Mermaid in the News!

[ProfWag]

I'm curious to what your take is on the report of a mermaid being spotted in Israel. The brief news report can be found here: http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/story?id=8310324&page=1
Obviously with me being a skeptic, I have my my doubts, but it would be educational to me to hear what non-skeptics have to say about this.
Thanks for time
ProfWag

[NinjaPuppy]

[ProfWag]

Thanks for your thoughts Ninjapuppy!

[The Warrigal]

I agree with NinjaPuppy.

This reeks of a marketing ploy cooked up to boost the tourist economy.

Should anybody ever win the offered $1,000,000 prize for photographing the creature then I suspect that the photograph will be as or less convincing than any of the alleged Bigfoot or Loch Ness Monster pictures out there.

Actually that prize money offer only strengthens my cynical notion that this IS a marketers hoax and I live in a part of Australia where local tourist operators a bit over a century ago were quite notorious for creating "historic attractions" and circulating colourful accounts of strange animals such as the "Blue Mountains Lion."

I don't THINK that mermaids ever existed in the artistically romanticised form, but do find it fully credible that in an earlier era seamen may well have spotted creatures such as dugong which when seen from a distance with the naked eye, might have given the illusion of a beast that was half human and half fish.

Early reports thence got embellished with every retelling of the tale, thus leading to the popular image of mermaids which have been handed down to us by artists and creative writers.

[ProfWag]

Okay, so that's two people who think the mermaid story is probably fabricated. If that story is probably false, then why can't bigfoot, UFOs, and psychics be so easily dismissed? They all have had people fabricate stories for profit as well.

[The Warrigal]

Hi Professor Wagg.

I do not think that anybody here is disputing that that such things as UFOs, and Bigfoot sightings cannot be, or have not frequently been hoaxes.

Nor is there any doubt that psychic abilities can also be faked and often are.

I don't think that any such a thing as the "supernatural" exists.

Even the most baffling and elusive of phenomena will always prove, in the end to be part of the natural world.

Or such is my untutored opinion.

That includes such things as previously unclassified animal species, classified aircraft of an earthly origin, along with the likes of psychic ability, mediumship apparitions, spirit hauntings and poltergeist phenomena.

A great deal of this phenemena is VERY elusive and frustratingly hard to even investigate properly.

So if professionals choose to leave this sort of investigation to the privately funded amateurs, at least for the time being, far be it from me to say that public scientific grants should be spent on paranormal research when there are other, arguably more urgent and rewarding fields of reseach already yielding socially valuable results.

[NinjaPuppy]

[ProfWag]

Wow, really great posts with excellent insights! Thanks for taking the time to post your opinions. Very interesting indeed!

[NinjaPuppy]

Now on to psychic ability.

Since it is neither animal, vegetable or mineral, it's a pretty hard thing for the average person to comprehend. I believe it exists. I do not believe that it exists as it is portrayed in the Hollywood movies or of course most public claims made by people seeking money/fame/fortune/power.

Let's start out with the instincts of animals that seem to be able to predict major weather phenomenon. Or for that fact, the person who can fairly accurately predict rain or changes in the weather by an old injury that acts up. 100% accurate? Not by any means but still pretty interesting in my book. Does it prove on danged thing? Not really. It's pretty much like looking at a barometer and getting the exact same predition.

We have highly educated people who make a very good living at predictions. They're called 'meteorologists'. Now talk about an area of highly studied science that is nothing more than the interpretation of scientific fact that still can't get it 100% right most of the time. All the money spent on sophisticated equipment, education, research and we still don't know if we should take an umbella with us when we go out the door some days.

How on earth can skeptics expect psychic abilities to be proven if a known phenomenom like the weather can't be accurately explained? We are talking people with degrees ranging between BS and PhDs who make a career out of this particular science and will go on TV to give their most educated 'guess'. I particularly recall a meteorologist stating that there was NO RAIN in today's forcast. He was positive beyond a shadow of a doubt. Too bad he didn't look out the window because it was pouring rain at the time of his forcast. This particular meteorologist had PhD after his name.

Not all things can be explained by science. Not from lack of trying or education either. I'm not saying that science is reponsible to prove that psychic ability exists. However, how can anyone expect an average person to explain their own belief of having psychic ability? Without some basic belief of it's existence it will always be impossible to find any information pro or con.

Do some people seem to possess some skill or talent that relates to the modern day definition of psychic ability? Yes. Is it worth researching? I say yes. Research in any unknown field can eventually prove beneficial. Even if it's only to prove that something isn't as we believe it is. To simply deny the existence of something because it is based on only personal experience or unfounded scientific exploration is sort of closed minded. If there are groups that have a desire to investigate something they believe to be possible, why would an opposing mind set feel it so important to make that belief any less worthy of thought?

Skeptical thinking is what keeps things in check. It adds a solid dose of reality to any theory but mostly it should never be responsible for the absolute last word on any subject. It should direct collected information into compartments that create more questions to be explored. Some compartments being dead ends and others being new thinking toward the same old questions until a subject is proven either way beyond a shadow of a doubt.

You will have to excuse me, but I think it's time for me to look for my tinfoil hat.

[Scepcop]

[ProfWag]