The study of UFOs has always been dogged by short sightedness, negative confirmation bias and blind refusal to examine all aspects - especially the actual historical background as well as the science. This is why - for those of us who have actually conducted scientific research into the "taboo" UFO arena - and had papers published in peer-reviewed astronomical journals, i.e.
1980JRASC..74..168S Page 168 (harvard.edu)
We easily are reminded of Leo Tolstoy's famous quote:
"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already. But the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already without a shadow of a doubt."
Whenever we come up against obtuse critics or skeptics who exhibit knee-jerk reactions of denial before even examining the evidence. So it was not surprising - but was disappointing - to behold yet another poor effort materialize in the WSJ over last weekend ('What UFOs Say About Our Populist Moment', p. C1 Aug. 5-6) by Adam Kirsch. Indeed, the litany of conflations, logical non sequiturs, false analogies and erroneous assumptions is simply stunning.
Kirsch begins with this easily exploded canard:
"Not long before his death in 1996, Carl Sagan said that he had been “captured by the notion of extraterrestrial life” since childhood and that discovering it would be an “absolutely transforming event in human history.” Exactly because the prospect was so alluring, however, Sagan warned that we should be skeptical about believing reports of UFOs or alien encounters."
Unaware that Sagan himself shot this down in a one-on-one with Northwestern University astronomer J. Allen Hynek, e.g.
https://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=76926
Excerpt: "The pillar of modern space science Dr. Carl Sagan revealed to Dr. J. Allen Hynek, that he knew UFOs were real but could not talk publicly about the matter and possibly risk the loss of academic funding."
Kirsch goes on to cite Sagan's famous quote:
“Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."
But blissfully unaware that such extraordinary evidence may not always be recognized for what it is. In this case, I am referencing how Kirsch takes aim at the military pilots testimony at the July 26th House hearings on UAP, i.e.
Seriously? Americans Shrug After Bombshell Disclosures In House UAP Hearings.
In which they not only drew attention to the existing videos of such UAP encounters, e.g.
And by trained military pilots, but also the fact that actual crashed remains have been recovered and in some cases "re-engineered" for our own technological benefits. Part of what the U.S. has recovered, Ret. Maj. David Grusch testified, were non-human “biologics,” or what my now deceased AF brother Jerry said were called “EBEs” or “extraterrestrial biological entities” by the Wright -Patterson AFB brass. Contrary to Kirsch's spin, Grusch a GS-15 level former intel officer would have no reason to lie or exaggerate. He also made clear that the only condition under which he could reveal sensitive materials was in a SCIF - or special compartmentalized intelligence facility. He was not "cagey" about it at all, merely providing the conditions under which the hardest evidence - including 4k imagery - could be divulged without him being imprisoned.
Then one could add to this the testimony of former Navy Commander David Fravor who made it abundantly clear that the 2014 UAP encounter (of the Nimitz) off San Diego was the most credible UFO sighting in history. This was given its parameters i.e. tracked visually as well as on radar and with multiple other sensors, produced no thermal exhaust and there were no visual surface structures or clues “sitting in space at 20,000 feet altitude.” Also: “It was aware of our presence and matched our speeds.”
All of this evidence would have been collected by the Nimitz crew and it is Kirsch's job (presumably as a reporter of the caliber of Woodward and Bernstein) to have established its bona fides and demanded its release from the Pentagon's Pooh Bahs. But did he? No, he found it easier to carp and render bone -headed howlers, e.g.
"The best way
to think about UAP is not as a scientific phenomenon but a human one—a story
that we use to explain the universe to ourselves."
"As St. Paul told the Hebrews, faith is the evidence of things not seen. Aliens, too, are things not seen, at least so far..."
"The alien craft that David Grusch testified about can be compared to Jacob’s ladder, where the biblical patriarch saw angels climbing up and down from heaven."
"We know Jacob’s name and where he saw the ladder, while Grusch declined to publicly state the names of witnesses or the locations of recovered alien craft, saying the information is classified."
"Without evidence, UFO stories have to be evaluated in the same way as reports of miracles."
So when we behold the twaddle above, such as Kirsch has trotted out in his WSJ essay, the genuine skeptic- not the media-driven provincial one - must ask deeper questions. For example, why does he invoke disinformation that's already been exposed as manufactured claptrap, e.g.
"True believers have insisted for decades that an extraterrestrial craft crashed in Roswell, N.M., in 1947, no matter how many times the military says it was just a balloon."
Failing to process that this was already skewered by physicist C.B. Moore of the New Mexico Institute of Science and Technology at the time. According to Prof. Moore, "There were no such balloons in use back then, in 1947. The Skyhook series didn't even come onstream in New Mexico in 1947." Moore ought to know as he was part of a high altitude balloon project based out of White Sands, NM. Adding:
"No balloon in use back then could have produced such a large debris field, over such a large area and torn up the ground as well."
Also: Why does Kirsch find it easier to analogize Grusch's (Or Fravor's)UAP claims to biblical miracles rather than actual accounts of genuine alien craft? Well, I went through a lot of the answers already in addressing NY Times' Ross Douthat's suggestion the sightings might all be "supernatural", e.g.
