Ufology: What’s The Point?
In his shocking 1989 speech to the Mutual UFO Network conference, Bill Moore asked an important question: “What are all of you going to do if we find out what UFOs are?”
In a recent interview on the Red Ice podcast, radio host Tim Binall pointed out that Ufologists often speak on and write about cases and causes, but almost never address the reasons that they are involved in the field in the first place. It’s an important question.
Of course most will quickly answer that they want to find the “truth” and expose this to the public. As we have argued in other posts on this site, that “truth” may not be what everyone is yelling about. If you want to prove something to those who are not interested in UFOs, the evidence presented is not very compelling. The main reason for this is that most people don’t really care about something unless it has some relevance to their everyday lives. UFOs are in a mental box on the back shelf.
Let’s say we do find out that aliens are from other planets and are coming here in spacecraft. What difference does that make to the population at large? The aliens aren’t going to solve our problems, or they would have done that by now. The major religions (Catholicism in particular) have already stated that it wouldn’t change their dogmas very much. Anything weirder about cryptoterrestrials, interdimensional time travelers or manifested thoughtforms would require too much explanation to those not interested in the first place - “dead on the launchpad’ as William Burroughs once said.
Of course the governments of the world would state that they knew about this alien thing all along, but didn’t want to frighten the public with information for which they weren’t prepared. Ufology would suddenly be a non-issue. At that point, the media would hardly be interested in Ufologists hollering “I told you so,” and the fifty-odd years of clamor over a coverup would be forgotten in an instant. What would Ufology do then? Many would have to find another way to get their names in the paper or their faces on TV. The few who are in it for more altruistic or spiritual reasons would carry on in the new paradigm, for the new questions raised by this revelation would be just as interesting. How do I feel about this? How does it change my worldview? How can I access the non-human “other” myself? After the initial shock, life would go on pretty much as it had before.
We don’t need to know that extraterrestrials exist and may be interacting with us from time to time to carry on with our lives. It’s an interesting thought, and fun to play with, but it doesn’t pay the bills or solve our problems. This is how most people would react, I think.
If we accept his theory, Whitley Strieber said that the visitors are not here to invade the planet. Their plan seems more like a subtle PR campaign, seeded to a few thousand individuals. What those people do with their revelations is what counts–the way they integrate it into their lives and the lives of others, and this is something the rank-and-file of Ufology do not seem to like or understand. If everyone had access to the experience, there would be no need for self-appointed gatekeepers. It would do little to support the cults of personality that have grown around certain celebrities, and that’s bad for the ego as well as bad business.
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Feb 14 2007 
February 14th, 2007 at 8:01 pm
OK Greg — thanks for mentioning Strieber as my earlier comment on him wasn’t posted. So I searched him on your blog and saw that he relies on Gurdjieff for philosophical groundings.
Coincidentally I’m reading “In Search of the Miraculous” for the 3rd time — the best explanation of Gurdjieff’s philosophy in my opinion.
I happen to have study this stuff in the final research for my masters degree on sustainability policy and philosophy of science — relying on music resonance! http://nonduality.com/hempel.htm
It turns out that Gurdjieff is teaching a form of Mahayana Buddhism, just as detailed in the amazing books of Taiwanese professor and yoga Master Nan, Huai-chin.
Gurdjieff states that even God is mortal. What this means is that “objective consciousness” is really “formless awareness” and the form of the Absolute will resolve back into pure Awareness.
Another philosophy that understands this “formless awareness” as objective consciousness is Advaita Vedanta, best detailed in the books of Sri Ramana Maharshi. I recommend his “Talks with Ramana Maharshi.” Unfortunately most of his followers haven’t done a close study of his actual teachings! I took the time to read all of his books via the South Asian Ames Library, U of Minnesota. Another excellent source is “Taoist Yoga: Alchemy and Immortality,” trans. by Charles Luk.
