“In a functioning democracy, we must constantly balance the competing priorities of government secrecy and transparency. I believe that there is information uncovered by the government’s covert investigations into UAPs that can be disclosed to the public without harming our national security” — Sen. Harry Reid,
Billy, I am so glad you write. While reading your work, I learn much about a subject I know little about. And I expand my vocabulary by leaps and bounds. Keep telling it. Maybe this year or years to come, the idiots missing the point will learn something, too.
Beautifully expressed, Billy. In a comically ironic way, "Don't Look Up" could also be an apt header for the media's conduct toward the issues you enumerate.
Thank you for uncovering a badly covered story of aspiration, collaboration, and cosmic vision, Billy! May we have a more healthy New Year and even another one after this.
I re-read a couple of NY Times articles about Harry Reid, because I hardly knew anything about the man who appears to have changed the way that politicians approach the UAP subject. But a couple of articles isn't enough to really understand anyone and he remains a bit of a mystery, to a foreigner like me at least.
One comment that I cringed at though: "Ultimately, the U.F.O. debate can be broken down into a sincere belief in science versus a sincere belief in extraterrestrials. I side with science."
I believe in the benefits of the scientific methodology - one only has to look around to see the benefits science has delivered. But I also believe in people (at least, when multiple witnesses are present) and human intelligence; and if such witness testimony clearly indicates the presence of non-human technology and non-terrestrial intelligences, then I have to take notice of that too (even if it doesn't contribute towards making better stuff, like what applied science does).
I also believe that science is heading in the direction of proving that the genesis of life is virtually inevitable and not a random fluke - so in that respect, there is also reason to believe in the existence of ET. (One can also argue that nothing will restrain humanity from spreading across the galaxy, so why expect aliens to be different?)
What 'AAWSAP' delivered was a mixed bag of goodies, with the biggest win for the paranormal field (in the hitchhiker effect). This, perhaps more than meeting aliens, could have the biggest impact on our evolving civilisation.
Steeped as I am in A.N. Whitehead's Process Metaphysics and a theology rooted in that theology, as well as neuroscience (and the broader domain of science), I personally see an integrated reality. Our tendency as humans is to see polarities as zero sum in nature when they are actually energy accelerators if we can manage to wrestle them close enough that we can hold them together. The problems arise when people over-identify with one side or the other to the extent that one has to triumph over the other, which usually means annihilated which is impossible. Our way of life in so many areas is dominated by zero sum power struggles even tho the major world religions counsel kindness, acceptance, special support for the marginalized, something that reflects our evolved nature as Modern Humans. If indeed this is something that characterizes the nature of the evolutionary drive of the entire universe, then it would wrong, and dangerous for the military to be the "tip of the spear" in contacting or responding to a contact from others across the universe. Additionally, it is possible that any life form we can recognized as a life form from another planet has transcended tendencies to struggle for dominance and has gained the strengths we had as hunter-gatherers (generous, leaderless, egalitarian, cooperative). It will be very hard to gather the resources of people, physical resources, and time to discover and create ways to become interstellar explorers if we are continuous suspicious, fearful, aggressive. In fact, right now we are living in the early phases of the dystopian science fiction stories about disastrous climate destruction, and the .0001% are still gut focused on the world one quarter of a year at a time. It is noteworthy that for some at that level of financial and resources wealth their immediate gains and losses command their attention over the reality that we are all in danger.
Billy, I am so glad you write. While reading your work, I learn much about a subject I know little about. And I expand my vocabulary by leaps and bounds. Keep telling it. Maybe this year or years to come, the idiots missing the point will learn something, too.
Well, now I hate Harry Reid a little less.
Beautifully expressed, Billy. In a comically ironic way, "Don't Look Up" could also be an apt header for the media's conduct toward the issues you enumerate.
As always, great inspirational writing Billy, BUT please check your facts. Reid was a senator from Nevada, NOT Arizona....
Thank you for uncovering a badly covered story of aspiration, collaboration, and cosmic vision, Billy! May we have a more healthy New Year and even another one after this.
I re-read a couple of NY Times articles about Harry Reid, because I hardly knew anything about the man who appears to have changed the way that politicians approach the UAP subject. But a couple of articles isn't enough to really understand anyone and he remains a bit of a mystery, to a foreigner like me at least.
One comment that I cringed at though: "Ultimately, the U.F.O. debate can be broken down into a sincere belief in science versus a sincere belief in extraterrestrials. I side with science."
I believe in the benefits of the scientific methodology - one only has to look around to see the benefits science has delivered. But I also believe in people (at least, when multiple witnesses are present) and human intelligence; and if such witness testimony clearly indicates the presence of non-human technology and non-terrestrial intelligences, then I have to take notice of that too (even if it doesn't contribute towards making better stuff, like what applied science does).
I also believe that science is heading in the direction of proving that the genesis of life is virtually inevitable and not a random fluke - so in that respect, there is also reason to believe in the existence of ET. (One can also argue that nothing will restrain humanity from spreading across the galaxy, so why expect aliens to be different?)
What 'AAWSAP' delivered was a mixed bag of goodies, with the biggest win for the paranormal field (in the hitchhiker effect). This, perhaps more than meeting aliens, could have the biggest impact on our evolving civilisation.
Steeped as I am in A.N. Whitehead's Process Metaphysics and a theology rooted in that theology, as well as neuroscience (and the broader domain of science), I personally see an integrated reality. Our tendency as humans is to see polarities as zero sum in nature when they are actually energy accelerators if we can manage to wrestle them close enough that we can hold them together. The problems arise when people over-identify with one side or the other to the extent that one has to triumph over the other, which usually means annihilated which is impossible. Our way of life in so many areas is dominated by zero sum power struggles even tho the major world religions counsel kindness, acceptance, special support for the marginalized, something that reflects our evolved nature as Modern Humans. If indeed this is something that characterizes the nature of the evolutionary drive of the entire universe, then it would wrong, and dangerous for the military to be the "tip of the spear" in contacting or responding to a contact from others across the universe. Additionally, it is possible that any life form we can recognized as a life form from another planet has transcended tendencies to struggle for dominance and has gained the strengths we had as hunter-gatherers (generous, leaderless, egalitarian, cooperative). It will be very hard to gather the resources of people, physical resources, and time to discover and create ways to become interstellar explorers if we are continuous suspicious, fearful, aggressive. In fact, right now we are living in the early phases of the dystopian science fiction stories about disastrous climate destruction, and the .0001% are still gut focused on the world one quarter of a year at a time. It is noteworthy that for some at that level of financial and resources wealth their immediate gains and losses command their attention over the reality that we are all in danger.