The reason I think that you don’t take much stock in it is that you haven’t read up on the literature. In my opinion, there is very good evidence that it works at least some of the time. The other reason I have a positive opinion is that it has worked for me on at least two occasions in a way that I cannot assign to “chance.” I suppose that’s part of the difference between “thinking” and “knowing” that I have written about in another post.

Figures. I think the “data” on RV is so open to interpretation (i.e. it doesn’t prove anything), that people will go with their gut instinct on whether it works. However, the burden of proof is on the proponents of RV, and given that I don’t think there has been anywhere near enough evidence presented to support the RV proposition, even from a balance of prababilities standard of proof.

Paul

You might be interested to know that some time ago I acquired from the FBI a whole batch of files from the early 50s (yes way before the 1970s RV mania took off) to the late 50s when the FBI had tried to determine if psychics could use their RV powers to spy on the Russians (penetrate Russian embassies, brief-cases carrying Top Secret documents etc).

The FBI secretly looked at all this for years and, as per the NF Symposium ironically enough, was split as to whether or not there was something valid here or it was all nonsense.

Indeed. I remember the panel at the New Frontiers Symposium, when the guy asked the question about remote viewing, and you and I politely disagreed (you place far more stock in its potential than I do). Still, I keep an open mind about it, and would be willing to be shown that it’s something more than I believe it to be. Frankly, I can’t imagine any other way to approach any topic.

Paul

An addendum - I can’t stress enough that what makes the RB47 case truly special, even 50 years later, is that the UFO seemed to seek out the plane, and sent out signals to it, which is unique in UFO history (at least that which is publicly known) - when you hear of other radar cases, it’s always something getting tracked by radar, but never actually emitting signals to us.

Finally, I wasn’t saying we couldn’t track UFOs, just that it is beyond the capabilities of small groups of UFO investigators, for a host of reasons. There’s enough quality military radar cases out there to show that sometimes these things, whatever they are, can be picked up on radar.

Paul

No “hedge” - the technology used in the RB47 case was state-of-the-art military ECM equipment, triangulated with military ground radar and radar on the plane, which the UFO followed. There was also a visual sighting by the pilot and co-pilot, both of whom were among the best the USAF had at the time. The RB-47 was a spy plane, uniquesly designed to monitor all sorts of stuff. It was also an unexpected incident - they were not up there looking for a UFO; rather, one found them. Similar cases with RB-47s are less well-known, or unknown other than by a few researchers.

That is significantly different than saying Joe Q. Public can whip up some technological gear, even today, and go out and find and track UFOs.

Paul

Absolutely. There is nothing wrong in stating what one THINKS the answers to this mystery could be. Ufologist have to speculate in order to get any where. But at the same time they must be prepared to be proven wrong. We also have to realize that if ufos are actually a mega-phenomenon, encompassing everything from apparitions to Bigfoot then it may be a very long time before anybody actually figures out what is really going on.

You’re so open to other viewpoints that sometimes I don’t realize that we disagree. That’s what makes a real civilized discussion, and where we learn things from each other. Contrast that with a debate where people are thinking of their next argument while the other person is still speaking, and it’s no wonder that we don’t often learn anything from people with differing views from our own.

Dogmatism is one of the main poisons of free-wheeling discussion and thought. If someone can say “Maybe I was wrong” once in awhile, we should have much more respect for them, not less.

The intellectual fresh air and common sense come just as much from the commenters on this site. I read somewhere that people who have a different view of things need support from like-minded groups to get anywhere in the larger world. Lone nuts get 15 minutes like everyone else.