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<\/p>\nThe Search for ET <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
By: Willow Lawson, from http:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/<\/p>\n
Summary: Jill Tarter scans the skies for radio signals, hoping to detect signs of intelligent life<\/p>\n
As a little girl, Jill Tarter took nighttime walks on the beach with her father, who taught her the map of the sky. She remembers looking up at the stars, thinking that somewhere out in the universe, the tiny points of starlight she saw were burning bright as someone else’s sun.
\nMore than five decades later, Tarter is the director of research at SETI, or the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence in Mountain View, California. SETI scientists use a complex network of telescopes and computers to scan the skies for radio signals elsewhere in the universe, hoping to detect signs of intelligent life-forms.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\nmore here
\n<\/a><\/p>\nThis piece brought some amusing reactions over at UFO Updates. <\/a><\/p>\n
Craig Beasley said.<\/p>\n
“Ufology may not have enough proof to “convince” anyone. SETI is
\neven more barren. In either case, it doesn’t invalidate the need
\nto look at either field of study. The SETI hard-cores refuse to
\nsee that simple truth. They are so eaten whole by the
\ncompetitive nature of establishment science that Ufology is seen
\nas a threat, when it is nothing of the sort.<\/p>\nI have a great respect for Dr. Tartar, as she has never rested
\non her laurels. It’s just so damned frustrating to see such a
\nsmart person willingly nurse such a massive blind spot.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\nMassive blindspot? Ms Tarter has chosen to concentrate on the hard sciences, not the woo-woo UFO stuff. What\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s wrong with that? She mentions that no evidence \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I.E.
\n\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cI don’t have any proof. There’s no evidence that would convince me as a scientist.\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d<\/em>
\nI don\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t see that as unfair, only to the people standing around with their hands in their pockets, anxiously waiting for SETI to validate their pet beliefs. There is no evidence *thus far* that would convince her, I suspect some evidence would ultimately convince her, why else would she be a director at SETI? Just because none in the UFO field can produce evidence that will convince her is not a reason to discount her out of hand. <\/p>\nIn the interview, Tarter repeats her story about flying in a light aircraft, thinking she\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s seeing a UFO and suddenly realizing that it\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s just the moon. The object of this tale is to say “look! I too see things that I can\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t explain but, I also look for more prosaic explanations over and above the fantastic.” This puts her at loggerheads with the believer community, some of them never met an ordinary explanation they liked. <\/p>\n
>My question then… Shouldn’t Jill – as a pilot and an
\n>astronomer – be embarrassed by her elemental lack of knowledge
\n>as to where the Moon would be?<\/p>\nAh, but you see, not every person is attuned to the SETI spin-
\nmachine as we are, so Dr. Tartar took a gamble.<\/p>\n1. She knows what you know, but expects others to miss the
\ninconsistencies. (and they call us “inconsistent”?)<\/p>\n2. She convinces herself that she means what she says, as an
\nunconscious aid to her mission to discredit Ufology.<\/p>\nEither way, she, and SETI by extension, continues to howl at the
\nmoon and bark up the wrong tree.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\nJ. Craig Beasley <\/a><\/p>\n
My beef is with these two pilots who appear to be rattling
\naround in the sky with no apparent knowledge of compass
\ndirection [disastrous in itself], the Moon’s position and of the
\ncloud cover or meteorological information. This is exacerbated
\nby Jill Tarter’s being a astronomer with no knowledge of the
\nMoon’s mechanics.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nDon Ledger <\/a><\/p>\n
Stan Friedman describes this concept much better, when he
\nillustrates this by saying, “It can’t be so there for it
\nisn’t…”<\/p>\nSome worship at the alter of so-called main stream science, but
\nthe truth is that ‘main stream science’ is filled with
\nclosed-minded folks who are unwilling to look beyond their own
\npre-conceived notions of reality and life.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nRobert Gates <\/a><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Anyone who can say this either doesn’t know how science works,
\nor is confusing it with religion.
\n<\/some><\/p><\/blockquote>\n– Larry Hatch
\n<\/a><\/p>\nHere here! At least SOMONE got a couple of brain cells to rub together! As I recall, Tarter was not actually piloting that night and in any case, its\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2 real easy for these self described experts of everything to know exactly what the Moon is going to look like at precisely this or that instant at whatever altitude with any random cloud cover. Not being an expert (but having flown in light aircraft many times) I can say with some confidence that things don\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t always look like we think they should look up in the sky. But it remains according to these people that Ms Tarter MUST be lying.<\/p>\n
She doesn\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t believe in aliens\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u00a6See? That proves it!<\/p>\n
And last but certanly not least! , My special fan-pal Al Lehmberg<\/a><\/p>\n
>Anyone who can say this either doesn’t know how science works,
\n>or is confusing it with religion.<\/p>\nI know how science works. It won’t remotely consider that which
\ncan’t be measured, repeated, or predicted, and it eliminates,
\naltogether, the observation that falls outside the narrow limits
\nof its perceivable probability.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nFunny Al! You just described how science doesn\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t work! But that is how religion works. Bzzzzz! Thanks for participating! Try again!<\/p>\n
It might be that anyone who gives their science such a carte-
\nblanche _is_ confusing it with religion.<\/p>\nThat which falls outside science’s 2% of purview might be
\nconsidered, still, forgetting some handy presto-digitations with
\nregard to gadgetry that has brought the planet to the brink of
\nmass extinction and encouraged some of the most egregious
\nbehaviors man can remotely visit on his fellow man.<\/p>\nScience be not proud.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
And…<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Wow! That’s it, isn’t it… but for a massive ‘blindspot’ the
\n“efficaciousness of the perspicacious soul leavened with
\nprovidential intellect, a progressive sentience, and a keen
\nsapienc is crippled.<\/p>\nAnd this after all that time allegedly spent actually looking
\ninto the night sky… astonishing! Had she _no_ idea that the
\nbigger she built the bonfire of her ‘knowledge’ the greater her
\nignorance must be lit?<\/p>\n“Venus” my ample can.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
<\/em><\/p>\n
Translated to those who can\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t read Lehmburgees;<\/p>\n
“She\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s smart but she\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s not very spiritual, she don\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t mean squat to a fat-assed old fart like me!”<\/em><\/p>\n
Ok, Al; be good now and take your meds\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u00a6. That\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s a boy! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Search for ET By: Willow Lawson, from http:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/ Summary: Jill Tarter scans the skies for radio signals, hoping to detect signs of intelligent life As a little girl, Jill Tarter took nighttime walks on the beach with her father, … Continue reading