Regardless the foundation of even Gurdjieff’s teaching is that only formless consciousness is real — everything else, including “aliens,” are a projection of awareness or “empty” awareness. His 7th Level of Man is the equivalent of the 8th level of consciousness in Mahayana Buddhism.
Music, as Gurdjieff understood, is the best model to describe this interpenetration of matter, force and consciousness.
Gurjieff was actually very critical of civilization — calling it simply “Mad Machines.” I tend to think that most Westerners project their underlying reliance on “mad machines” back onto nonwestern philosophy. A good source to examine the origins of this “deep disharmony” as the structural drive of the West is http://peterkingsley.com
February 14th, 2007 at 11:34 pm
To qoute Greg Hill, aka Malaclypse the Younger: “Life is not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be lived.”
February 15th, 2007 at 12:07 am
Adam,
I think the point that I was trying to make in my ramble was that many Ufologists probably don’t WANT a “solution,” becuase it means they will be out of a job. Official or societal recognition that there is someone else here would make them (the UFO “experts”) largely irrelevant.
February 15th, 2007 at 12:24 am
Drew,
Thanks for your info on Gurdjieff. His “formless consciousness” explains a lot, and is a good model. It is, however, attempting to explain reality in terms of consciousness and in words, which is unfortunately all that we have. It probably gets closer to the “real” situation than most theories. It also echoes the Copenhagen Interpretation (quantum phsyics) model of reality, which seems to be the one of the best models that we have, until a better one comes along.
February 15th, 2007 at 12:41 am
I heard that interview, and that particular section struck me as very annoying. I strongly disagree with the notion.
I don’t think the old War of the Worlds/Brookings Report model would be exactly correct. In fact, as I discuss below, ET would be the easiest answer to deal with. But I think Binnall’s suggestion grossly underestimates what the impact would be.
First off, let’s say it became clear to a majority of people in post-industrial and industrial societies that extraterrestrials were visitng. I don’t like the exopolitics people, but they do bring up an important point, there would be some immediate followup questions people would have.
There would of course be intense interest by people that would make contactee religions look like childs play. Millions would desperately want to meet the aliens, whether out of curiosity or for spiritual enlightenment.
But more practical issues would immediately raise their heads in the form of economics and technology. Again to note the expolitics people, extraterrestrials of the sort described in UFO reports would be the source of insanely radical technological capabilities with all sorts of potential for industry and profit. Entrepeneurs and normal people would DESPERATELY want to get a piece of that. And there is a model for this in human culture contact situations. In both the Caribbean and the Pacific Islands, normal people in chiefly societies saw the Europeans as a way to get fantastic new trade objects and profit without dealing with the existing chiefly control systems. In the case of Captain Cook’s landing in Hawaii, commoners swam and paddled out to the ships and traded all sorts of goods and services (including sexual favors) for British goods, when previously trade had been controlled by chiefs and their power structure. In the Caribbean, metal shoe eyelets, glass beads, and broken bits of Spanish pottery became important trade items, and some are found in Arawak burials as prized possessions. One could also argue that the European mania to travel the globe starting in the 15th century is a similar phenomenon aiming to get spices and porcelain and other goods from the technologically advanced Chinese. And then there are the more obvious cases like Cargo Cults.
Even if we accept that people would not freak out in terms of their worldview, and I’m not so sure I believe that, at a minimum the economic and possibly political rammifications would be profound. Even if contact was limited, the knowledge that technology transfer was possible at all would create huge rammifications. And that is assuming no crashed discs in the vault, no Corso-esque reverse engineering in the past, which would raise other sorts of issues.
The rammifications would be much, much more profound if we’re talking about 4D or cryptoterrestrial UFOs being widely accepted by the public. For many people, another word for 4D would be “demonic,” especially given the behavior in many stories, especially abduction. At that point, you’re not asking “What would people do if they found out UFOs are real?” You’re asking “What would people do if they found out demons were real?” I think we can envision a number of things that might happen after that.
