unforum

[Prime_SoCal]

[META] Could Sherlock Holmes solve this mystery ?

[nooneimportant77]

um i'm in because i'm all for using just the facts and not silly theories but i dont really think there is enough info to really solve anything we dont know already

[AfterDystopia]

Re: Could Sherlock Holmes solve this mystery with so many clues?

[TVRotBrain]

I don't think Slusho is involved. The term red herring comes to mind. You bringing up Sherlock Holmes made me put them together. I googled red herring Sherlock Holmes.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-red-herring.htm said,

"a red herring is an item which has no use in the story except to distract the reader from the real culprit. The red herring can take the form of a character, which the reader may believe to be the killer, only to discover later that he is innocent. Or it can take the form of an item(Slusho) which readers believe to be the clue to a discovery, but which turns out to be worthless."

http://changingminds.org/disciplines/storytelling/devices/red_herring.htm said, "The genius of Sherlock Holmes is sometimes shown in the way he is not distracted by red herrings that fools his partner Dr. Watson (and perhaps the reader)."

[Prime_SoCal]

Another excellent observation! You would make Holmes proud!

Watson was forever led astray and jumped to erroneous conclusions by Red Herrings... not so Holmes though!

My point is this... We have several hypotheses floating around right here on this forum. Some are quite good but all have holes, some large, some small, and yet, we still seem no closer to an answer. Should we not be able to synthesize a more probable solution by melding all of them down into their best parts.

In "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches" Holmes himself said, "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we shall no doubt find waiting for us."

We seem to be throwing up our hands and saying this is as far as we can get for now until we have fresh information, OR could it also be that we just have to apply better reasoning skills to the clues we have now...

In "A Study in Scarlet" Holmes tells us, "In solving a problem of this sort, the grand thing is to be able to reason backward. That is a very useful accomplishment, and a very easy one, but people do not practise it much. In the everyday affairs of life it is more useful to reason forward, and so the other comes to be neglected. There are fifty who can reason synthetically for one who can reason analytically."

He goes on to say, "Most people, if you describe a train of events to them, will tell you what the result would be. They can put those events together in their minds, and argue from them that something will come to pass. There are few people, however, who, if told them a result, would be able to evolve from their own inner consciousness what the steps were which led up to that result. This power is what I mean when I talk of reasoning backward, or analytically."

We have in our hands the photos of the preceding events and the aftermath, we have the poster which gives us it's own evidence and we have the trailer which is real time and is RICH in clues, and we have the roar which tells us a lot also...

Now we just need to reason backwards in an analytical fashion, apply the clues to determine what transpired...

Maybe we all need to put Holmes method in our pipes and puff on that for awhile.

[TVRotBrain]

I get what you're saying and you are definitely versed in the ways of Holmes.

But I see a major difference between his stories and what is being asked of us. In his stories, he uses deductive reasoning, science, common sense and fact. He is able to limit his possibilities and eventually narrow them down to find a culprit. Someone who has human motivations for what they do. His adventures are a work of fiction.

We however are dealing with science-fiction. Our possibilities our limitless. It could be aliens, it could be a sea-creature, it could be a giant cat.

[mbinthefeebles]

Now this is a post.