Nov 13 2007
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The Vegas Crash Conf
Well, I got back home last night after four days of Las Vegas mayhem, mystery and revelations of the ufological kind at Ryan Wood’s crashed UFO conference. And after hitting the casinos each night I only came away five dollars down, which is not bad for me!
As for what went down at the gig, well, it was an interesting and memorable event, to say the least. The big bombshell was Ryan Wood’s announcement to the audience that he will be retiring from Ufology in 5 years time - if the mystery has not been solved. I asked Ryan if he was joking. He was not. He assured me that if the mystery still exists in half a decade from now, he’ll be walking away from it.
Matthew Williams gave a very balanced overview on the Gary McKinnon “UFO Computer Hacker” story; I discussed the controversy concerning Project Moon Dust; Cameron Debrow discussed a little known UFO incident from the 70s; and Bob and Ryan Wood discussed, respectively, the so-called “Bowen Manuscript” and Ryan’s “UFODEX” project - which is designed to act as the definitive online outlet for UFO data.
Other presentations were given by both Rich Dolan and his wife, Karyn; Peter Robbins; Steve Bassett; Terry Hansen (on UFOs and the media); Danny Sheehan (who gave the keynote speech); and Linda Howe.
For me personally, the highlights were Antonio Huneeus on South American cases; Ruben Uriarte and Noe Torres on a 1974 incident from Mexico; and Michael Schratt, who delivered a truly excellent (and very eye-opening) lecture on some of the strange, bizarre and out-of-this-world-looking aircraft that have been (and continue to be) developed by US defense contractors.
An in-depth review of the gig from me will appear in a forthcoming issue of Fortean Times.
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November 13th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
So, does Ryan Wood think that the government really should have said something by 2012 and that if it doesn’t they never will? Is there reason for the 5 years figure?
Maybe he thinks that if nothing happens by then, it never will.
November 13th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
It was more the case that he seemed to think that if we, as a community, hadn’t cracked the mystery by then he would step down.
November 13th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
I really don’t see how that’s possible without the technical resources that the government has. If there are actual, solid objects buzzing around it would probably take something like the tech that NORAD has to check them out properly.
And if UFOs aren’t that simple a matter… well…!
November 13th, 2007 at 11:13 pm
Nick,
I’m sorry to hear this about Ryan, who I consider a really good guy. One possible reason is that his wife may have asked him to stop and concentrate on his family.
Given the history of people who “quit” the UFO subject, he’ll probably be back in one form or another.
November 14th, 2007 at 9:26 am
Greg,
Agreed. The subject of UFOs and the Paranormal is nothing if not addictive!
November 14th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
I think many people leave ufology because they get tired of digging and not finding the answer.
Also, I think that the nature of the mystery actively changes itself to make it more and more difficult to know its true identity and purpose.
It also doesn’t help matters to have ufologists saying that the truth is coming soon, or that the government is going to come clean - because that gets people’s hopes up and then when the truth never comes, they get disillusioned.
I was guilty of thinking “the truth is coming” at one time - until I realized that this silent partner that has been with us for probably as long as we are around prefers to act in stealth, and the official world seems not to want to tell us the full story of what it knows either.
But that doesn’t make me want to stop - it pushes me on to look for the truth even more, and wherever that may be.
November 14th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
Nick,
Agreed. We have written and talked about this before. The reason I came back (twice) to UFOs is that the act of thinking about anomalies and how it changes our views is probably more important than the “answer.” Alchemical ideas here.
Besides, if an answer comes, what are all the poor ufologists going to do?