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Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is nothing supernatural about faeries.
Cryptozoology? I still think it can fall into the supernatural somewhat?
This was explored in a semi-fictional and slightly humourous way in the short-lived period drama 'Houdini & Doyle': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houdini_%26_Doyle
There's a lot about Doyle that was atypical. Brilliant mind. But he believed in some pretty supernatural stuff as well. Faeries and the like. Imagine what you believe in now that will seem fanciful in a century.
There's a lot about Doyle that was atypical. Brilliant mind. But he believed in some pretty supernatural stuff as well. Faeries and the like. Imagine what you believe in now that will seem fanciful in a century.
The corollary is that when you believe something people think is silly, like that faeries exist, they may be wrong. This is particularly tricky with beliefs like this one which are technically impossible to empirically disprove.
This article makes it seem like he personally investigated the cases, he didn’t. What he did was help publicize them and write long book length summaries of the evidence to convince people. He also published a “pamphlet” on Belgian colonial exploitation of the Congo. He worked directly with the lawyers / investigators to get the facts and used his fame and writing ability to get public attention.
Conan Doyle was fascinating, I highly recommend the biography Teller of Tales, he was prescient about a lot of things (submarine warfare, other military issues during WWI) but also fooled by the rampant fraud in the spiritualist movement, like the Cottingley photographs. This article makes it seem like he personally investigated the cases, he didn’t. What he did was help publicize them and write long book length summ…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Cryptozoology? I still think it can fall into the supernatural somewhat?
They're supernatural in terms of literary genre, but in terms of the actual content of the belief there's nothing supernatural about the idea that there could be people much smaller than us (unless you also claim they have magical powers).
And I believe that from a bio-mechanical (muscular, skeletal) point of view, insect-like wings capable on sustaining flight are not possible on a human back.
For an interesting take on this, see the Artemis Fowl series of books where fairies don't have actual wings but are much more advanced that us regular humans, and fly thanks to technological winged backpacks, and this is the origin of the human myth of fairies (they started hiding after middle age, thus why the myth stayed intact).
Conan Doyle was fascinating, I highly recommend the biography Teller of Tales, he was prescient about a lot of things (submarine warfare, other military issues during WWI) but also fooled by the rampant fraud in the spiritualist movement, like the Cottingley photographs. This article makes it seem like he personally investigated the cases, he didn’t. What he did was help publicize them and write long book length summ…
He was also one of the prime suspects behind https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piltdown_Man fraud which set back scientific community in general, and anthropology in particular quite a bit.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
He was also one of the prime suspects behind https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piltdown_Man fraud which set back scientific community in general, and anthropology in particular quite a bit.
I thought Doyle was fairly quickly ruled out. Charles Dawson seems most likely, has been connected with other frauds and half his collection was fake.
I remember reading this in the 90s in SciAm which was supposedly linked to his deep resentment of scientific community in general.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
They're supernatural in terms of literary genre, but in terms of the actual content of the belief there's nothing supernatural about the idea that there could be people much smaller than us (unless you also claim they have magical powers).
Well no, a major characteristic of a fairy it that it flies , it has insect-like wings in the back. And I believe that from a bio-mechanical (muscular, skeletal) point of view, insect-like wings capable on sustaining flight are not possible on a human back. For an interesting take on this, see the Artemis Fowl series of books where fairies don't have actual wings but are much more advanced that us regular humans, and…
I guess I'm using a definition of "supernatural" like Richard Carrier's: "mental things [that] cannot be reduced to nonmental things" (http://richardcarrier.blogspot.com/2007/01/defining-supernat...).
So under this definition wizards, psychics, ghosts and gods are all supernatural; but Bigfoot, UFO abductions and fairies aren't.
The Artemis Fowl series is great. Although in the context of this discussion I find it funny that the fairies do have magical powers, it's just that flying isn't one of them.