by Arouet » 27 Nov 2010, 00:50
Jakal: you are talking about a huge number of people, with all sorts of ideas. You are also not taking into account that many scientists may have seriously contemplated and even investigated or researched areas such as psi or the paranormal and rejected them as likely explanations.
You're also missing my point that science continues, we learn more and more about the universe all the time, our ideas about the universe expand all the time. There is no such thing as status quo when it comes to science. It is changing all the time.
And there are scientists who are studying psi. They are doing experiments, and there is discussion about those experiments. To date, we have little more than possible statistical anomalies. Perhaps one day there will be a breakthrough that mainstream science can't ignore. But that hasn't happened yet.
And it is hardly like people discuss paranormal issues hidden secretly in the closet. There is all sorts of discussion out there. All sorts of hypotheses. All sorts of "unknowns". All sorts of gaps. The history of science has been the filling in of those gaps. The future of science may even be to fill some of those gaps in with psi, or aliens, or whatever. But it must be done on sufficient reliable evidence. Most of what we see out there is speculation, anomaly hunting, and argument from ignorance. I know its makes people feel better to just believe that the only reason mainstream science doesn't accept these things is because they are closed-minded. But that's not very satisfying, is it? It's an easy scapegoat and draws attention away from the evidentiary problems involving the supernatural. It also draws attention away from the fact that we humans are flawed observers. That's what science aims to control for.