Nov 17, 2024 06:38 AM
https://bigthink.com/13-8/new-ufo-hearin...sensation/
INTRO: Two subcommittees of the House Oversight Committee recently held a joint hearing [...] Astronomer Adam Frank argues that scientific inquiry into UAPs is worthwhile, but we should maintain high evidentiary standards instead of perpetuating a “circular conservation” that lacks tangible proof.
EXCERPTS: . . . The important thing to understand about these kinds of claims is they go back to the very beginnings of UFO culture, as I found in my research for The Little Book of Aliens. There have always been ex-government officials who claimed exactly what these modern witnesses are claiming and never is there anything that scientists like me can get our hands on to do something with.
Obviously, the point of these hearings is to get some transparency on exactly this subject, and no one would be happier than me to find out that the government has proof that life exists beyond Earth. That is, literally, the one question I desperately want to answer before I die. But the long history of UFO culture is dominated by a mix of hoaxes, conspiracy-mongering, and terrible data that is passed off as “proof.” From that history, I know you need to come into this subject with a container ship’s worth of skepticism or you are going to get burned. Humans are very good at fooling themselves, especially about things they want to be true. Not getting fooled in this way is exactly why we invented science.
A few points about these extraordinary claims are worth noting. Sean Kirkpatrick was the recent director of the Department of Defense’s All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). This is one organization that’s been handling UAP studies. Kirkpatrick has talked about what he sees as a long-running circular conversation among UFO enthusiasts in the government. People who claim to know about something talk to other interested people. Those people then talk to others about that first person and their claims. This goes on and on until a kind of murky mythology builds up where no one has actual proof of anything, but everyone says they know someone who does.
But that proof never actually shows up. [...] So my fear with these congressional hearings is that this endless loop of sensation will go on. It will just be charge and countercharge extending forever into the decades with nothing ever resolved. After all, if you truly believe the government has proof of aliens, what proof would you accept that it doesn’t? (MORE - missing details)
INTRO: Two subcommittees of the House Oversight Committee recently held a joint hearing [...] Astronomer Adam Frank argues that scientific inquiry into UAPs is worthwhile, but we should maintain high evidentiary standards instead of perpetuating a “circular conservation” that lacks tangible proof.
EXCERPTS: . . . The important thing to understand about these kinds of claims is they go back to the very beginnings of UFO culture, as I found in my research for The Little Book of Aliens. There have always been ex-government officials who claimed exactly what these modern witnesses are claiming and never is there anything that scientists like me can get our hands on to do something with.
Obviously, the point of these hearings is to get some transparency on exactly this subject, and no one would be happier than me to find out that the government has proof that life exists beyond Earth. That is, literally, the one question I desperately want to answer before I die. But the long history of UFO culture is dominated by a mix of hoaxes, conspiracy-mongering, and terrible data that is passed off as “proof.” From that history, I know you need to come into this subject with a container ship’s worth of skepticism or you are going to get burned. Humans are very good at fooling themselves, especially about things they want to be true. Not getting fooled in this way is exactly why we invented science.
A few points about these extraordinary claims are worth noting. Sean Kirkpatrick was the recent director of the Department of Defense’s All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). This is one organization that’s been handling UAP studies. Kirkpatrick has talked about what he sees as a long-running circular conversation among UFO enthusiasts in the government. People who claim to know about something talk to other interested people. Those people then talk to others about that first person and their claims. This goes on and on until a kind of murky mythology builds up where no one has actual proof of anything, but everyone says they know someone who does.
But that proof never actually shows up. [...] So my fear with these congressional hearings is that this endless loop of sensation will go on. It will just be charge and countercharge extending forever into the decades with nothing ever resolved. After all, if you truly believe the government has proof of aliens, what proof would you accept that it doesn’t? (MORE - missing details)