Skeptic Copium

 

One question I often ask myself is: How would the skeptics deal with their own beliefs being proven untrue? Like with UFO's. What will the skeptics say and do when Disclosure happens? Readers of Roswell Rising- a Novel of Disclosure will know that in the fictional scenario I invented for the story, the skeptics all commit mass suicide, see: http://hpanwo-bb.blogspot.com/2016/08/roswell-rising-is-here.html. I actually think that would not happen in real life and I included it in the plot as a comedic jibe aimed at the skeptics. We actually do not have to speculate what they would do, because in some cases we already know because it's happened to them. I'm talking of course about Michael Shermer, see: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2018/06/michael-shermer-update-2.html. How a skeptic responds depends on the individual. The more arrogant and spiteful among their number, such as Prof. Brian Cox, will not have the emotional maturity to endure such a demolition of their ego-fuelled worldview. They will probably retire from the public eye. The more genial and open-minded, like Prof. Chris French and Mick West, will probably honestly swallow their humble pie and admit they were wrong all along. Another possibility is that some will attempt to rewrite their own history. "I said all along UFO's were aliens didn't I?" they will plaintively appeal. Of course in that situation we will have to remind them that they did in fact not; and we have them on record many times stating so. Nevertheless personal historical revisionism is surprisingly effective even when blatantly contradicted by facts. One science pundit who appears currently to be attempting some kind of controlled transformation is Prof. Simon Holland. Prof. Holland is a science vlogger on YouTube. With his fluffy white hair, educated Scottish accent and big spectacles he is the perfect portrait of a scientist. He covers many different subjects and sometimes delves into the weird and esoteric. He used to take a staunchly skeptical attitude, for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfBYG-YmtMo. Yet in his more recent material he appears to be changing his views in a very slow and subtle way. Here's a prime example he uploaded more than a year after the one above: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79n_fKly_Os. What I don't yet know is which camp Prof. Holland is falling into. Is his change of mind a natural unconscious drift of opinion caused by new evidence, like Michael Shermer, or does he see the writing on the wall and this is a conscious strategy to bury his past; to slide his way quietly up the starting grid in order to get to pole position before the Disclosure bomb finally drops?
See here for background: http://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2020/02/ufo-disclosure-portal.html.
And: https://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2021/08/skeptics-portal.html.