Tuesday, March 21, 2006





Don't look now, but Richard Hoagland is at it again . . .

(I rag on him for what I feel are legitimate reasons, but he rarely fails to entertain.)
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4 comments:

Ken said...

"Once again, Hoagland does great harm to the search for Martian Anomalies. That's not my opinion, that's fact. Relying on bleeping COMIC BOOKS! Children's pulp fiction! What's he think he's doing? Any reasonably normal person will look at this and figure us ALL for fools! No wonder we're held in general contempt and disrepute, and the entire field discarded!"

You took the words right out of my mouth. I don't think Hoagland really cares at all about the progress of science; he just wants the publicity. Unfortunately there are plenty of idiots out there who are more than willing to give it to him.

Science requires the discipline (extremely difficult for some folks) of being as objective as possible. Those who comprise Hoagland's cult-following do not have the capacity for this objectivity. Their minds are filled with sci-fi stories, they want to believe in Martian pyramids and crashed saucers so badly that they begin to see these everywhere. Hey, for some it's human nature (and it's an aspect of human nature that doesn't particularly inspire much confidence in our species, at that). Hoagland himself may be one of these sci-fi nuts incapable of enough objectivity to do (or even to recognize and appreciate) good science. In any case I think he also possesses enough awareness of this weakness in himself, and he's learned to detect the same in others, and to exploit it for his own ends.

But have no fear. No matter how much little men like Richard Hoagland run their mouths -- and no matter how big of a cult following he manages to amass aroud himself -- in fact he is doing very little damage to true scientific endeavor in the long run. Men like him accomplish very little in their lifetimes, period. Someday true, proper science WILL discover whether or not there was once a civilization on Mars. By the time that great day arrives, nobody will even remember Richard Hoagland.

In the domain of scientific discovery, only authentic men achieve immortality.

6:29 PM
Carol Maltby said...

If you actually look into it rather than opinionating on it, you'll see that the comic has a track record in online comic price guides.

Are there ways we pick up information without consciously knowing we're doing it, or having a source that is causal?

Sure. Think about what seemed to be precognitive images of the two towers being struck, that showed up on popular culture pre-9/11, from the Lone gunmen episode to the album cover.

What I find really interesting is that the "Face on Mars" name, of all the things they could have called it, appeared so far in advance of the Cydonian feature being called that all over the English-speaking world.

I will, however check with DiPietro and Molenaar to see if there is any way they could have seen this comic as kids.

7:07 PM
Paul Kimball said...

Sorry, but as far as I'm concerned Hoagland is simply a money-grubbing kook.

Jack Kirby??

Sheesh...

Paul

9:03 PM
Ken said...

Bear,

I think Ken's point is that Hoagland's conjectures smack more of pop-culture than it does of proper science. Whether or not his musings about Martian faces in comic books may make some people wonder, it certainly does not help in gaining the respect and ear of the scientific community. He wants the artificiality hypothesis to be taken seriously by people who matter. I don't blame him.

5:43 PM

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