Sunday, 27 April 2008 08:07 pm
(no subject)
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deckardcanineNews outlets last week: Stephen Hawking says there must be extraterrestrial life!!
Me: That's news?!
Seriously, the guy's been a household name for a long time now. Has it never occurred to any reporter to ask his opinion on the matter? Did he abstain from answering? Did he change from a previous position? If either, why didn't they say so?
If Hawking had come up with an innovative perspective, I could see it making headlines. Instead, he firmly voiced a popular answer to a question whose affirmative has yet to be proven, and that's where the burden of proof lies. As I see it, the outlets that gave the most attention to his statement are aiming for emotions: Believers in space aliens will feel largely vindicated, and the rest might engage them in discussion.
This isn't scientific progress. This is gossip.
Me: That's news?!
Seriously, the guy's been a household name for a long time now. Has it never occurred to any reporter to ask his opinion on the matter? Did he abstain from answering? Did he change from a previous position? If either, why didn't they say so?
If Hawking had come up with an innovative perspective, I could see it making headlines. Instead, he firmly voiced a popular answer to a question whose affirmative has yet to be proven, and that's where the burden of proof lies. As I see it, the outlets that gave the most attention to his statement are aiming for emotions: Believers in space aliens will feel largely vindicated, and the rest might engage them in discussion.
This isn't scientific progress. This is gossip.