Because the universe is beautiful enough without having to lie about it

Today’s game card – Stanton Friedman

September 1st, 2008 Posted in Game Cards

Today I bring you the first game card after my summer holiday, and it’s perhaps someone you won’t have heard of. But he’s a great example of the sort of craziness that even an intelligent human mind can fall to if left for too long without rational thought.  Today’s card is Stanton Friedman, once a fully-functional nuclear physicist, and now a professional ufologist.

Yes, that’s right, a man with a degree who actually thinks that UFOs are real and have been visiting Earth.  This man used to work on classified defence programs for McDonnell Douglas!  This is extraordinary, and really does illustrate the way in which a crazy idea can inflict pretty much anyone, regardless of intelligence.

I’ve given Friedman a 2/10 for stupidity.  Whatever he says, the guy used to be a nuclear physicist.  However, he’s pretty much as crazy as they come with regards to other aspects of his life – perhaps beaten only by certifiable nutjobs like Richard Hoagland.  I gave him 2/10 for evil too because, well, let’s face it, he looks like a fun kind of guy.  3/10 for danger represents the fact that people with scientific degrees who actually intellectually subsidise pseudoscience and idiocy are, of course, also giving ammunition to those who put forward ridiculous arguments claiming that lots of scientists massively question the solidity of scientific knowledge.

Stanton Friedman

Stanton Friedman

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  1. 3 Responses to “Today’s game card – Stanton Friedman”

  2. By Blueyeswise on Sep 1, 2008

    Stanton has been a ufologist for 50 years, not 5 and not 10 and not even 20 but 50. As well, he is retired, which makes no never mind since he has been in the UFO community for more years than I am old and has more knowledge on the subject than most anyone else.

    Your rude, facetious and very condescending tone toward any individual tells me that you would have bettered you life, not to mention the person you are had your PhD been achieved for psychology because you are capable of destroying people from the inside out.

  3. By Colin on Sep 1, 2008

    Hi,
    Thanks for your comments. Clearly you disagree strongly with what I wrote, so I won’t argue except to add a few short comments:

    Firstly, the length of time someone spends researching a subject has no bearing whatsoever on whether they are right or not. Isaac Newton spent most of his adult life studying alchemy, and was convinced of its truth, for example.

    Secondly, the fact that, in fifty years, Mr Friedman has turned up zero proof for his beliefs and is actually shunned by some of the more moderate ufologists for believing things that are generally rejected, seems to hint, to me at least, that he’s wasted the better part of his life chasing an illusion. Someone with a scientific education should have realised that by now.

    As I said, I have nothing against him personally – he’s probably a very nice man – he’s just massively deluded. That’s what this site is all about. I guess it’s a way for me to express my own personal incredulity that anyone can believe things that are so stupid. And when you make a living out of spreading stupid ideas, you put yourself up for legitimate ridicule.

    Yes, any idiot can criticise – it doesn’t take much skill – which makes me wonder why people do it so rarely, and why so many others hold beliefs that are so utterly insusceptible to rational defence.

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