It's bad enough that here some can't seem to correctly quote the eminent scientist, Carl Sagan, on the basics of science. Recent case in point:
"Please don't misquote Carl Sagan!
"In the closed thread titled 'Cont'd from Tal's thread about Dawkins,' Henry Bemis quoted part of a paragraph from the book 'The Demon Haunted World' by Carl Sagan, see:
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1381790,1382073#msg-1382073"I believe the quote is deliberately deceptive, and it appears to be extensively used by the very pseudoscientific community that Carl was criticizing in his book."
("Please don't misquote Carl Sagan!," posted by "The Invisible Green Potato," on "Recovery from Mormonism" board, 21 Septebmer 2014, at:
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1383077,1383077#msg-1383077)
Stripping Carl Sagan of his scientific sensibilities in order to score pseudo-scientific points with superstitious gibberish is, unfortunately, nothing new 'round these parts. In a previous thread, RfM poster “johnsmithson” drank the Kolob Kool-Aid in claiming that Sagan bought the bull on Martians and Spaceships:
“ . . . Carl Sagan believed in his own absurdities, namely extraterrestrials and unidentified flying objects.”
(“ Re: 'Religion is simply a community of people who gather together on a regular basis to reassure each other that it is okay to continue believing in absurdities.' Carl Sagan, " by poster "johnsmithson," on "Recoever from Mormonism bulletin board,' 11 January 2013, at:
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,757992,758033#msg-758033)
Huh?
This is an old and, frankly, ignorant claim that has made the rounds on RfM before. In yet another misguided fly-by , for example, it was asserted that Sagan admitted he believed in E.T.s but couldn't say so publicly, allegedly for fear of losing university funding for his science projects. RfM poster "darth jesus" declared:
"It's not mainstream [but] a lot of people, including the brilliant Carl Sagan, said he didn't want to go public with his beliefs in extra-terrestrials for fear of losing grants. Who can't blame him."
("Re: I am not aware of any general scientific consensus that alien creatures have visited Earth, made contact with its human population, kidnapped them, experimented on them and/or... ," posted by "darth jesus," on "Recovery from Mormonism" bulletin board, 28 October 2011, at:
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,329160,329506#msg-329506; for the entire thread, see "Wakey, Wakey Time! Science Speaks: So-Called "Out-of-Body" Alien Encounters Are Products of Human-Mind Imagination," posted by "steve benson," on "RfM" bulletin board, 27 October 2011, at:
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,329160)
Talk about a moonshot from the back lot. Where, exactly, did this spectacular Sagan confession supposedly take place?
Backstage at a Johnny Carson "Tonight Show" episode in 1984.
Let's take a closer look at the details.
There is, indeed, a breathless story floating around out there in outer space, er, cyberspace about Sagan supposedly coming clean on UFOs. It's one about which "darth jesus" as well as others should be reasonably skeptical (but about which he unfortunately doesn't appear to be so inclined).
It's also the one "darth jesus" cites that actually came courtesy of a UFO-buff publication out of Denver--the "Denver UFO Examiner (DUE)"--which was passed on by "DUE" (not to be confused with "Sheri Dew") from the "ZlandCommunications News Network," or "ZNN" (not to be confused with "CNN").
"ZNN" announced that "[r]enowned astronomer and astrophysicist Dr. Carl Sagan revealed to [astronomer, professor and ufologist] Dr. J. Allen Hynek that he believed UFOs were real but avoided any public statements to prevent the loss of academic research funding. Sagan's once powerful influence on mainstream science to play-down the reality of UFOs is now in question."
Ooooooh. Actually, Sagan made plenty of statements about UFOs (and extra-terrestrial life) in public but will get to that in a bit.
First, let's examine the source of these suspect claims, as provided by the "ZNN" article itself:
"In an interview with research journalist and author Paola Leopizzi-Harris, she told 'ZlandCommunications':
“'My RECOLLECTION is that Hynek said it was backstage of one of the many Johnny Carson "Tonight" shows Sagan did. He [Sagan] BASICALLY SAID [to Hynek] in 1984, ‘I know UFOs are real, but I would not risk my research [college] funding, as you do, to talk openly about them in public.’"
