[Ed Seedhouse[_2_]]

On Aug 17, 2:40*pm, "Fred." wrote:

I'm just suggesting that an open mind can be profitiable. *Accepted,
published science is often correct, but also has a long history of
being just plain wrong about what is possible and what is not. *Once
in a great while the obvious crackpot is correct.

But in order to prove themselves correct they need to provide the same
thing as the non crackpots, namely sufficient evidence. Until they or
someone else provides such evidence, crackpots they remain.

A skeptic by definition, by the way, has to have an open mind, since
to be a skeptic requires that one can tell when evidence does or does
not support a claim. When the evidence does support a claim then if
the skeptic does not accept it he or she isn't really a skeptic at
all.

And of course if you are going to use the old saw about the necessity
for an open mind, you can be expected to be countered by the equally
ancient observation that one's mind should not be so open that one's
brain falls out.