In 3-D and Technicolor.
Also called the Copernican Principle, it solves so many problems around lack of evidence. What cannot be demonstrated can merely be asserted:
… planet scientists felt free to assert in 2011 that there were billions of worlds. Some bid as high as ten billion or tens of billions: We learn that “Every star twinkling in the night sky plays host to an average of 1.6 planets, a new study suggests.” “That implies there are some 10 billion Earth-sized planets in our galaxy.” And “Using a technique called gravitational microlensing, an international team found a handful of exoplanets that imply the existence of billions more.”
Inspired by the Kepler mission’s science chief William Borucki, one reporter enthused:
How’s this for an astronomical estimate? There are at least 50 billion exoplanets in our galaxy. What’s more, astronomers estimate that 500 million of these alien worlds are probably sitting inside the habitable zones of their parent stars.
A 2013 estimate pegged alien planets that could support life at 60 billion. More.
Such pronouncements are as definitive as Abracadabra!, and every bit as likely to help us toward the desired prize.
And, as always, when magical thinking is invoked, there is an underlying price to pay, in terms of what we must forget.
Another fine product from methodological naturalism TM.
See also:
What Has Materialism Done for Science?
Big Bang exterminator wanted, will train
Copernicus, you are not going to believe who is using your name. Or how.
This post introduces: “Behold, Countless Earths Sail the Galaxies … That Is, if You Would Only Believe