Nimitz Pilots Knew That UFOs They Recorded Were Not " Supernatural
But also that Kirsch flat out takes the easy route, especially in terms of the dynamics of the UAP captured in videos and on multiple sensors. Instead of offering us biblical bollocks a serious writer would have investigated the physics, the aerodynamics. What manner of entity then would be consistent with maneuvers at 700gs, or moving at 13,000 mph in our atmosphere? What manner of entity or device conforms with definite magnetic, mechanical and thermal attributes that have no match in terrestrial technology? A "miracle"? No, a definite 3-dimensional physical reality with technological attributes - but beyond our own. But because this is anathema to Kirsch his only remaining recourse is to try to apply the "miracle test" of philosopher David Hume:
"No testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle, unless the testimony be of such a kind, that its falsehood would be more miraculous than the fact which it endeavors to establish.”
Unable or unwilling to see that Hume, an 18th century philosopher - untutored in quantum mechanics, plasma physics or space physics - would never have gone out on a limb in assessing UAP. Grusch alone provided hundreds of pages of evidence to the Inspector General of the Intel community, including documents, 4k imagery of craft, specific program names and locations of reengineering. Yet Frisch, with massive critical thinking deficits, spouts bollocks like:
"But Hume would also have asked what is more likely: that an alien civilization sent a ship trillions of miles through space to hover over an American naval base, or that a pilot misinterpreted what he saw on a screen, or a sensor malfunctioned."
But trained military pilots do not "misinterpret" targets and multiple sensors do not simultaneously "malfunction". Especially on critical military exercises with naval vessels - like the Nimitz - and high-performance aircraft charged with our defenses. IF they do malfunction the much bigger story is: Why are our taxpayer dollars being shelled out to the Pentagon and its defense contractors for defective equipment? Duh!
Hume himself would have zero awareness (far less grasp) of modern quantum mechanics, plasma physics or space physics. So even he might have been averse to applying his "miracle" test to the topic, appreciating his limited knowledge.
But by far the worst travesty in Frisch's piece is recklessly conflating the UAP-UFOs documented by the military vets with the coronavirus "truthers", Covid vaccine deniers and alternative remedy kooks, e.g.
The Right's COVID Science Deniers, Hacks, Cranks & Quacks Don't Get To Wrap Themselves In Galileo!
Almost as egregious, Kirsch conflates those like the military vets who've testified to the veracity of UAP with climate deniers and election deniers. In each case citing deficiencies of critical thinking and reason and yet woefully blind to his own. Much of this is encapsulated in his quote of Sean Kirkpatrick, the Director of the AARO, i.e.
“The
majority of unidentified objects reported to AARO demonstrate mundane
characteristics of balloons, unmanned aerial systems, clutter, natural
phenomena, or other readily explainable sources.”
But tidily ignoring the more germane part of the UAP report,
"A Handful of UAP Appear to Demonstrate Advanced Technology In 18 incidents, described in 21 reports, observers reported unusual UAP movement patterns or flight characteristics. Some UAP appeared to remain stationary in winds aloft, move against the wind, maneuver abruptly, or move at considerable speed, without discernable means of propulsion."
i.e. which contains the essence of the signal as opposed to the noise Kirsch and Kirkpatrick would rather emphasize. So again, why do they hype the noise and ignore the signal? The answer I suspect is found in the paper:
By Alexander Wendt and Raymond Duvall. So that the phenomenon of the UFO tends to be rejected as real because it comes up against the human concept of state sovereignty. This was brilliantly summarized by Prof. Daniel Dresner in an essay appearing in The Sunday Denver Post on June 2, 2019:
'UFOs have never been systematically investigated by science or the state, because it is assumed to be known that none are extraterrestrial. Yet in fact this is not known, which makes the UFO taboo puzzling given the ET possibility. The puzzle is explained by the functional imperatives of anthropocentric sovereignty, which cannot decide a UFO exception to anthropocentrism while preserving the ability to make such a decision. The UFO can be known only by not asking what it is."
So we can leave out all the codswallop and diversions about the Hume miracle test or confusing UFOs (UAP) with supernatural manifestations. Or putting their acceptance on the same plane as Covid vaccine quackery or climate denial. The answer, the core reason for rejection, is staring us in the face: The military, much of academia and the media don't want too many to think humans are at the bottom of the consciousness food chain in the cosmos.
Addendum: Almost 3 years before his death, my Air Force officer brother Jerry shared an FOIA-released file he obtained dated Sept. 15, 1969 and originally based on a memo dated Nov. 21. 1950. It appeared the Canadians were interested in why the U.S. government was seemingly preoccupied with UFOs after the Roswell incident in July, 1947. The memo, addressed to the Dept. of Transport in Ottawa, and written by a Canadian radio engineer W.B. Smith read:
It appears to me that our own work in geomagnetics might be aided by U.S. Intelligence information on UFOs. I made discreet inquiries through the Canadian Embassy staff who were able to provide for me the following information:
a) The matter is the most highly classified subject in the U.S government, rating higher even than the H-bomb.
b) Flying saucers exist and are likely extraterrestrial craft, not manufactured on Earth (Project Sign conclusion).
c) Their modus operandi is unknown but concentrated efforts are being made by a group headed by Dr. Vannevar Bush.
d) The entire matter is considered by U.S. authorities to be of tremendous significance.
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See Also:
How would contact with U.F.O.s and other civilizations change ours?
And:
Brane Space: Is Scientific UFO Inquiry Possible?
And:
And:
Physics Today Book Reviewer Kate Dorsch Is As Clueless About UFOs As Neil DeGrasse Tyson
And:
And:
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