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FQXi BLOGS
CATEGORY: Blog
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TOPIC: Are UFOs Foundational?
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Readers of this blog have been pressing me (offline) this month with a sensible question: why am I not discussing the Stephenville UFO? After all, what could be more paradigm-shifting than solid evidence of sentient, technological, extraterrestrial life, and life that is visiting Earth, no less? Haven't we commented several times here on the possibility of alien civilization? Indeed, isn't one of the questions in which FQX as a whole claims to have an interest that of whether life is ubiquitous in the universe?
Yes indeed. But there's a catch; and, strange to say, the catch is what makes Foundational research so interesting.
I don't speak for FQX, but I imagine those who do would agree with me that if we actually had scientific evidence of advanced alien life, or any alien life, we would all be jumping out of our skins. Some FQX grantees are actively searching for it right now, in fact, and they are in good company with scientists around the world. To date, though, there isn't any such evidence.
How can I say that? the voices cry. Independent, credible witnesses, including a reporter, a constable, and a pilot, have all reported seeing the mile-wide UFO in Texas. Some even saw military jets chasing it. The Air Force initially denied having any jets in the area; then, after two weeks and a mounting public outcry, admitted there were in fact F-16s scrambled over Stephenville that night. How much more could one want?
Well . . .
This isn't a debunking site, so I don't want to make UFO reports a regular feature. But the question of how people profoundly interested in the possibility of alien life can nevertheless be wholly uninterested in UFOs bears on the distinction between what FQX Community does and what many other internet sites do. This distinction is, I think, an important one, and worth comment.
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I should first say, in the interest of full disclosure, that I *love* a good UFO story. Can't get enough of 'em. The best ones almost sparkle with that "what if?" quality that makes one's scalp tingle even at the faint possibility. "What if . . . just this once . . . !" But there are a number of problems with the myriad accounts of close encounters we all know about, the most basic one being that there is no evidence any of them have happened.
Well, not technically none; there is a lot of anecdotal evidence in support of saucers (It's interesting to note that the whole idea of a "flying saucer" is based on a verbal misapprehension. The first modern witness, pilot Kenneth Arnold, never said he saw saucers, he said he saw objects that skipped across the clouds like saucers thrown across water. The "saucer" meme is all that made it into popular consciousness.) Hundreds, if not thousands, of eyewitnesses swear to their regular appearance in our skies, their habit of abducting the somnolent, and so forth. The stickler, as Neil deGrasse Tyson is good at pointing out, is that anecdotal evidence is the least interesting kind of evidence in science, very close to being without value.
Lots of independent, credible witnesses saw a mysterious object in the sky over Stephenville. But so what? Lots of people see ghosts--really, truly see them, all the time. That's not to say the witnesses in Stephenville are deluded, or mendacious, or that people who see ghosts are, either; but that five or ten or a hundred anecdotes still don't add up to anything solid. Humans are frankly terrible observers (especially when looking up), terrible recorders of information, and terrible at objectivity, all of which is why we use the scientific method. There's a wall of possible mistakes between anecdote and evidence that's dense enough to block a neutrino.
Here's why the work FQX does is singular, and so important. Almost everyone is interested in at least some of the deep questions: What is consciousness? Is it distinct to each brain or only one thing (as Shroedinger thought)? Does it determine some aspects of material reality--is the moon really there when no one is looking at it (as Einstein thought)? Is there a limit to what we can know, or does knowledge go on forever (as Asimov thought)? Are we alone in the galaxy, or might there be a community of sentient species awaiting our arrival on the cosmic scene (as Sagan thought)?
A dozen answers to each of these, and more, can be found with a quick search of the net. But few of those answers are credible; few of them are backed up by rigorous theory and controlled experiment; few of them carry the imprimatur of actual scientific exploration. A saucer is data, but a saucer report is just another story. Meanwhile a good deal of the science the public does see is specialized, seemingly out of reach, and often does not reflect our deeper yearnings to understand the cosmos.
Foundational work, either at FQX or elsewhere, can function as a bridge between these two worlds. If aliens are out there, if their existence can be confirmed by some kind of SETI, we will not only have information of a paradigm-shattering sort but truly have come to a turning point in all of human history. The impact of such information on society would be hard to overstate (I don't mean panic in the streets; that never seemed realistic to me). The value of this question, and its answer, is far too great to loosen our evidential standards just as we are approaching the gold.
That's my take on UFOs , though I welcome other points of view here. So much fascinating work is being done by FQX folks that, for me, it eclipses the allure of another set of hovering lights.
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| | this post has been edited by the author since its original submission |
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William,
What a great piece! I think you make a really excellent point here: if the scientists who can actually say something meaningful and important about these fascinating questions choose to disengage from them, then this cedes the territory to the vast number of people with lots of time, energy and interest, but generally not the world-class rigorous training that is necessary to make real scientific progress in any field. The result is lots of material but no basis upon which a reasonable person can discern what to believe. As for UFOs ;-)
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With the increase in media devices (mobile phones, digital camera's) available to the World, how come all these sightings are not accompanied by a vast pool of real time photographic evidence, is Texas a mobile camera free zone?
Not wishing to be to sceptical, I think there is overwelling evidence to "social hysteria", influenced by some unnatural phenonema such as excesive fields, or maybe just plain sunstroke!
