Episode 5: The Evidence of Alien Abductions, with Dr. David Jacobs
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This is a fun one. Skeptics, stick with this one if you can; the psyconodrabble ("The Bunker") at the end will make it worth your while. In a response of sorts to episode 4, Dr. David M. Jacobs and I discuss the evidence for alien abductions. Be sure to listen toward the end, we talk about the mean old jerks who call themselves "skeptics." I have too much to say about this interview, and once you listen, I think you'll understand. We get into some deep water. Expect a blog post later in the week about this one.
Assorted links:
Dr. Jacobs' organization, The International Center for Abduction Research
Dr. Jacobs' book The THREAT: Revealing the Secret Alien Agenda on Amazon
My interview with Dr. Chris French, a skeptic of the alien abduction phenomenon.
This is a fun one. Skeptics, stick with this one if you can; the psyconodrabble ("The Bunker") at the end will make it worth your while. In a response of sorts to episode 4, Dr. David M. Jacobs and I discuss the evidence for alien abductions. Be sure to listen toward the end, we talk about the mean old jerks who call themselves "skeptics." I have too much to say about this interview, and once you listen, I think you'll understand. We get into some deep water. Expect a blog post later in the week about this one.
Download | Duration: 00:42:13
Assorted links:
Dr. Jacobs' organization, The International Center for Abduction Research
Dr. Jacobs' book The THREAT: Revealing the Secret Alien Agenda on Amazon
My interview with Dr. Chris French, a skeptic of the alien abduction phenomenon.
Posted by Psyconoclast at 7/27/2009 12:39 AM 
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: memory episode 4 science interviews with believers episode 5 psychology aliens
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: memory episode 4 science interviews with believers episode 5 psychology aliens
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8/3/2009 8:31 PM
Psyconoclasm wrote:
About a week ago, I posted my interview with Dr. David Jacobs, of the International Center for Abduction Research.
I thought this was a very interesting interview. I consider myself a skeptic and I went into this quite skeptical, but I'm willing to be open minded about some of what I heard. Here's where I agreed and disagreed with him:
Agreed:
Skeptics can be a little bit "knee-jerky" when it comes to being skeptical. I think it's a fair critique that we can be a little too quick to dismiss ideas that are a little bit "out there" such as alien abduction, before hearing the information from someone who has seriously studied the issue for many years.
I agree that "road hypnosis" could not explain what these people say happened to them.
Disagreed:
His story about how he was interviewed alongside a doctor and since this doctor had not studied alien abduction in depth the way Dr. Jacobs has, this doctor is not qualified to discuss/debate the issue with him. Probably no one has studied the issue in as much depth as Dr. Jacobs, so you'd probably never find someone who Dr. Jacobs might feel is qualified to debate him.
He also dismisses this doctor when the doctor says that he has studied the scientific method and human memory. Those are good qualifications. I think they're especially good because Dr. Jacobs said something that concerned me regarding his understanding of memory: he said that the people he talked to had experienced the abductions very recently and not many years ago. Memory even of recent events can be very faulty. It's not just event that occurred long ago that can be faulty.
So while I agree that skeptics can be too quick to dismiss, alien abduction experiences are really an area that need a healthy dose of critical thinking.
Good interview. Michael
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I just listened to the episode. Gosh! Why did you not challenge him during the episode???
I had the impression to listen to Skeptiko or worse "The paranormal podcast" by Jim Harold (on second tought, I don't know wich one is worse).
First off, why did you interview Dr. David Jacobs in the first place? Yeah, because he's not a psychologist, he's an historian. So WTF?
After that, so much stuff you could have said to him, like, for exemple, that testimonies and scars are not evidence of anything? Does he has actual evidence of alien visitation? No he doesn't. Thank you, goodbye.
Another exemple, why abductees don't record stuff on camera or take pictures? He claims in one of his books that if you try to take an abudction on cam it will fail because the alien would know it and abort the operation. Come on...
Have you read his books before doing the interview? Do you know stuff about the UFO phenomena? Are you skeptical???
And when he started to do his skeptical-bashing... I mean, come on, I have a skeptical podcast in French. If I interview a proponent and he starts to say that kind of stuff, it wouldnt go away with it like that. Skeptics don't know the evidence? Well, of course, because what he considers as evidence actually are not, but ok...
Fun to listen to it (even if having read David Jacobs books they were nos suprise) for listening to a ufo-proponent, but as a skeptical podcast goes, that was like... 0 out of 10?
I think in half an hour you asked maybe 1 skeptical question. OK, let's be wild, maybe 2...
Really bad... Maybe you should stop. I had hope for a real skeptical podcast about psychology, and it's turning in an paranormal show... Astrology and alien abduction, that's not psychology, that's woo-woo stuff...
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