Posted on 02/11/2019 10:02:05 AM PST by BenLurkin
In American Cosmic, D.W. Pasulka, a professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, draws on a six-year ethnographic study and the work of Carl Jung (Flying Saucers) and Jacques Vallee (Passport to Magonia and The Invisible College) to explain the widespread belief in aliens. Pasulka identifies three aspects of UFO inquiry: physical evidence (crash sites and artifacts); testimonials made by experiencers; and the persistence of belief whether or not there is verifiable evidence to support it.
Pasulka also challenges the view that UFO believers are uneducated, fringe members of society. Some very well-regarded scientists, she indicates, are convinced that non-humans have visited Planet Earth; they have chosen to remain anonymous to protect their professional reputations.
Using a method common among anthropologists, Pasulka maintains she neither believes nor disbelieves but insists that testimonials are, in important ways, real. This approach allows her to gauge the impact and internal logic of a thriving belief system.
Pasulka regards them as heroes, who have the guts and ability to take on skeptics, and are fighting the good fight for the right reasons: because they believe, and they would say, because they know.
Pasulka turns her attention to television shows and movies. Models of events can be conflated, she asserts, even when one representation is real and the other is fictional. The likelihood of putting a model in the wrong bucket increases when producers (whose clients include National Geographic, The History Channel, and The Smithsonian) use a genre called specialist factual programming to fuse archival material and special effects to create realistic montages, with documentary in the title.
These productions influence memory, Pasulka emphasizes; they contribute to belief in fabricated UFO phenomena.
(Excerpt) Read more at psychologytoday.com ...
Interesting thread.
Paging Ed Straker.
Why was it only the girls had purple hair?
As far as we know, only machines could last the time it would take travel interstellar...
“U” stands for unidentified: no conclusions can be drawn from something that is unknown. You can say nothing about it, because it is “unidentified.”
three aspects of UFO inquiry: physical evidence (crash sites and artifacts); - 0.00000000000000000
testimonials made by experiencers; — reliability = 0.000000000000%
and the persistence of belief whether or not there is verifiable evidence to support it — irrelevant to the issue of whether aliens have actually visited, 100.000000000% irrelevant
U stands for unidentified: no conclusions can be drawn from something that is unknown. You can say nothing about it, because it is unidentified.
—
Technically you are correct but in fact what’s being pushed is the idea that aliens have visited or are visiting now.
As far as we know.
And thats the rub, now isnt it? We are operating on the assumption that our current model of physics is all there is and its inviolate. And perhaps it is. Then again....
Good point.
Have we ever done any serious scientific study of UFOs? I know there was Project Blue Book back in the 1960s, but I think that is all classified information.
No idea.
“As far as we know, only machines could last the time it would take travel interstellar... “
That’s where I’m at. Certainly the odds of a UFO based on a probe is much higher than one involving alien life.
I believe the distances are so great that alien life generally stays within their star system. It is less resource intensive to modify what’s needed within a star system than to attempt to migrate to another star system. However they may send probes. The probes may still be quite dangerous depending on how these aliens think.
I also think the probability of alien life moving from one galaxy to another is about zero.
Colonel Lake didn't have purple hair.
Ok, let’s get to the bottom line.
Assume there are UFOs. If they are so advanced that they can get here from wherever, and they don’t want to contact us, their existence means nothing.
If they want to contact us, they will.
If they are that advanced, we would be to them what chimps armed with guns would be to us. A threat that would be easily neutralized.
It’s fun to speculate, but ultimately means nothing.
I’ll believe it when they try to probe me.
BULID A DEFLECTOR SHIELD
MAKE EARTH GREAT AGAIN
Interactions in the present can change the future. Just like the old SciFi movies about time travel. Sometimes it’s prudent to not meddle.
Great Serious got it all on DVDS
Maybe a rank thing.
Besides she was a colonel after signing up.
Maybe it's cause she's HOT!!!
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