I note that the very first appearence of the words U.F.O appeared just after the liberation of Europe, a number of secret activities (jet propulsion, and other weapon delivery systems) were unearthed. This filtered through to society in bits and pieces, when some pieces conveniently fitted athoroties, the story was left to its own device, and consequently take on aa unstoppable momentum of its own. Other times when closer to the truth, then certian secrets were compromized, thus the process of "cover-story" was born.
There is an interesting historical documented book called:Brighter than a thousand Suns?..I believe it was written by Robert Jungk ?
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I'm skeptical of a distant civilization visiting earth and sending ships close to the ground in our era. They could easily learn about us by monitoring our communications. On the other hand there is some interesting evidence of a possible past visit. The Dogon people of Africa have passed down an account of a visit by ET in ancient times. the account of the visitors is unconvincing, but the knowledge the Dogon had of the Sirius star system can not be easily explained by other means. They were aware of the existence of the Sirius B white dwarf star which required 19th century equipment to detect. http://www.crystalinks.com/dogon.html
Modern U.F.O.'s could indicate visits by E.T., but they could also involve rare physical phenomena. Determining what physical processes could produce unexplained events could provide insights that would lead to new theories.
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Nice post and nice comments from your readers.
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If anyone really thinks that there is no physical evidence for UFOs, they are completly uninformed. There are plenty of videos and photographs as well as physical traces.
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Somebody apparently made a video of the Stephenville UFO:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LgFrKzhMs8
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I guess you are not aware of radar cases, multiple witness visual reports, radar-visual reports (object seen where radar indicates) and radar-visual-photographic (New Zealand case, Dec. 31, 1978). Nor are you apparently aware of the roughly 5,000 landing trace cases or the rougly 3,000 pilot sightings. Even if you reject all the sightings which are of distant or visually tiny objects (angular size too small for visual resolution) there are still hundreds of relatively close "encounters." See http://brumac.8k.com for examples of well investigated cases.
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As a member of the press and blog host, I ask that you actually investigate the UFO phenomenon. There is remarkable evidence available proving that extraterrestrial (ET) crafts have visited our planet. I know this information sounds unbelievable but please keep an open mind.
Solid testimony from over 460 corporate and military witnesses has been accumulated by two disclosure initiatives. These 460 disclosure witnesses have openly stated they are willing to testify, under oath and before Congress about their direct encounters with crash site investigations, secret documents, photographic evidence, radar reports and recovered crashed ET vehicles. Many of these witnesses have documentation to back up what they are saying. (Watch news conference at www.disclosureproject.org)
As an Attorney, I can attest that the jurisprudential evidence of this quality does not get any better, especially when witnesses possess the ranks of Brigadier Generals, Commander of ICBM Launch facilities, Senior FAA Crash Site Investigators, astronauts, pilots and officers with above top secret clearance. As a matter of fact, men have been executed in this country with less evidence available for their conviction. This testimony is only the tip of the iceberg if you would only look into the matter.
Many Governments have started releasing previously classified data on ETs and UFOs. France was the first, in March 2007 the French National Space Agency placed 1600 previously classified UFO sighting reports into the public domain for examination; beginning the process of full disclosure of non-Earth origin craft. Similarly, the United Kingdom in May 2007 began a disclosure initiative. Other counties have started to follow suit. It is time for the United States to do the same.
The United Nations General Assembly voted to invite U.N. Member States "to take appropriate steps to coordinate on a national level scientific research and investigation into extraterrestrial life, including unidentified flying objects, and to inform the Secretary-General.”
The Honorable Paul Hellyer, a former Canadian Defense Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, stated publicly in September 2005 at the University of Toronto’s Convocation Hall before the press and over 500 people, "UFOs, are as real as the airplanes that fly over your head."
Colonel Phillip J. Corso, a highly decorated retired US Army Intelligence officer, who had direct contact with, and was in charge of material from crashed extraterrestrial vehicles, recorded his experiences in a book. Colonel Corso’s documentation is supported by a retired U.S. four star General as being, “true and even more…”
In my personal experience, I was a U.S. Army Major and held a top secret clearance. I worked as an Army Computer Scientist and am a graduate of the U.S. Army Computer Science School. My awards include the Bronze Star Medal for leadership in combat as well as many others. As a result of my positions other officers have confided in me and I have no doubt that ETs have visited our planet.
Please conduct your own investigation into this matter and help end the governmental and media secrecy. It is imperative that this issue receive serious investigation by the media. This massive cover-up has been going on far too long.
Truly yours,
Franklin D. Fields, Jr. Esquire
Attorney at Law
fields@gator.net
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Dear Sir,
Very well put and I very much agree. Better progress will be made in understanding these frequent aerial phenomenae when folks become more cautious in jumping to the conclusion that they are always spaceships from another world. We need, and are gradually getting, more solid research in plasma phenomenae, which will help resolve this interesting mystery of lights and effects in the sky. After this, we may be able to separate the wheat from the chaff and better focus on those intriquing reports which do indeed raise the hair on the neck. My compliments on your erudition and encouragement in your work. If I may be of any assistance please feel free to call on me.
Sincerely,
Randel Smith
Friendswood, Texas
Film maker, historian/writer and certified
first responder for Radiological Emergency
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