Note that Leopizzi-Harris describes her claim as a "recollection" of a statement Sagan is alleged to have made backstage during the Johnny Carson "Tonight Show," in 1984, to an individual who is now dead (Hynet having died back in 1986).
Not exactly a meteoric trail of blazing evidence.
Moreover, Sagan's alleged connection to Hynek appears to be a bit speculative, with the same article describing "Sagan’s link to UFOs and POSSIBLY to Dr. Hynek [as having] occurred in 1966 when Sagan was a member of the Ad Hoc Committee to Review Project Blue Book."
("Carl Sagan Knew UFOs Are Real, Confidant Reveals, but Kept Viewpoint Quiet to Avoid Losing Funding," by Jeff Peckman, "Denver UFO Examiner," 6 May 2010, at:
http://www.examiner.com/ufo-in-denver/carl-sagan-knew-ufos-are-real-confidant-reveals-but-kept-viewpoint-quiet-to-avoid-losing-funding, emphasis added)
Just how credible is "ZlandCommunications News Network"? Let's allow "ZNN" to answer in its own internet promotional where, among other amazing developments, it reports that "an ET presence [is] now engaging the planet."
The "ZlandCommunications News Network" describes itself on its blog (in rather sensationalistic language) as "a news service dedicated to the compilation, distribution and analysis of news relating to the Disclosure of information concerning the EXTRATERRESTRIAL PRESENCE ENGAGING THE PLANET AS MANIFESTED BY THE UFO PHENOMENON AND OTHER RELATED ANOMALOUS EVENTS."
("Zyland Communications" blogspot at:
http://zlandcommunications.blogspot.com/, emphasis added)
Prepare for War of the Worlds.
OK, so what about the writer for the "Denver UFO Examiner," Jeff Peckman, who relayed Sagan's alleged UFO confession from "ZNN"?
To be polite, Peckman comes across as a non-mainstream "science writer" (using that term quite loosely), as demonstrated by this dramatic description of what he does:
"Jeff Peckman's 'Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission' campaign and 'alien-in-the-window-video' press conference became global news in 2008. He advocates exposing government cover-ups of UFO's and extraterrestrials."
("Jeff Peckman," at:
http://www.examiner.com/ufo-in-denver/jeff-peckman)
Below are details unmentioned in the above description concerning the life, times, education and career of Jeff Peckman (including about his "Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission" and "alien-in-the-window" video):
"Peckman attended Maharishi International University in Iowa for one year. . .
"In 1998 Peckman ran for the United States Senate as a member of the Natural Law Party, receiving 0.31% of the votes and coming in fifth in a field of seven. He is a practitioner and teacher of Transcendental Meditation. He promotes Metatron Technology, which he says defends against 'harmful electromagnetic waves' by transforming them into 'desirable healthy energy.'
"In 2003, Peckman got an initiative on the ballot in Denver which said, 'Shall the voters for the city and county of Denver adopt an initiative ordinance to require the city to help ensure public safety by increasing peacefulness?' The initiative failed to gain enough votes to pass. . .
"Since 2008 Peckman has attempted to create an 'Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission' within the Denver city government, to prepare for visits from extraterrestrials. Peckman gathered 4000 signatures to place his proposal for the seven-member commission on the November 2008 general-election ballot in Denver. However, he declined to file the paperwork for the November 2008 election, in the hope that an incoming Obama administration would release material on extraterrestrials to the public.
"In 2009 the initiative received over 7000 signatures for the 2010 Ballot. After validation by the Denver Elections Division, it was determined that the number of valid signatures was insufficient, leaving 1000 valid signatures still required. This insufficiency was resolved by the end of November 2009, and Initiative 300 was put on Denver's November 2010 election ballot. The initiative was opposed by a group calling itself 'M.I.B.' ['Men in Black,' perhaps?]. In the election, Initiative 300 was rejected by 82.34% of Denver voters. . . .
