http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2010/jun/08/hawkings-warning-opens-debate/
I find these paragraphs very pregnant with meaning and import:
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In response to Hawking’s warning, The Journal of Cosmology, a scholarly journal of astronomy and astrophysics associated with the Department of Astronomy, Center for Astrophysics, at Harvard-Smithsonian in Cambridge, Mass., published the views of 12 scientists commenting on Hawking’s ET statements. According to the Los Angeles Times, “some criticized Hawking’s use of human behavior to predict what aliens would do, but others said human behavior was a reasonable yardstick. Few, however, questioned the premise of Hawking’s statements — that alien life forms probably exist and we are likely someday to encounter them.”
For those who study of the politics of extraterrestrial contact — the exopolitics community — and many in the UFO research community, Hawking’s statement was a double-edged sword. On the one hand, he brought the ET topic front and center. On the other, his statement runs counter to the opinion and claims of numerous exopolitical analysts and hundreds of UFO researchers and highly credentialed witnesses who firmly believe ET/Earth contact has been well-documented and has been a long-term phenomenon.
Among those offended by Hawking’s pronouncement was former Canadian Defense Minister Paul Hellyer, who is the longest-serving current member of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada.
On May 2, Hellyer publicly defended extraterrestrial civilizations, which he strongly believes have not only visited Earth but also have contributed positively to human technological advancement. “The reality is that they’ve been visiting Earth for decades and probably millennia and have contributed to our knowledge,” Hellyer said. “Microchips, for example, fiber-optics, they are just two of the things that allegedly … came from crashed vehicles.”
In an interview, Hellyer said: “I think Professor Hawking is indulging in some pretty scary talk that I would have hoped would not come from someone with such an established stature. I think it’s really sad that a scientist of his repute would contribute to what I would consider more misinformation about a vast and very important subject.”
A May 5 report by Zland Communications Network also added to the UFO/ET discussion. That report said in 1984 beloved astronomer/astrophysicist Carl Sagan revealed to J. Allen Hynek that he, like Hynek, believed UFOs are real. Hynek, a former professor of astronomy at Ohio State University and at Northwestern University, served as civilian scientific consultant to the U.S. Air Force’s seminal UFO study know as Project Blue Book (1952-69).
At the outset, Hynek was a UFO debunker and, as he said, was an “arch-enemy of those flying saucer groups and enthusiasts who very dearly wanted UFOs to be interplanetary.”
. . .
Sagan’s alleged UFO revelation was cited by Hynek’s former colleague, photojournalist and investigative reporter Paola Leopizzi-Harris.
“My recollection is that Hynek said it was backstage of one of the many Johnny Carson Tonight Shows Sagan did,” Leopizzi-Harris said. “He basically said” to Hynek “in 1984, ‘I know UFOs are real, but I would not risk my research funding, as you do, to talk openly about them in public.’ ” This comment was in stark contrast to many of Sagan’s earlier statements, including one at a 1968 meeting of the U.S. House Committee on Science and Astronautics at which he said: “I do not think the evidence is at all persuasive, that UFOs are of intelligent extraterrestrial origin.”
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I've met Paola Leopizzi Harris this last March.
She's an excellent interviewer and clearly skilled at getting to the meat of issues and to the candid core of whatever the interviewee has to share.
She also comes across as way above average in integrity and honesty. I have no doubt whatsoever that she told the truth about Sagan.