anything other than a consensus of our social setting? He has the argument of ignorance as we in this discussion do not have the means to proof he wasn't abducted by aliens. Now I accept that the argument of ignorance is a fallacy but I'm new to philosophy and am still working on understanding why it is a fallacy, other than just accepting it as a rule.
  - Nexxxeh 10y ago
    Not parent poster, but... It may be the sleep deprivation and caffeine talking, but I was not expecting today to contain "having my view changed so that self-proclaimed alien abductees are not to be considered lunatics". I feel you're wrong, but I can't articulate why, and what you are saying has an undeniable logic to it. This is unnerving.
psyc 10y ago
You know, I'm really surprised and pleased to see this comment, because it's exactly what I was going to say. It amazes me how confident people are that somehow they know all there is to know about extraterrestrial life. Whether it exists, what its probably like, how good their science and tech could be, whether they'd interact with us and how. It just amazes me that anybody thinks they know anything about this, let alone enough to be able to judge abduction claims as insanity. It's incredibly ignorant.
- Oletros 10y ago
  > It amazes me how confident people are that somehow they know all there is to know about extraterrestrial life. Who claims that?
xkcd-sucks 10y ago
People that publicly espouse their belief in having been abducted by aliens are certainly crazy
zhte415 10y ago
Indeed. I like pasta. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spagetti_monster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spagetti_monster

Mark222 10y ago

Well, why would highly evolved beings with interplanetary travel go to some guy's bedroom to give him a good scare?

mhb 10y ago
No cat videos out there?
zimbatm 10y ago
Aliens works in mysterious ways?
mordant 10y ago
For the lulz?
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

ziszis 10y ago

Acceptable belief vs. True belief are independent. There are some beliefs that are acceptable (Jesus) and others that are not (Zeus, Scientology). They are equally likely depending on your perspective. The Internet has enabled people that think they have found a true belief that is unacceptable to find each other more easily than ever before. The creation of these micro belief systems is one of the most interesting aspects of the Internet. Lots of these on Reddit as an example.

baby 10y ago
> There are some beliefs that are acceptable (Jesus) and others that are not (Zeus, Scientology) This I don't agree. I find Greek Mythology more acceptable than Christianity. In some country the belief of Jesus is assimilated to being lunatic indeed. It's hard for me to believe that Creationism is taught in some schools in the US.

jimcsharp 10y ago

>Do people likewise call all God-believers lunatics? We don't call them lunatics. I guess the difference is that there's more of them, and it's just easier for everyone if we get along. Less so for the more fringe beliefs.

simias 10y ago

People claiming to have been personally visited by Jesus (in a non-metaphorical sense) are generally considered lunatics. People believing that alien life exists are also not generally considered lunatics. It's the fact that he claims to have been abducted and "taken to visit a distant star" that makes him sound unreliable. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

psyc 10y ago
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. For you to believe them, sure. Not for them to be true.
- simias 10y ago
  And where do we go from there? It's a nihilistic argument. I claim that Jesus and the alien from Roswell are sitting next to me at the moment. I'm Tupac Shakur by the way.
chromalife 10y ago
Agree with everything you say and it started a web search on Wikipedia. First off, does he have to provide evidence for his claims? From wikipedia on burden of proof, the burden of proof falls on the challenger of the status quo. Yes, to us the status quo is aliens don't abduct people, but living in Roswell during the 1970s the status quo could of been aliens have abducted everyone. Point is status quo changes depending on social and temporal setting. So how can we demand evidence on anything other than a consensus of our social setting? He has the argument of ignorance as we in this discussion do not have the means to proof he wasn't abducted by aliens. Now I accept that the argument of ignorance is a fallacy but I'm new to philosophy and am still working on understanding why it is a fallacy, other than just accepting it as a rule.
- Nexxxeh 10y ago
  Not parent poster, but... It may be the sleep deprivation and caffeine talking, but I was not expecting today to contain "having my view changed so that self-proclaimed alien abductees are not to be considered lunatics". I feel you're wrong, but I can't articulate why, and what you are saying has an undeniable logic to it. This is unnerving.

psyc 10y ago

You know, I'm really surprised and pleased to see this comment, because it's exactly what I was going to say. It amazes me how confident people are that somehow they know all there is to know about extraterrestrial life. Whether it exists, what its probably like, how good their science and tech could be, whether they'd interact with us and how. It just amazes me that anybody thinks they know anything about this, let alone enough to be able to judge abduction claims as insanity. It's incredibly ignorant.

Oletros 10y ago
> It amazes me how confident people are that somehow they know all there is to know about extraterrestrial life. Who claims that?

xkcd-sucks 10y ago

People that publicly espouse their belief in having been abducted by aliens are certainly crazy

zhte415 10y ago

Indeed. I like pasta. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spagetti_monster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spagetti_monster