Brane Space: NC Religion Prof Joins The List Of UFO Ignoramuses With Her WaPo Piece

J. Allen Hynek - Scientific Definition of UFO

Basis for physical reality of UFOs-UAP

Diana Walsh Pasulka - a professor of religion at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, has now joined the ‘illustrious’ ranks of know-nothing profs, “scientists”, and media nabobs who believe UFOs arise from "belief" and constitute the basis for a “new religion” or entry into another rabbit hole of the mind. As she writes in her Friday WaPo piece:

“On May 8, Pentagon officials began releasing previously classified material related to unidentified flying objects. The UFO files may not prove the existence of extraterrestrial life. But their publication is nonetheless a significant event. By creating a government-sanctioned repository of content that can be consulted for the truth about unknown intelligence, the U.S. government has offered support and recognition to a new kind of religion: belief in UFOs."

This initial blabber marks the prof's first indication of being woefully ignorant of the phenomenon itself, as well as its historical scientific basis. First, there is NO such thing as "belief in UFOs". Or to quote Dr. Kenneth L. Franklin (Neil deGrasse Tyson's predecessor at the Hayden Planetarium) from a Barbados lecture he gave in 1975:

"Asking me if I believe in UFOs is like asking me if I believe in Chicago. Of course I do! What you're really asking me when you ask that question is whether I believe UFOs are spacecraft from another planet, and I don't."

Second, she is blissfully unaware that the full scientific definition of the UFO has already been given, by the late Prof. J. Allen Hynek (former Chair of Astronomy Dept. Northwestern University) in his book UFOs- A Scientific Inquiry:

"A UFO is the reported perception of an object of light seen in the sky, the appearance, trajectory and general dynamic behavior of which do not suggest a logical, conventional explanation and which is not only mystifying to the original percipients but remains unidentified, after close scrutiny of all available evidence by persons who are technically capable of making a common sense identification, if one were possible.”

The definition fulfills all the key criteria of an objective, operational definition, not corrupted by bias or personal assumptions - particularly by way of "beliefs". Hynek basically gives us a scientific template by which to judge the nature of an object or light seen in the sky and which falls outside recognized categories.

This brings us to my one and only UFO observation 64 years ago, the detailed account of which I presented in the letter section ('Brainwaves') of The Mensa Bulletin five years ago and which I reproduce below:

Did I "believe" I saw this thing, whatever it was? No, I didn't "believe" I saw it, I flat out saw it like dozens of others in that crowd did. "Belief" didn't enter any more than if a commercial plane had gone over us instead. Would any intelligent person ask the witnesses in that Carol City, FL crowd if they suddenly "believed" they saw saw a UFO? No, that would be stupid. All of us there saw what we saw, and concurred with the aspects. No 'belief' was involved - which is always where the knee jerk skeptics lose their own credibility.

Pasulka fails to appreciate there is no such thing as "UFO belief", mainly because she hasn't done the necessary background research, including J. Allen Hynek's definition of a UFO. This, I argue, pretty well disqualifies herself from any serious consideration. But let me go on to her next paragraph to show how much of a bigger hole she manages to dig for herself:

"UFO belief is not a religion in the traditional sense. There are no centralized leaders: no popes, no universally recognized doctrines, no sacred text and no institution capable of enforcing orthodoxy. "

Of course a real UFO observation exhibits none of those religious aspects because it is not a belief! Here she commits much the same logical faux pas as Michael Shermer did in an earlier WaPo op ed, which I skewered at some length:

Brane Space: Michael Shermer's Predictable Efforts To Apply Quasi Religious ('Sky god') Beliefs To Secular Acceptance of UAP

Wherein I pointedly noted:

Shermer in his recent Washington Post piece veers off from acceptable logical argument by invoking pseudo-psychological twaddle. He applies a 'homemade' quasi religious belief template to the recent exposure of serious UAP-UFO incidents such as revealed in the documentary, The Age of Disclosure, i.e.

The Age of Disclosure - Official Trailer | IMDb

And comes up bupkiss, in my opinion. In like manner, I would say that Ms. Pasulka also veers off from acceptable logical argument by invoking pseudo-religious twaddle. Likely traced to uncritically conflating imagined (or erroneous) sightings with actual UFO sightings - such as made by the Nimitz pilots, or those of us in that N. Miami shopping center 64 years ago.This is Confirmed in her follow up sentence:

"Yet it increasingly performs many of the functions historically attributed to religion. It organizes communities of belief, creates narratives of revelation, offers cosmological meaning and establishes interpretive frameworks through which people understand mysterious experiences and humanity’s place in the universe.”

Please. Did those Nimitz Navy pilots - who certainly saw a UFO off their ship in 2004- then go on to "create communities of belief"? Did they create "narratives of revelation"? No, they delivered a sober recounting of their observations on a now famous 60 Minutes episode:

Navy pilots describe encounters with UFOs - YouTube

Clearly those experienced pilots would know from what they observed and recorded (on multiple sensors) there was no need to ascribe any religious or "cosmic meanings". Similarly, I also stand by the reality of the observation I made with dozens of other folks in that N. Miami shopping center 64 years ago. Am I inclined to create a "narrative of revelation"? Of course not. I simply maintain we shared an accurate observation of an extraordinary object which was unidentified in accord with J.Allen Hynek's UFO definition.

Pasulka by her 3rd paragraph at last delivers a serious statement on the issue of interest in UFOs:

“Counter to what some assume, interest in UFOs is not confined to the sociological fringe. Prominent scientists have raised questions about UFOs”

Prominent scientists like solar physicist Peter Sturrock whose work in the field of UFO analysis- from his book ('The UFO Enigma: A New Review of the Physical Evidence' ) discloses physical parameters are paramount. Hence, he examines in detail: magnetic, mechanical and thermal properties of contacted soil that cannot be reduced to religious bloviations. These physically real aspects for investigation (after UFO contact) include:

i)Mechanical – A continuous or brief mechanical pressure distorts the soil, and this can be measured by a penetration instrument.

ii)Thermal – Measurement of the quantity of water in the soil as compared to other nearby control samples, allows determination of the amount of energy required to reduce the water content to that level.

iii)Magnetic: Some soils have a high magnetic remanence. In this case it is useful to examine the magnetic pattern of the soil with the help of magnetometers either in situ, or in a laboratory.

iv)Radioactivity: Soil samples can be analyzed either in situ, of in the lab using recovered samples.

v)Physico-chemical: Samples from the trace region and control samples (recovered far from trace region) can be analyzed for molecular, atomic and isotopic composition.

Thus, positive results for any or all the above would indicate the UFO which made such contact has to be real.

Oh, and let's not forget one time skeptic Carl Sagan, "outed" by Northwestern University astronomy professor 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."