Susceptibility to certain beliefs and ideologies can make people prey to manipulative and narcissistic personalities. In the field of UFOs, it happens all the time. But there is a way to fight back.
Dolan talks about the importance of critical thinking skills and integrity, where it is the evidence and the work of the researcher that is paramount, not the personality of the researcher as a guru who alone holds the key to "special knowledge". Dolan points out (once again) that the relationship of the researcher to the public is one of equality, where work is extensively footnoted, and where you can come to the same conclusions based on having the same level of access to the data. This is what real science is about.
Ideas, to have merit, need to be testable, or observable, and not be faith-based. Too many people are interested in "their truth" as opposed to the empirical truth.
This is a massively important video to watch that talks about epistemology, which the dictionary summarises as: the theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope, and the distinction between justified belief and opinion.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, September 2nd, 2019.]
Dolan talks about the importance of critical thinking skills and integrity, where it is the evidence and the work of the researcher that is paramount, not the personality of the researcher as a guru who alone holds the key to "special knowledge". Dolan points out (once again) that the relationship of the researcher to the public is one of equality, where work is extensively footnoted, and where you can come to the same conclusions based on having the same level of access to the data. This is what real science is about.
Ideas, to have merit, need to be testable, or observable, and not be faith-based. Too many people are interested in "their truth" as opposed to the empirical truth.
This is a massively important video to watch that talks about epistemology, which the dictionary summarises as: the theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope, and the distinction between justified belief and opinion.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather blog, September 2nd, 2019.]