Let’s say it is something more spiritual , however one defines that. Then you are talking major religious shifts of a sort that would plunge societies into chaos.
And then cryptoterrestrials, another technological species that is hidden but interacts with us, on its terms, in spooky ways? Yeah, that’s going to go over well. And again, in that case, all of the things I wrote about above for ETs apply.
What annoyed me about Tim Binnall’s response to that question was that it wasn’t framed in these terms of what would actually happen, and thinking big about society. Rather, it was framed largely in terms of marketing and PR for ufology as a niche in the media and publishing business.
I’m an interested outsider, but it seems to me that ufology should be trying to make itself extinct. By this, I mean something along the lines of Kuhn’s ideas about revolutionary science. His model is that scientific paradigms chug along as “normal science.” Observations are made, studies done, but largely just filling in bits of the universe according to the dominant model of whatever field of study we are talking about. But some researchers note anomalies. They see findings and observations that don’t fit the model of the universe/society/medicine/whatever. Eventually, as these anomalies pile up, they challenge the predominant paradigm with one of their own, based on this data. If their model has some real merit, and explains things better than the existing paradigm, then it should enter into a period of what Kuhn called “revolutionary science.” Discoveries will happen in rapid succession, and new data and studies will support the emerging paradigm. Social structures, academic culture and bureaucracy will of course play a role in how this all manifests. But in the end, if the data support the new paradigm, it becomes dominant.
This has not happened with ufology. This may be due to the paradigms in ufology being wrong and supported by the data. It may simply be a longer-term process of anomaly collection. Or it may be due to the nature of the beast. Science has picked apart biology, inanimate objects, rocks, and in the case of anthropology, people largely in colonized contexts who had to submit to some degree to study. Intelligent beings, of whatever origin, that don’t have to sit still may well elude scientific inquiry with ease. We don’t know, we have no other examples with which to compare.
So for the moment, ufologists who are collecting data are basically collecting anomalies. In addition to trying to cultivate a media persona and marketing strategy (even the most scrupulous researcher has little choice, since outside of Robert Bigelow there is no funding for such studies). But the goal, I believe, would be to become a dominant paradigm. And if that were to occur, it wouldn’t be ufology anymore. It would be something else completely, new forms of academia or diplomacy or engineering or spiritual communication or who knows. But it wouldn’t be anomaly collecting.
February 15th, 2007 at 12:42 am
“# Greg Bishop Says:
February 15th, 2007 at 12:07 am
Adam,
I think the point that I was trying to make in my ramble was that many Ufologists probably don’t WANT a “solution,†becuase it means they will be out of a job. Official or societal recognition that there is someone else here would make them (the UFO “expertsâ€) largely irrelevant.”
yeah, that’s a more succinct version of what I was trying to get in the second half of my big ramble up there.
February 15th, 2007 at 1:05 am
Greg,
Indeed, I understood your point. The whole concept about getting to the “truth” about the UFO experience is the wrong approach, in my opinion. (Whether “they†are interested in the “truth†or not.) It is the journey that should important, not the getting there. What we find along the way, and who and what we meet along the road, is what is of most value.
“Truth†is and will always be in the eye of the beholder. Nothing ever is 100% certified, which is to say that life to a certain extent is maya, and if you can find your own “reality†that makes sense to you, then that is a hell of an accomplishment in this life. To convince others of any certainty is a hard row to hoe, especially when it comes to UFO’s and their often interesting occupants.
The emphasis of a lot of UFO research is mistakenly centered on “answers”, “final solutions” and the “truth”. For those of us that have “lived a little” (pardon me for all the quotation marks!) it quickly becomes evident that the “UFO Phenomenon” is a never-ending search, as is the search for ourselves. (As soon as you start to feel completely comfortable about anything in this life, it’s probably time to get nervous…)
IF (with capitol letters) we learn a little bit about ourselves along the way (in exploring the UFO phemnamenon, or chasing after Bigfoot Monsters, what have you), then it was worth all the effort.
