❝Don’t you believe in flying saucers?, they ask me. Don’t you believe in telepathy? — in ancient astronauts? — in the Bermuda triangle? — in life after death?
No, I reply. No, no, no, no, and again no.
One person recently, goaded into desperation by the litany of unrelieved negation, burst out “Don’t you believe in anything?”
“Yes”, I said. “I believe in evidence. I believe in observation, measurement, and reasoning, confirmed by independent observers. I’ll believe anything, no matter how wild and ridiculous, if there is evidence for it. The wilder and more ridiculous something is, however, the firmer and more solid the evidence will have to be.❞
— Isaac Asimov
“The Roving Mind” (Dec. 1997) by Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke
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2 responses to “Don’t you believe in anything?”
I believe in rocks. I believe in good science. I believe in puppies. With all there is to believe in, I don’t have to believe in myths and fairy tales.
When people ask me that or some form of that question I always answer them with this. I believe in me. I believe that if I study all the information available, then I am capable of making my own decision as to what I think.