"Jeff Peckman appeared on the May 3, 2011, Denver Mayoral ballot in a field of 10 other candidates, though one had dropped out before the election. Out of over 110,000 votes cast, Peckman received only 796 votes, coming in second to last place. . . .
"Peckman is an advocate for disclosure of UFO and extraterrestrial phenomena who gained media attention in 2008 when he publicly displayed a video of a purported extraterrestrial in Denver, Colorado.
"Peckman publicly screened the video on May 30, 2008, at Metropolitan State College in Denver and forbid photos by reporters. The three-minute video contained images of a 'white creature with a balloon-shaped head' and large dark eyes that blinked and looked through a window said to be 8 feet above the ground.
"The video was said to have been made by Stan Romanek, July 17, 2003, in Nebraska. A documentary including the footage was scheduled for release in 2008 but was delayed. Area skeptics used a rented alien costume and video editing software to produce a hoax version of the video that reproduced many of the movements, although experts who viewed the Romanek video assert there was no post-production editing of that video."
("Jeff Peckman," at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Peckman)
Peckman is obviously not only out of the mainstream, he appears to be flying far outside Earth orbit.
(for an idea of some of his other wild-eyed rides, see: "Jeff Peckman: What I Examine," at:
http://www.examiner.com/user-jpeckman108)
Lemme get this straight. Carl Sagan spilled his guts about his secret belief in UFOs on the backstage set of the Johnny Carson "Tonight Show," which was then reliably conveyed to the world by bizarro UFO-boosting websites?
What's that I hear?:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzlG28B-R8YSorry, "johnsmithson," "darth jesus" and others, but the next sound you're about to hear is your Death Star exploding:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMkC_lKxrVo_____
As a wrap-up, what did Sagan actually say for the record about extra-terrestrial intelligence and UFOs?
Despite what some may insist about Sagan's supposed "belief" in "extra-terrestrials," Sagan appears to have taken a decidedly more measured approach to the question.
What Sagan did say was that he regarded scientific investigation into whether extra-terrestrial intelligence exists as a project to be approached with a mixture of personal exhilaration and hard-science skepticism.
The well-respected "PBS" science-reporting source, "NOVA," reported:
"Carl Sagan was captivated by the notion of life beyond Earth. Yet, in [a NOVA] interview, conducted shortly before the well-known champion of science died in 1996, Sagan says that extraterrestrial intelligence is 'a wonderful prospect, but requires the most severe and rigorous standards of evidence.' Sagan doubted that the various proponents of so-called 'alien abduction' making headlines in the 1990s had met those scientific standards."
In a publicly-broadcast television interview with "NOVA," Sagan was asked to "[s]peculate for a moment on the parts of human nature, the commonality of believing in abductions, or aliens anyway, and the part of human nature that wants to search for other life forms in the universe."
Sagan responded:
"I personally have been captured by the notion of extraterrestrial life, and especially extraterrestrial intelligence, from childhood. It swept me up, and I've been involved in sending spacecraft to nearby planets to look for life and in the radio search for extraterrestrial intelligence. It would be an absolutely transforming event in human history.
"But, the stakes are so high on whether it's true or false that we must demand the more rigorous standards of evidence--precisely because it's so exciting. That's the circumstance in which our hopes may dominate our skeptical scrutiny of the data. So, we have to be very careful. There have been a few instances in the [past]. We thought we found something, and it always turned out to be explicable.
"So, a kind of skepticism is routinely applied to the radio search for extraterrestrial intelligence by its most fervent proponents. I do not see [in] the alien abduction situation a similar rigorous application of scientific skepticism by its proponents. Instead, I see enormous acceptance at face value, and leading the witness, and all sorts of suggestions. Plus, the contamination by the general culture of this idea.
"It seems to me there is a big difference between the two approaches to extraterrestrial intelligence, although I'm frequently written to [to] say how could I search for extraterrestrial intelligence and disbelieve that we're being visited. I don't see any contradiction at all. It's a wonderful prospect, but requires the most severe and rigorous standards of evidence."