IF we get hungup on certain aspects of the experience, and stop to evolve ideas, then it’s time to cash it in. An example: alien implants—how long have people been kicking this around without any conclusive evidence? Not to say that it couldn’t or didn’t happen, but the whole thread has become so beat-to-death now, who gives a heck?
But to address what you’re saying: Yes, there are those in the UFO field that would be totally lost if come tomorrow: “The Secret Was Revealed!” and they had nothing left to center their existence on. But once again, MY POINT is (of which, you probably don’t disagree—or maybe you do, who am I to say) that the mystery itself perhaps is something that doesn’t necessarily need to be solved, at least in terms of making the world a better or safer place. The “mystery” is more about us than it is about some six-fingered greenie from a distant galaxy negotiating secret pacts with our Presidents and abducting our genes.
Me thinks I rant…
February 15th, 2007 at 1:11 am
Spooky,
I think you are assuming that the “aliens” would be more forthcoming with their motivations and perhaps technology than they have been in the past. I don’t see that happening. Why should they change their methods of communication just because we acknowledge their presence? To understand the channel for communication would force us to shift our methods of perception, and that will take a long time to change, hence–not much difference for quite awhile. People are generally very impatient.
I am hypothesizing here, but that’s what we do at this site.
February 15th, 2007 at 1:45 am
I think even the knowledge, widely accepted as part of the material world, would be enough. Even if “they” don’t cooperate or change one thing, there is enough regular contact (assuming even a fraction of UFO reports or abductions or whatever your evidence for a “they”, represents “them”) that if a lot more people all of a sudden started looking as that as part of the world they interact with, and not folklore or worse, their behavior would change.
As for a more nuanced form of communication/consciousness, which I think you are alluding to above, I take something of a dimmer view concerning that. Not concerning existence, but rather motive, or rather the assumption that more communication is necessarily a good thing. But then again I don’t trust people all that much, let alone extradimensional intelligent beings who make mincemeat of reality
February 15th, 2007 at 3:37 am
Once the U.F.O. mystery is revealed for what it is, Ufologist can continue working by becoming skeptics and arguing how it is all a lie by officials to cover the real truth (just joking…I think.)
February 15th, 2007 at 3:44 am
Hi Greg,
Interesting post - I asked a similar question quite a few years ago about the importance to ‘alternative history’ researchers of discovering the fabled Hall of Records. I framed it in much the same way - if it was discovered, what would the impact actually be, and how would they deal with that?
I guess a large part for some is the attraction to solving a mystery. For others, it could well be that it’s all part of a belief system of sorts…tiny bits of suggestive evidence allow them to believe in a certain viewpoint. And for some, I’d say there is a large element of being an ‘outsider’ - this would be a common element between ufologists and alternative history researchers. In the latter case, any actual discovery and popularisation would be akin to when you have a favourite obscure rock band, and then they get mainstream attention and you just don’t seem as attracted to them anymore.
By the way - did you receive the essay I sent via email?
Kind regards,
Greg
February 15th, 2007 at 5:18 am
Me?
I’ll be up-front about it.
I suspect UFOs are a reality of _some_ type. This has to be true. Consider, Paul Kimball and I can agree upon it… it must be fact.
Ufology’s mechanism further compels _me_, upon a humble and respectful study, because UFOs imply an occupant *other* of some type. I suspect Mr. Kimball and I might continue to agree.
Finally, this *other* provides for me an attractive sedition from the hijacked and duplicitous mainstream I _loath_. It is an alternate authority to appeal to, to a degree, in the fashion of appealing to Apple so as to keep a PC further up on its toes.
Moreover this conjectured *entity* (be it temporal, corporeal, or even fungal) is not beholden to our *accepted* status quo and in fact thumbs its nose at it, ironically dismisses _it_ as illegitimate evidently, or otherwise considers _it_ irrelevant apparently.
