Well this is off topic. I watched this video and thought, well, if the hitch-hiker effect is a real thing. how long will it take for the entire U.S. intelligence apparatus to be infected and spooked by Them? Maybe the Havana syndrome victims had the misfortune of sharing a flight or being in a meeting with someone infected by the Phenomena? Interesting video, I'm not trying to hijack Billy's post!
A good friend of mine, a woman now in her 80s, has been a paranormal enthusiast most of her life. Ironically, her eldest son is chair of the astrophysics dept. at an Ivy League university. He and a couple of colleagues were visiting her one time when the subject of ETs & UFOs came up (probably by her.) Her son and the others began making jokes and snarky remarks about another colleague at the university who thinks the ET hypothesis is valid and deserves mainstream research.
"But, what if he's right?" my lady friend asked.
After moments of silence, one of them replied: "Our careers would be over."
...
A potentially paradigm shifting truth... is considered an existential threat.
Thanks Billy. I may have mentioned that my brother Peter is professor of physics and the history of Science, and is the Pellegrino professor at Harvard. He won't touch the subject with a ten foot pole. I try not to let this affect our relationship, but as you can imagine, it does. I think that the idea that he, as a scientist, has missed the biggest scientific story in history, is just too unbearable to contemplate.
Shostak's pleasant facade has always struck me as microns deep. I think that he, unlike my brother, is very aware of the UFO reality, and is either a paid shill, or just a self-serving jerk, comfy in his subsidised world.
It's hard to know what motivates people, Will. But when you've publicly committed your life or career to a course of certitude, the accumulation of new data and evidence requires an honest confrontation with the ego. Too often the facts lose out.
But, at the same time, the competition for research grant money is a major factor here. So long as the National Research Foundation does not recognize UfO/UAP as a legitimate subject for fundable research the science community will turn its back on the matter.
Getting it by the editor: The primary problem with submissions to a scientific journal. It will be interesting to see if papers coming out of the Galileo team will have better luck. There will be such papers, right?
But when it concerns government information - any government - I'm not so optimistic. The technically and militarily advanced nations are still treating the phenomenon in a Cold War framework - competition, secrecy, possible weaponization of ET technology. That certainly won't lead to any satisfactory transparency.
Yeah, saw that. The UK is always acting as the US's warmongering puppet. Western "analysts" and propagandists just don't understand the Russian psyche today. I don't think the Russians would ever use nukes first. That's our domain. But if they are attacked... they'll unleash Hell.
Well this is off topic. I watched this video and thought, well, if the hitch-hiker effect is a real thing. how long will it take for the entire U.S. intelligence apparatus to be infected and spooked by Them? Maybe the Havana syndrome victims had the misfortune of sharing a flight or being in a meeting with someone infected by the Phenomena? Interesting video, I'm not trying to hijack Billy's post!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFGMdp4fRog
I'm connected with Seth Shostak (on LinkedIn) after bumping into him at several conferences.
I know he believes in alien life, and I'm just not sure why he doesn't try to help the cause :/
Because it would be an implicit acknowledgement that he was wrong. Sounds petty, given the stakes. Nevertheless.
A good friend of mine, a woman now in her 80s, has been a paranormal enthusiast most of her life. Ironically, her eldest son is chair of the astrophysics dept. at an Ivy League university. He and a couple of colleagues were visiting her one time when the subject of ETs & UFOs came up (probably by her.) Her son and the others began making jokes and snarky remarks about another colleague at the university who thinks the ET hypothesis is valid and deserves mainstream research.
"But, what if he's right?" my lady friend asked.
After moments of silence, one of them replied: "Our careers would be over."
...
A potentially paradigm shifting truth... is considered an existential threat.
Galileo, indeed.
Thanks Billy. I may have mentioned that my brother Peter is professor of physics and the history of Science, and is the Pellegrino professor at Harvard. He won't touch the subject with a ten foot pole. I try not to let this affect our relationship, but as you can imagine, it does. I think that the idea that he, as a scientist, has missed the biggest scientific story in history, is just too unbearable to contemplate.
Shostak's pleasant facade has always struck me as microns deep. I think that he, unlike my brother, is very aware of the UFO reality, and is either a paid shill, or just a self-serving jerk, comfy in his subsidised world.
Keep up the good work!
Will
It's hard to know what motivates people, Will. But when you've publicly committed your life or career to a course of certitude, the accumulation of new data and evidence requires an honest confrontation with the ego. Too often the facts lose out.
An astute observation, Billy. And, sadly, all too common in almost every field.
But, at the same time, the competition for research grant money is a major factor here. So long as the National Research Foundation does not recognize UfO/UAP as a legitimate subject for fundable research the science community will turn its back on the matter.
Well maybe someone with deep pockets and imagination will stop in. Elon, Bezos, Gates not unlike Robert Bigelow?
Actually, both the Galileo Project and UAPx were launched with cash gifts from private donors.
Getting it by the editor: The primary problem with submissions to a scientific journal. It will be interesting to see if papers coming out of the Galileo team will have better luck. There will be such papers, right?
I'd say anything with the Harvard imprimatur has an inside track.
Curiously enough, Larry, the Guardian published a similarly sanguine op-ed today (Saturday).
"UFO-watchers say 2022 could prove a bumper year, as clamor for details grows in the wake of a highly anticipated report."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/05/ufos-america-aliens-government-report
But when it concerns government information - any government - I'm not so optimistic. The technically and militarily advanced nations are still treating the phenomenon in a Cold War framework - competition, secrecy, possible weaponization of ET technology. That certainly won't lead to any satisfactory transparency.
Yeah, saw that. The UK is always acting as the US's warmongering puppet. Western "analysts" and propagandists just don't understand the Russian psyche today. I don't think the Russians would ever use nukes first. That's our domain. But if they are attacked... they'll unleash Hell.