Sagan was also asked to "comment on . . . the quality of the evidence that is put forward by these so-called 'abduction proponents.'"
Sagan responded:
"Well, it's almost entirely anecdote. Someone says something happened to them, and people can say anything. The fact that someone says something doesn't mean it's true. Doesn't mean they're lying, but it doesn't mean it's true.
"To be taken seriously, you need physical evidence that can be examined at leisure by skeptical scientists: a scraping of the whole ship, and the discovery that it contains isotopic ratios that aren't present on Earth, chemical elements from the so-called island of stability, very heavy elements that don't exist on Earth. Or material of absolutely bizarre properties of many sorts--electrical conductivity or ductility. There are many things like that that would instantly give serious credence to an account.
"But there's no scrapings, no interior photographs, no filched page from the captain's log book. All there are are stories. There are instances of disturbed soil, but I can disturb soil with a shovel. There are instances of people claiming to flash lights at UFOs and the UFOs flash back. But pilots of airplanes can also flash back, especially if they think it would be a good joke to play on the UFO enthusiast. So, that does not constitute good evidence.
"A very interesting example of this sort of thing is the so-called crop circles in England in which wheat and rye and other grains--these beautiful immense circles appeared and then--this was in the '70s and '80s--and then over progressive years, more and more complex geometries. And there were lots of people who said that these were made by UFOs that were landing and that it was too complex or too highly mathematical to be a hoax.
"And it turns out that two blokes in Southern England, at their regular bar one night, thought it would be a good idea to make a kind of hoax to see if they could lure in UFO enthusiasts. And they succeeded every time--every time an explanation was proferred: a peculiar kind of wind, they then made another one which contradicted that hypothesis. And they were very pleased when it was said that no human intelligence could do this. That gave them great satisfaction. And for 15 years, they succeeded in these nocturnal expeditions using rope and board--all the technology they needed.
"And in their 60's, they finally confessed to the press with a demonstration of how it was done. And, of course, the confession received very little play in the media. And the claims of alien influence had received prominent exposure."
("Carl Sagan on Alien Abduction," broadcast by "NOVA," 27 February 1996, at:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/space/sagan-alien-abduction.html)
In his magnificent book, "The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark" (which won Sagan the "Los Angeles Times"' Book Prize for Science and Technology), Sagan pointedly debunked myth after myth surrounding claims regarding extra-terrestrial life and alleged E.T. contact with Earth's inhabitants.
These myths include, as Sagan listed and commented on them, the following:
--the "Martin canal myth"
Based on "Mariner" and "Viking" spacecraft exploratory missions to the Red Planet, Sagan concluded that supposed evidence for intelligently-designed "hundreds of 'classical' canals carrying water from the polar caps through the arid deserts to the parched equatorial cities simply did not exist." He dismissed such claims as being based on "an illusion; some malfunction of the human hand-eye-brain combination at the limit of resolution when we peer through an unsteady and turbulent atmosphere."
(p. 49)
--astronaut John Glenn's "evocative report of 'fireflies' surrounding his space capsule"
Sagan complained that Glenn's strange report helped fire up unsubstantiated claims, noting that "every time an astronaut reported seeing something not immediately understood, there were those who deduced 'aliens.' Prosaic explanations--specks of paint flecking off the ship in the space environment, say--were dismissed with contempt. The lure of the marvelous blunts our critical faculties."
(pp. 49-50)
--other supposedly "overlooked" anomalies that, during the Apollo lunar landings, had allegedly been missed by "NASA scientists and astronauts"
Sagan noted that these features--according to "non-experts" armed with small telescopes and "flying saucer zealots" writing for aerospace magazines--included "gigantic Latin letters and Arabic numerals inscribed on the lunar surface, pyramids, highways, crosses, [and] glowing UFOs."
Other supposedly unnoticed realities included "[b]ridges [that] were reported on the Moon, radio antennas, the tracks of enormous crawling vehicles, and the devastation left by machines able to slice craters in two."
