Postby Technomancer » Fri Jun 03, 2005 10:47 am
When you hear hoof-beats, look for horses not zebras. In other words, apply Occam's Razor to such ideas.
We know for example, that there are unusual landforms that can "look like things", especially if the angle and lighting are correct. We also know that any civilization going out and building things on this scale would have had to leave much more unambiguous traces- cities and the like which are simply not seen anywhere on the surface of Mars. Likewise, from what we know of the planet's history it would not have been able to support life for very long- it's simply to small to hold an appreciable atomsphere. It's fairly safe to conclude then that such apparent monuments are really just natural landforms that have been misinterpreted through a combination of wishful thinking and flimflammery.
One article can be found at:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast24may_1.htm
In addition, Carl Sagan's book "Demon Haunted World" has a few very good things to say about the subject as well as such pseudo-science in general.
The scientific method," Thomas Henry Huxley once wrote, "is nothing but the normal working of the human mind." That is to say, when the mind is working; that is to say further, when it is engaged in corrrecting its mistakes. Taking this point of view, we may conclude that science is not physics, biology, or chemistry—is not even a "subject"—but a moral imperative drawn from a larger narrative whose purpose is to give perspective, balance, and humility to learning.
Neil Postman
(The End of Education)
Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge
Isaac Aasimov