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<blockquote data-quote="keezymama" data-source="post: 3173655" data-attributes="member: 94129">Right, here&#039;s the problem with this, and why such discussions never end well: what people fall back on is what they consider to be proof. It&#039;s proof to them because that is what convinced them in the first place. Obviously it&#039;s not particularly rigorous, but there&#039;s nothing anyone can do about that. The other problem is most people don&#039;t seem to differentiate between ideas and empirically observable phenomena. So, for example, UFOs:UFOs exist. There is incontrovertible proof. People see them all the time. That is proof to an extent. Just because they turn out to be planes, balloons, or your insane genius friend&#039;s new jetpack and bacofoil flight suit doesn&#039;t stop it from being a UFO to the person who saw it. So while the object is unidentified and flying, it&#039;s a UFO.As for aliens, you may not be able to prove or disprove aliens, but that doesn&#039;t make the idea any less valid. The issue becomes when people conflate the idea with the reality. At the moment we have zero proof of aliens. We can have a theoretical/philosophical discussion on the subject, but no one can truly say whether or not they exist because there&#039;s no proof either way. So ultimately is does come back to the burden of proof. So people, remember this: If you want to say something which is going to cause a stir either back it up as rigorously as possible with evidence, or clarify what you&#039;re getting at. Posting something about &#039;chi balls&#039; is likely to get people like myself replying with the same phrase, but leaving out the &#039;chi&#039; bit.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="keezymama, post: 3173655, member: 94129"] Right, here's the problem with this, and why such discussions never end well: what people fall back on is what they consider to be proof. It's proof to them because that is what convinced them in the first place. Obviously it's not particularly rigorous, but there's nothing anyone can do about that. The other problem is most people don't seem to differentiate between ideas and empirically observable phenomena. So, for example, UFOs: UFOs exist. There is incontrovertible proof. People see them all the time. That is proof to an extent. Just because they turn out to be planes, balloons, or your insane genius friend's new jetpack and bacofoil flight suit doesn't stop it from being a UFO to the person who saw it. So while the object is unidentified and flying, it's a UFO. As for aliens, you may not be able to prove or disprove aliens, but that doesn't make the idea any less valid. The issue becomes when people conflate the idea with the reality. At the moment we have zero proof of aliens. We can have a theoretical/philosophical discussion on the subject, but no one can truly say whether or not they exist because there's no proof either way. So ultimately is does come back to the burden of proof. So people, remember this: If you want to say something which is going to cause a stir either back it up as rigorously as possible with evidence, or clarify what you're getting at. Posting something about 'chi balls' is likely to get people like myself replying with the same phrase, but leaving out the 'chi' bit. [/QUOTE]

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