Sagan observed that "[e]very one these claims . . . turn[ed] out to be a natural lunar geological formation misjudged by amateur analysts, internal reflections in the optics of the astronauts' Hasselblad cameras, and the like."
Sagan added that "[s]ome enthusiasts discerned the long shadows of ballistic missiles--Soviet missiles it was ominously confided, aimed at America. The rockets, also described as 'spires,' turn[ed] out to be low hills casting long shadows when the Sun is near the lunar horizon. A little trigonometry dispel[led] the mirage."
(ibid.)
--"visit[s] by extraterrestrial beings in UFOs"
Sagan rejected the claims of what he described as "self-described abductees," concluding that while "most seem very sincere," they are "caught in the grip of powerful emotions."
He skeptically asked, "[C]ould there really be a massive alien invasion, repugnant medical procedures performed on millions of innocent men, women, and children; humans apparently used as breeding stock over many decades--and all this not generally known and dealt with by responsible media, physicians, scientists, and the governments sworn to protect the lives and well-being of their citizens? Or, as many have suggested, is there a massive government conspiracy to keep the citizens from the truth?"
(pp. 64-65)
Sagan questioned the very nature of these supposed alien escapades conducted at the expense of the Earth's human inhabitants:
"Why should [alien] beings so advanced in physics and engineering--crossing vast interstellar distances, walking like ghosts through walls--be so backward when it comes to biology?
"Why, if the aliens are trying to do their business in secret, wouldn't they perfectly expunge all memories of the abductions? Too hard for them to do?
"Why are the examining instruments macroscopic and so reminiscent of what can be found at the neighborhood medical clinic?
"Why go to all the trouble of repeated sexual encounters between aliens and humans?
"Why not steal a few egg and sperm cells, read the full genetic code, and then manufacture as many copies as you like with whatever genetic variations happen to suit your fancy? Even we humans, who as yet cannot quickly cross interstellar space or slither through walls, are able to clone cells.
"How could humans be the result of an alien breeding program if we share 99.6 percent of our active genes with the chimpanzees? We're more closely related to chimps than rats are to mice.
"The preoccupation with reproduction in these accounts raises a warning flag--especially considering the uneasy balance between sexual impulse and societal repression that has always characterized the human condition, and the fact that we live in a time fraught with numerous ghastly accounts, both true and false, of childhood sexual abuse."
(p. 65)
--"abduct[ions] by aliens"
Sagan complained that some pollsters "never asked [Americans surveyed] whether [they had] been abducted by aliens. They deduced it. Those who've ever awakened with strange presences around them, who've ever unaccountably seemed to fly through
the air, and so on, [had] therefore been abducted. The pollsters didn't even check to see if sensing presences, flying, etc., were part of the same or separate incidents. Their conclusion--that millions of Americans have been so abducted--is spurious, based on careless experimental design."
(ibid.)
--"On the matter of UFOs, how strong are the proofs?"
Not very strong at all, answered Sagan:
"I had been interested in the possibility of extraterrestrial life from childhood, from long before I ever heard of flying saucers. I've remained fascinated long after my early enthusiasm for UFOs waned--as I understood more about that remorseless taskmaster called the scientific method.
"Everything hinges on the matter of evidence. On so important question, the evidence must be airtight. The more we want it to be true, the more careful we have to be. No witness' say-so is good enough. People make mistakes. People play practical jokes. People stretch the truth for money or attention or fame. People occasionally misunderstand what they're seeing. People sometimes even see things that aren't there.
"Essentially all the UFO cases were anecdotes, something asserted.
"UFOs were described variously as rapidly moving or hovering, disc-shaped, cigar-shaped, or ball-shaped; moving silently or noisily, with fiery exhaust, or with no exhaust at all; accompanied by flashing lights, or uniformly glowing with a silvery cast, or self-luminous.
"The diversity of the observations hinted that they had no common origin, and that the use of such terms as UFOs or 'flying saucers' served only to confuse the issue by grouping generically a set of unrelated phenomena. . . .