I love the effrontery! I respect same! Finally, in that it seems to provoke a distinct individuality from the persons interested in it? It’s my kind of entity.
Throw in a potential for advanced technologies, more personal autonomy, and cheap power… and I’m all in, eh?
February 15th, 2007 at 8:47 am
ufo’s are one of the last true mysterys of our time.
February 15th, 2007 at 11:41 am
Great post Greg with lots of interesting responses.
I don’t think any of us have to worry, because even if the “truth” of ufos comes out, is it really? There’ll always be some other bigger fish up there in this food chain. Another myth (and the word is not used as a dismissive term) will replace the ‘UFO myth’ — new myths and experiences, philosophies, memes, conspiriacies, will immediately arise surrounding the revealation that it really was aliens all this time. Or enities from within the earth. Or whatever.
While in some ways things will change of course, nothing will. We’ll keep on going with a variety of experiences and contacts, relationships, with “them” — some of us. Those that do vs. those that don’t will still egage in debate, and worse.
That’s assuming the answer to the UFO phenomena is one thing. Which I doubt it is.
And, for myself, I’m of the group that likes the mystery and journey, the process for its own sake. I can’t see how we will ever find the answer; possible of course, but not too likely. LIke I said, even if we do get, there’s a lot of stuff swirling all around that would still be experienced, still need explaining.
Then, there’s always the question of trust. The aliens come down, say “We’re here!” now what? Are they really who they say they are? Etc.
So the mystery might shift, but I don’t think things will change much.
That’s how I feel today, however, lol.
February 15th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
Drew
Good to see you here. Your other Strieber post is now posted (in the Apocalyptic Dreams section). Just got held up in the cyber realm for a while!
February 15th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
Just as a point of fact: Adam Gorightly’s offered quote “Life is not a problem…” was actually made by the late Trappist monk Thomas Merton.
February 15th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
Reading this I am struck with a sense of hilarity. The idea of some advanced lifeforms or civilization visiting us and the entire human race mis-identifying it (as usual)and forming religions and dogmas that fit the ill percieved details.
This reduces the contactees as spookyparadigm pointed out to cargo cults and the defense estabishment as stone age natives trading glass beads back and forth for their magical powers.
Maybe UFOs are something which someday we will all look back and laugh at.
February 16th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Wow, lots of interesting comments, as Regan says. My idea for this post stems from the idea that if and when we get a handle on this “alien thing” it will be so incomprehensible in terms of our understanding of the Way Things Work, that the world will need a huge paradigm shift just to be able to incorporate it. I believe that shift will not happen in a few days, or even a few years.
Also, we must remember that the phenomenon has been around as long as we have, and it seems to change as our perceptions change–always just ahead of what we can understand fully. I see no reason to believe that it will change its modus operandi once we get to another level of understanding.
Crashed saucers may change into crashed hard drives, or widespread spiritual unease, or cyber-events, but always just out of reach of current models.
Maybe Ufologists will have to stop with the clamor for secret files and turn within for answers.
Perhaps I should follow this up with a positive assessment of what Ufology COULD be.
February 16th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
Adam,
I agree with you, almost completely.
But because of my excluded middle mindset, I have to ask if details like implants are somehow keys to the next level of understanding. Who knows? As you say, the journey is the most interesting thing, and I’ve met some of the best (and craziest) people because of it.
February 16th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
Greg,
Good points! And you’re right on with the comparison to bands that get popular. I often feel that it was some precious thing that a small band of fans had in common, and then the dirty hands of popularity soils it for us. I don’t know if I’d feel the same way about Ufology–maybe a little bit.
Yes, I just checked, and I did get your email. I’ll read it in the next few days. Thanks!
February 16th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
Mr. Lehmberg,
You correctly noticed that one of the points of the post was simply to get people riled up. Anarchy!!!
February 16th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
Additionally Sir, too, I think I was the only one to answer the question and left a neat forward escape into a consideration upon what comes after, besides.
