On Wed, 26 Oct 2011 14:00:36 -0400, Warp wrote:

>   The major problem with ufologists and new age hippies is that they
>   *want*
> to believe their superstitions and unjustified hypotheses even if that
> means discarding completely plausible (and even fully demonstrable)
> natural earthly explanations.

It's even more involved than that - humans by their very nature are 
cognitively predisposed to accept as fact things that reinforce their 
beliefs, and to reject as being false things that challenge their beliefs.

It's not just ufologists and 'new age hippies' - it's pretty much anyone 
who believes something.  It's people who "believe" in climate change.  
It's people who "believe" the world is 6,000 years old.  It's people who 
believe the see ghosts, can contact spirits, or can communicate with the 
dead.

It's people who believe they have an eternal soul.

Those cognitive biases can be challenged, but only if the person having 
them is willing to do so.

Jim

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