Posthuman Blues

I think I'm going to write to the editor of "Skeptic" regarding the pseudo-scholarship in the new issue (see yesterday's post). Professional "debunkers" (note the quotes, since these guys aren't really debunking anything at all) comprise a cult as voracious and inflexible as any UFO contact group. "Debunkers" (and their readers) want to be reassured in the same way that true believers in Christly ETs want to be reassured. Facts are neatly swept aside to make room for the same endlessly rehashed "explanations."

Roswell and the Face on Mars are among the "debunking" cult's favorite subjects, precisely because there is so much puzzling data surrounding them. A rigorous truth-seeking article on the alleged Roswell crash could fill volumes.

Why did Gen. Arthur Exon, in taped statements, confirm the arrival of exotic metal at Wright-Patterson and subsequent lab analysis? You won't find the answer in the pages of "Skeptic." In fact, you won't even find his name. There's good reason for this.

What did Dr. Robert Sarbacher mean when he dicussed a high-level working team and insect-like alien bodies? Hmmm. "Skeptic" leaves him out of its revisionist scenario as well . . . which is ironic, since the 'zine's Editor-in-Chief, Michael Shermer, is an historian who (correctly) debunks Holocaust denial and its "revisionist" adherents.

I like to think of my Mars book as a raised fist against this kind of intellectual blinkering. It kicks SETI in its collective head and exposes debunking attempts as the feeble would-be ideological assassinations they are.

In other news...

Is "The Matrix Reloaded" out? I think so, in which case I might have to take it in Sat. night. I also want to buy the book "Exploring the Matrix," which features essays by such iconic cyberpunks as Bruce Sterling and John Shirley.