Carl%20Sagan%20-%20The%20Demon%20Haunted%20World

THE DEMON-HAUNTED WORLD
What Mack really means when he talks about beings from other
dimensions is that, despite his patients' occasional descriptions of
their experiences as dreams and hallucinations, he hasn't the
foggiest notion of what they are. But, tellingly, when he tries to
describe them, he reaches for physics and mathematics. He wants
it both ways - the language and credibility of science, but without
being bound by its method and rules. He seems not to realize that
the credibility is a consequence of the method.
The main challenge posed by Mack's cases is the old one of
how to teach critical thinking more broadly and more deeply in
a society - conceivably even including Harvard professors of
psychiatry - awash in gullibility. The idea that critical thinking
is the latest western fad is silly. If you're buying a used car in
Singapore or Bangkok, or a used chariot in ancient Susa or
Rome, the same precautions will be useful as in Cambridge,
Massachusetts.
When you buy a used car, you might very much want to believe
what the salesman is saying: 'So much car for so little money!'
And anyway, it takes work to be sceptical; you have to know
something about cars, and it's unpleasant to make the salesman
angry at you. Despite all that, though, you recognize that the
salesman might have a motive to shade the truth, and you've
heard of other people in similar situations being taken. So you
kick the tyres, look under the hood, go for a test drive, ask
searching questions. You might even bring along a mechanically
inclined friend. You know that some scepticism is required and
you understand why. There is usually at least a small degree of
hostile confrontation involved in the purchase of a used car and
nobody claims it's an especially cheering experience. But if you
don't exercise some minimal scepticism, if you have an absolutely
untrammelled gullibility, there's a price you'll have to pay later.
Then you'll wish you had made a small investment of scepticism
early on.
Many homes in America now have moderately sophisticated
burglar alarm systems, including infrared sensors and cameras
triggered by motion. An authentic videotape, with time and date
denoted, showing an alien incursion - especially as they slip
through the walls - might be very good evidence. If millions of
174