Does Desperation Drive Enthusiast's Sightings on Mars?

[GoldenRivet]

http://www.cnet.com/news/fish-shaped-rock-swims-into-nasa-photo-from-mars/#ftag=YHF65cbda0

Enthusiasts pour through image after image of the red planet's surface sent back from the mars rover, and in almost every frame, viewers from around the globe claim to have spotted everything from a face, to a person in a robe... from a rat to machine parts and now a fish.

But what fuels this frenzy of sightings? Is it just common people with limited scientific knowledge and information experiencing pareidolia, the phenomenon of humans looking for recognizable patterns in random chaos? or is it just sheer desperation for answers in the quest to once and for all prove that anything living exists outside the confines of our planet?

Personally, having taught many pilots about the various illusions their eyes and mind can experience and multitude of lies their bodies can tell, i remain skeptical of virtually anything that is sighted on the martian surface as virtually all of it - short of E.T. blatantly tapping on the camera lens - can be explained by some sort of geological or meteorological science.

I do however believe that there is a strong possibility that some sort of life does exist on mars, and in fact, on most other planets in our solar system. Albeit microscopic in nature, and difficult to find, i believe it is there nonetheless... probably residing in the soil, or in some subterranean thermal vent of some sort, deeper than the rover is able to access.

[mapuc]

It all depend on persons true belief

If he or she see something from Mars that they think looks a face, then they truly believe this.

Markus

[Betonov]

Pareidolia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia)

Pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon involving a stimulus (an image or a sound) wherein the mind perceives a familiar pattern of something where none actually exists.
Common examples are perceived images of animals, faces, or objects in cloud formations, the "man in the moon", the "moon rabbit", and hidden messages within recorded music played in reverse or at higher- or lower-than-normal speeds.
Perfectly healthy, a remnant from times when predators lurked in the woods ready to pounce on us.

Unhealthy when someone doesn't realise it has it.
Sees a face where there is no face and refuses to acknowledge it's only a trick of the mind.


Like the Ajdovska deklica near Vršič, Slovenia.
It's a natural rock formation, no one carved it and it still registers as a face.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/sl/archive/b/b7/20081218133240!Deklica.jpg

[Rockstar]

Ive been to Mars several times in the last few years and I can assure everyone there's nothing but rocks and dirt.

[u crank]

Ive been to Mars several times in the last few years and I can assure everyone there's nothing but rocks and dirt.

Did you see my sunglasses? That's the last place I remember having them.:hmmm:

[Mittelwaechter]

I have 'em!

When I'm home on Earth next year, I'll hand them back to you.

[Rockstar]

Face? I see a roller skate

http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/jky242/d019f82542dab52752549b495fabc322.jpg

[u crank]

I have 'em!

When I'm home on Earth next year, I'll hand them back to you.

Thanks. That is very kind of you. :D

[Rockstar]

And how do you know its a remnant from a time of hunter gatherer days. Why cant it be a a sense that is evolving into something mo' better

[Sailor Steve]

Ive been to Mars several times in the last few years and I can assure everyone there's nothing but rocks and dirt.
Of course you would say that. You're obviously part of the conspiracy. :shifty:

[Cybermat47]

I believe it's Human nature to see faces when there aren't any. The man on the moon, for example.

[Torplexed]

There's a guy named Joseph Skipper who runs a site called Mars Anomaly Research.

http://www.marsanomalyresearch.com/

It's basically a crank website which claims that NASA and the ESA have been doctoring space image data for many years, in an attempt to cover up the truth: that Mars and other bodies in the solar system are actually much more similar to the Earth than we are being told. The guy running it believes that Mars, the Moon, and various moons of outer planets are inhabited by a wide variety of alien lifeforms, including several advanced civilizations. The bulk of his "evidence" consisted of weirdly-shaped shadows which, with the right brightness/contrast settings manipulated in Photoshop, look exactly like farms, buildings, giant (we're talking miles wide) trees, or deliberate airbrushing of key features by the evil scientists. Skipper's theories are based on the premise that no information gathered by space probes is passed to the general public without inspection by "the authorities," who censor and obfuscate all evidence which contradicts their "illusion" of desiccated, cold, empty worlds. Of course, how they could keep such a scheme secret is never examined in detail.

Yup. Zoom in on a lossy jpeg and you will find all the wonders of the universe...if you let your imagination run riot.

[Eichhörnchen]

http://i.imgur.com/2oURu9n.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/xxxuYZQ.jpg

[Jimbuna]

I believe it's Human nature to see faces when there aren't any. The man on the moon, for example.

Not possible, everyone knows the moon is made of cheese.

[Catfish]

^ says .. Fox News, or The Sun?


But by all means, i hope we are NOT alone..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2tkpN719GI

[mapuc]

Not possible, everyone knows the moon is made of cheese.

Of course its made of cheese the next question is-what kind of cheese

The Moon is very old so this cheese has been matured for a long time

Markus

[Jimbuna]

Don't go forgetting the Daily Fail.

[Torplexed]

Funny how no ones sees "canals" on Mars anymore. But lots of other crap? Sure.

http://pyxis.homestead.com/Conspiracy_Theorists_Guide.jpg