What can we learn from Pointy Parachutes?

[Guest guest]

Watching the " mold paradigm shift " reminds me of the shift in

perception that occurred as Hang Glider technology developed.

When flex wing Hang Gliders became popular, their performance was so

lacking that the public came to think of them as " Pointy Parachutes "

which required an act of brazen insanity to launch from a cliff, and

fervently hope the damn thing would start flying some time before

before impacting the ground.

After was taking pictures at EXACTLY 17,999 ft. Alt,

(one ft less than the legal limit of FL 18) and Larry Tudor had

exceeded 200 miles, many people still retained their initial

perception of the characteristics of " Hang Glider Death Traps " .

But things had definitely changed: http://users.ez2.net/skyfreak/

I had just landed after a flight on a very hot day and was hurriedly

stripping off my down jacket, gloves and goggles before I survived

Hang Gliding only to die of heat stroke, and someone walked out in

the field and asked me " Where did YOU come from? I didn't see you

here a moment ago "

When I gestured in the direction of the mountain I had launched

from, the response was " That's IMPOSSIBLE. You couldn't have come

that far "

Wow, here was a person in total denial of the evidence of his own

eyes!

I asked " Do you really think I just assembled this glider, put on my

harness, helmet and gear just so I could sneak out in this field and

sweat myself to death on a hot day? "

" Well, you MUST HAVE! Because I know that there is no way you could

have flown that far! "

This is incredible. Hard to believe, but there are many people out

there who cannot shift their preconceptions to fit reality without a

GREAT DEAL of evidence to surmount their fixed notions.

And this is what we are seeing with the manner in which " Mold

Awareness " is progressing.

Attitudes are shifting, but not often by a convincing demonstration

of the evidence.

It is literally taking sheer force of numbers to overwhelm the

belief system of intransigent persons who have the epistemological

inability to respond to such demonstrations of evidence.

This inability to alter firmly fixed convictions should be taken

into account when people manifest an inexplicable unwillingness to

bring their belief systems into accordance with reality.

When someone demonstrates that their knowledge is shaped by

consensus rather than science, the presentation will only be

compelling to them if it contains vast numbers and statistics.

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