Be that as it may? Those asymptotic graph-lines the futurists like Kurzweil, McKenna, and Tonnies are excited about continue increasing in rate and amplitude… suggesting that forward escape into the teeth of an accelerating future is what we’re going to want to do. Eh?
Anarchy is just a precursor while moving between energy states, I suspect.
February 16th, 2007 at 10:41 pm
Greg,
I agree with myself almost completely, too!
The reference to implants was just an example. My attention wavers. Tomorrow I might come across an implant story that will intrigue me, and get me interested in the possibility again.
What I get tired of is the parroting puppets who latch on to a concept and beat it deeply in submission, and then keep on beating it into irrelevance. Alien bases, implants, secret pacts, etc., after awhile just become tired clichés if its just the same old stuff being rehashed and repeated.
Not to say that I discount or dismiss any of those theories outright. But after a while a fella will tune out something if its just the same old same old.
February 16th, 2007 at 10:44 pm
Mr. Widget,
Thanks for setting me straight on Thomas Merton. When I was researching my book on Thornley, I came across a hand written note by Greg Hill that had that quotation, and assumed it was written by him.
I stand corrected!
February 17th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
My two perspectives to that question….
***************************************
I think the point is: If the government is hiding anything from us, we should know. If there is other life, we should know. If the government is hiding something that could be putting us in danger, we should know. We just have the right to know.We are paying them, who ever is doing this stuff with our own taxes and we should know where those taxes go.I could care less if indeed there is anything out there and to tell you the truth.. I think we know that answer already.To bad the government thinks their hiding something, but they really are not… if you know what I mean! What if in the future the government is still hiding stuff and then we get into real trouble, when in fact, they don’t know everything and a universal UFO war starts..we should be told so we can make our plans to do what-ever.I guess though to many people would panic thats probably why they don’t say anything to us.I guess then in that case, I don’t want to really know, because if it happened nothing could stop it..So I give you two ways to look at the question of what the point is with UFO’s.Personally… I still would like to know,if they really know if other life is out there or hear visiting and if they have traveled or bumped into it during space travels etc. Maybe we can say hello or welcome to that other entity and maybe with that…keep a possible problem like a Universal UFO war from starting.To me all the hiding stuff, just tells me that are country is not all that it seems to be claiming of it’s self…How-ever I still love my country and I am proud to live in it.So the old saying for now in my heart will be… Quote{What ever will be…. Will be!}
February 17th, 2007 at 10:52 pm
Diane,
For a response to your comment, see my posts on “What Does The Government Know?” Parts 1, 2, and 3.
February 18th, 2007 at 11:16 pm
Wow ! What chatter ! I’m afraid I’m late to the dance, but I’m still going to chime in. Forgive me for the length of this missive.
For starters, allow me to break the 4th wall momentarily, because I have a mild confession to make. You see, I haven’t even listened to my interview on Red Ice yet ! I don’t know what it is. I can listen to countless hours of my own show while editing it and putting it together, but I can’t seem to bring myself to listen to myself as guest. I suppose I will have to eventually.
So anyway, I’m going on memory here of my conversation w. Henrik.
Thanks for listening, those that did, I appreciate that it spawned some sort of discussion somewhere.
spookyparadigm ::
My response was framed that way based on a number of things. For starters, I am sooo tired of UFO doom and gloomers. Yes, the world would be in upheaval (let’s not all go off on tangents quibbling over said upheaval). Personally, having heard countless hours of radio, I’ve heard this point of view speculated upon and dissected ad nauseum.
So, I tried (remember now I am recollecting) to answer the question from a different point of view, that of the “marketing and PR for ufology”
Ufology has a massive public relations problem. The sooner it realizes this and looks to fixing it, the sooner it could evolve past where it is today. (Stop laughing).
My thoughts were more regarding the science & “social movement” and less so towards the “media and publishing business” but perhaps I am biased because, in this zany world of Ufology, I am part of the media (by default some might say, lol).