"Most people honestly reported what they saw, but what they saw were natural, if unfamiliar, phenomena. Some UFO sightings turned out to be unconventional aircraft, conventional aircraft with unusual lighting patterns, high-altitude balloons, luminescent insects, planets seen under unusual atmospheric conditions, optical mirages and looming, lenticular clouds, ball lightning, sundogs, meteors including green fireballs, and satellites, nosecones, and rocket boosters spectacularly re-entering the atmosphere. Just conceivably, a few might be small comets dissipating in the upper air. At least some radar reports were due to 'anomalous propagation'--radio waves traveling curved paths due to atmospheric temperature inversions. Tradtionally, they were also called radar 'angels'--somethng that seems to be there but isn't. You could have simultaneous visual and radar sightings without there being any 'there' there. . . .
"Many UFO photos turned out to be fakes--small models hanging by thin threads, often photographed in a double exposure. A UFO seen by thousands of people at a football game turned out to be a college fraternity prank--a piece of cardboard, some candles,and a thin plastic bag that dry cleaning comes in, all cobbled together to make a rudimentary hot air balloon.
"The original crashed saucer account (with the little alien men and their perfect teeth) turned out to be a straight-out hoax. Frank Scully, columnist for 'Variety,' passed on a story told by an oilman friend; it played a central dramatic role in Scully's best-selling 1950 book, 'Behind the Flying Saucers.' Sixteen dead aliens from Venus, each three feet high, had been found in one of three crashed saucers. Booklets with alien pictograms had been recovered. The military was covering up. The implications were profound.
"The hoaxers were Silas Newton, who said he used radio waves to prospect for gold and oil, and a mysterious 'Dr. Gee' who turned out to be a Mr. GeBauer. Newton produced a gear from the UFO machinery and flashed close-up saucer photos. But he did not allow close inspection. When a prepared skeptic, through sleight of hand, switched gears and sent the alien artifact away for analysis, it turned out to be made of kitchen-pot aluminum. . . .
"All in all, the alleged evidence seemed thin--most often devolving into gullibility, hoax, hallucination, misunderstanding of the natural world, hopes and fears disguised as evidence, and a craving for attention, fame, and fortune. Too bad, I remember thinking.
"Since then, I've been lucky enough to be involved in sending spacecraft to other planets to look for life; and in listening for possible radio signals from alien civilizations, if any, on planets of distant stars. We've had a few tantalizing moments.
"But if the suspected signal isn't available for every grumpy skeptic to pick over, we cannot call it evidence of extraterrestrial life--no matter how appealing we find the notion. We'll just have to wait until, if such a time ever comes, better data are available. We've not yet found compelling evidence for life behond the Earth. We're only at the very beginning of the search, though. New and better information might emerge, for all we know, tomorrow.
"I don't think anyone could be more interested than I am in whether we're being visited. It would save me so much time and effort to be able to study extraterrestrial life directly and nearby, rather than at best indirectly and at a great distance. Even if the aliens are short, dour and sexually obsessed--if they're here, I want to know about them."
(pp. 66, 69-73)
(Carl Sagan, "The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark,' in Chapter 4, "Aliens" [New York, New York: Ballantine Books, 1997]; for additional Sagan commentary on UFOs, see Chapter 5, "Spoofing and Secrecy," pp. 81-96; and Chapter 6, "Hallucinations," pp. 99-104)
**********
Carl Sagan was a cautious, healthy, inquisitive and demanding skeptic when it came to evaluating claims of, and beliefs in, extra-terrestrial intelligence/E.T. visits to Earth. It is safe to say that he would not appreciate those who misrepresent his views or his mindset. His goal was to disinfect a demon-haunted world where some seem to "think" that the demons doing the haunting are the scientists.
Are we next going to hear that aliens from beyond our galaxy have dropped by Earth and delivered up the Book of Mormon gold plates? Why, of course we are. Just ask the Angel Moroni when he floats down through your bedroom ceiling tonight.
But, please, while you're making your inquiries of Moonbeam Moroni, could you at least quit misquoting Sagan?
Thank you.
Edited 9 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/2014 12:18PM by steve benson.