Typhoon wrote:Smithsonian |Why Do So Many People Still Want to Believe in Bigfoot?
The debate has been raging for half a century, which raises a question of its own. “How is it that the evidence has not gotten any better despite the exponential increase in the quantity and quality of cameras?” asks Benjamin Radford, a research fellow with the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.
Quite.
excellent article. I can agree with the following:
"Some people see these cryptohominids as symbols of pure freedom, living by instinct and foiling every effort to pin them down. To search for Bigfoot in the forest is to taste that freedom. On the trail, you become extra-attuned to nature: the smell of scat, the sounds of breaking branches, the curious impressions in the dirt. As long as there are wild places in America, Bigfoot remains a possibility that, to its most ardent proponents, cannot be disproved.
The hunt for Bigfoot emulates an earlier mode of discovery, when new knowledge was not the product of advanced degrees and expensive machinery but rather curiosity, bravery, patience and survival. In the 19th century, the American landscape revealed its majesties to ordinary settlers pushing westward into territory unmapped by Europeans. To track Bigfoot today is to channel that frontier spirit (as well as to appropriate Native American traditions)."
But.... since the Smithsonian is part of the cover up, and they have recovered Bigfoot bodies in their freezer, what would you expect them to publish?
I worked with an astronomer at NRAO, his whole career was dedicated to describing the different frequencies of radiation and their sources. He could not discuss even the possibility of intelligent life in space for even a millisecond, without risking damage to his professional credibility. Sounded worse than the most oppressive church police. I thought, "How sad and dry is that line of work?"
But for him it was not sad or dry, he considered himself an explorer. Someday, he may very make a break thru discovery. I suspect many if not most researchers are of the same mindset as Bigfoot hunters, they all are driven by a sense of wonder, and maybe even by the desire to be the next Columbus.
I suspect that the reason for so much junk science these days. Hard to get funding for decades of research without some sensational claims every couple years to keep the money flowing.