I do agree, wholeheartedly, that Ufology should be trying to make itself extinct. I think that was addressed in my lament that Ufology has no goal outside of the nebulous “truth about UFOs”.
I think you and Greg did a fine job of extrapolating just “why” there is no common goal, so there is no point retreading that.
If the “truth” came out, Ufologists would scatter in a variety of directions. The ramifications of which are facinating to think about. I’ll spare you the details, because I’d probably write an ultra long post here.
Also, and to no surprise to me, Adam Gorightly speaks the truth once again. “It is the journey that should important, not the getting there.” May El Santo smile upon you, good sir.
If you have any other queries or responses (in regards to my interview), remind me of what I said (or the question) and perhaps I can come up with a more succint or thoughtful answer now that I am not being interviewed by a Swede (it’s surprisingly stressful, but fun nonetheless).
February 19th, 2007 at 11:25 pm
Don’t take my comments too harshly, Tim. I hate marketing and I hate spin. When I hear people in a field of knowledge production or exploration get concerned about raising the field’s profile or improving PR, it seems to me to be a sign that they don’t have anything better to do. Getting information out is one very important thing, but leave the spin to the salesmen.
Then again, I’m terrible at capitalism, so take that as you will.
February 20th, 2007 at 12:27 am
Mr. Lehmberg:
“I suspect UFOs are a reality of _some_ type. This has to be true. Consider, Paul Kimball and I can agree upon it… it must be fact.”
Sort of. I am convinced that UAPs are an objective reality, i.e. there are some cases (far fewer than most ufologists would have you believe, but more than the true naysayers would admit) which are unexplained, i.e. unidentified. That makes UAP an objective reality worthy of scientific investigation.
“Ufology’s mechanism further compels _me_, upon a humble and respectful study, because UFOs imply an occupant *other* of some type. I suspect Mr. Kimball and I might continue to agree.”
Here is where you lose me, or I lose you. I don’t rule this out as a possibility, but it’s far from proven. That’s why UAP is a more precise term than UFOs (and not just a “dodge” term as some people have stated) - “UFO” does indeed imply an “object”, which further implies an “occupant other” as you correctly note. But that’s a conclusion-oriented term that jumps far ahead of the available evidence. “UAP” leaves the door open, as it should, that all of these things can be explained in relatively mundane terrestrial terms, while at the same time leaving the door open for the “gee whiz” explanations.
As for Tim’s point re: PR and ufology, I couldn’t agree more, and have written about this same theme more than once in the past. Nice interview, Tim.
Best regards,
Paul Kimball
February 20th, 2007 at 10:17 am
spookyparadigm ::
No worries about your comments, I just wanted to clarify why I made the points that I did.
The gist of my point is that if Ufology could raise it’s public perception, then it could defeat the almighty “giggle factor”, draw in more “real” scientists, and, possibly, get better funding from serious sources (like how SETI bilked millions out of that dude from Microsoft).
And while I’m sure there are lots of hucksters who would love for better PR for Ufology, so that they could go raise the prices on their DVD sets and Joshua Tree conferences, my points more apply to using that PR to get over the big stumbling blocks that are, and have been, holding the field back.
And, with some exceptions like Kimball, very few people are even discussing this huge elephant in the room re: Ufology and PR. But, it addresses the problems facing Ufology and offers some solutions to fixing them, which is different from the “nuts and bolts” UFO researchers are doing (and have been doing for decades to no avail).
Again, though, my point of view is shaped by my place as a person in the media and as an outsider to Ufology.
Paul ::
Thanks ! I thought it went well.
February 21st, 2007 at 4:33 am
Tim,
Hucksters selling DVD sets and Joshua Tree? Hoagland is going to be crushed after you made a point of saying you don’t hate him. Every time he thinks he has won you over, you crush his heart again.
February 21st, 2007 at 1:36 pm
I like to keep Hoagland guessing.