Yeah, at least that ex-Cocaine addict guy used to have a brain. Gore, on the other hand, is running on a slightly specialized 6502 processor, which is great for running some legacy assembly apps. In fact, I've been thinking of porting over Ultima II: The Revenge of the Enchantress.
Not that I'm compelled to believe any of the UFO stuff -- nothing's made me really think about it being possible, yet -- but there is a major flaw in your argument. Specifically, the implication that, given all other stages of development were equal, technological development would go at the same pace as it did on Earth. It's entirely conceivable that a sentient people were first born a thousand years after us, but hit the high technology jackpot three thousand years before us. Even further, one of the fundamental aspects of your (I would hope) troll is your determination of so-called "alien technology" being only a few hundred years ahead of us. I fail to see how technological advancement can be gauged from what little "eyewitness" reports have told. And, further, how to gauge the technological advancement of a separate, alien species which, though it would have to evolve in a very similar setting as the setting in which we evolved, is ultimately a different environment that has been historically populated by different people. It's impossible, based upon all of the variables for someone to state that this IS or ISN'T possible.
Which is also the fundamental reason for "UFOlogy" not being taken seriously from a scientific standpoint. What aspects of it are not sensationalism, are not provable or disprovable by scientific means. It's one part untestable, two parts sensationalist propaganda. The latter parts take the first part as a given, and trumpet it as proof of some sort. Well, I can't, by science alone, prove that someone won't give you four hundred and fifty billion dollars exactly 6 seconds after you've read this. But what does that mean? Certainly not that it's going to happen. Just that there exists some chance of it, which, in my estimation, is so close to zero, it may as well be zero. And until there exists some truly compelling evidence that makes me believe otherwise, I will continue to dismiss that possibility.
This "alien/human hybrid" skull is certainly not the evidence that will make me start believing in "visitors." A cursory examination tells me its the skull of a tragically, and seriously deformed human being. If the DNA tests show something spetacular, then we can talk about it being an alien.
And then again, he never suggested that Columbus not get credit for his discovery. What he said is that people give Columbus way too much credit. Which is certainly true when he's being grouped into the category of genius because he had this inane idea about how far west he'd have to sail to get to Japan. The guy was wrong. The guy had no clue what he was doing, and if he hadn't ran smack dab into America so soon, he would've been toast. Does this mean he discovered America? Yeah, okay, sure. I'll accept that. Does he get credit it for then? Well, sure, he discovered it. He gets a Holiday named after him and everything. Does this make him a genius? No. It makes him a guy who had an idea and was either ballsy or stupid enough to test it out.
Your penicillin example isn't exactly analogous. The accidental discovery of the fungus is one thing; that Fleming knew enough to realize he had something in that fungus and apply it to a variety of situations certainly lends some justification to "genius", were anyone to describe him as such.
Oh, and when someone says, "My kid could draw that," whether or not it was done first or not is moot. The point they are making, and the point you, as an artist, are obligated to miss, is, "Why should I pay for something my kid can draw?" Hmm? Because it's done by a professional artist? Bah!
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Yeah, at least that ex-Cocaine addict guy used to have a brain. Gore, on the other hand, is running on a slightly specialized 6502 processor, which is great for running some legacy assembly apps. In fact, I've been thinking of porting over Ultima II: The Revenge of the Enchantress.
Not that I'm compelled to believe any of the UFO stuff -- nothing's made me really think about it being possible, yet -- but there is a major flaw in your argument. Specifically, the implication that, given all other stages of development were equal, technological development would go at the same pace as it did on Earth. It's entirely conceivable that a sentient people were first born a thousand years after us, but hit the high technology jackpot three thousand years before us. Even further, one of the fundamental aspects of your (I would hope) troll is your determination of so-called "alien technology" being only a few hundred years ahead of us. I fail to see how technological advancement can be gauged from what little "eyewitness" reports have told. And, further, how to gauge the technological advancement of a separate, alien species which, though it would have to evolve in a very similar setting as the setting in which we evolved, is ultimately a different environment that has been historically populated by different people. It's impossible, based upon all of the variables for someone to state that this IS or ISN'T possible.
Which is also the fundamental reason for "UFOlogy" not being taken seriously from a scientific standpoint. What aspects of it are not sensationalism, are not provable or disprovable by scientific means. It's one part untestable, two parts sensationalist propaganda. The latter parts take the first part as a given, and trumpet it as proof of some sort. Well, I can't, by science alone, prove that someone won't give you four hundred and fifty billion dollars exactly 6 seconds after you've read this. But what does that mean? Certainly not that it's going to happen. Just that there exists some chance of it, which, in my estimation, is so close to zero, it may as well be zero. And until there exists some truly compelling evidence that makes me believe otherwise, I will continue to dismiss that possibility.
This "alien/human hybrid" skull is certainly not the evidence that will make me start believing in "visitors." A cursory examination tells me its the skull of a tragically, and seriously deformed human being. If the DNA tests show something spetacular, then we can talk about it being an alien.
And then again, he never suggested that Columbus not get credit for his discovery. What he said is that people give Columbus way too much credit. Which is certainly true when he's being grouped into the category of genius because he had this inane idea about how far west he'd have to sail to get to Japan. The guy was wrong. The guy had no clue what he was doing, and if he hadn't ran smack dab into America so soon, he would've been toast. Does this mean he discovered America? Yeah, okay, sure. I'll accept that. Does he get credit it for then? Well, sure, he discovered it. He gets a Holiday named after him and everything. Does this make him a genius? No. It makes him a guy who had an idea and was either ballsy or stupid enough to test it out.
Your penicillin example isn't exactly analogous. The accidental discovery of the fungus is one thing; that Fleming knew enough to realize he had something in that fungus and apply it to a variety of situations certainly lends some justification to "genius", were anyone to describe him as such.
Oh, and when someone says, "My kid could draw that," whether or not it was done first or not is moot. The point they are making, and the point you, as an artist, are obligated to miss, is, "Why should I pay for something my kid can draw?" Hmm? Because it's done by a professional artist? Bah!