Eric Weinstein Speaks at a ‘UFO Disclosure’ Symposium in Europe (Hardcore skeptic becomes believer)

In the run-up to a government report on UAPs, a former UFO skeptic seems to have made UFO Disclosure his mission.

Eric Weinstein speaking to a UFO conference in San Marino this weekend. [Photo used with permission] Yes, the U.S. Government is expected to release another public report on UFOs by Oct. 31; yes, James Fox’s new UFO documentary Moment of Contact is available to stream; yes, the UAP story was hot last week thanks to the “racetrack” UFOs spotted by commercial airline pilots, first reported by the indefatigable Christopher Sharp in the UK — and let us pause for a moment to acknowledge that a young journalist from England beat the U.S. media on an American UFO flap — and yes, #UFOTwitter is buzzing with the usual heady mix of anticipation, rumor, euphoria, cynicism and rage.

But right now the most interesting public development in ufology is what we might call the Strange Case of Eric Weinstein.

It is one thing for a scientist who has not previously displayed the slightest interest in UFOs to suddenly become intensely interested in and even outspoken about the phenomenon.

In this small but rapidly growing camp, we find people like Harvard University astronomer Avi Loeb, and Stanford University immunologist and inventor/entrepreneur Garry Nolan. Those are the marquee names, but there are plenty more in virtually every major scientific field who are now working in some capacity with civilian-led efforts on the UAP phenomenon.

But it is quite another thing for a dedicated skeptic like Weinstein to not only renounce his former intellectual myopia and apologize to the UFO community, but then — there’s really no other way to put it — emerge as a vocal and determined UFO Disclosure activist who tells his considerable audience that “some HUGE story” is up.

The Skeptical Inquirer crowd will moan that their comrade has tumbled down the rabbit hole: Farewell, Eric, we hardly knew ye! Such a reaction evades a far more interesting and compelling question: Why is Weinstein exploring this rabbit hole? And why is he diving into it now — at a time one might reasonably conclude that the most urgent issue on humanity’s plate is whether Putin will go nuclear in Ukraine? Weinstein, after all, has provided occasional commentary on that evolving nightmare himself, urging people to pay attention to it.

Which makes it all the more intriguing that on Saturday morning, it was revealed on Twitter that Weinstein spoke this weekend at UFO symposium in San Marino, a tiny nation landlocked by northern Italy.

Luis Elizondo and Eric Weinstein, in an image posted on the latter’s Twitter feed in September. Who is Eric Weinstein, and why does this matter? Eric Weinstein is a Harvard-trained mathematician who is known for having jokingly coined the term “Dark Web,” a loose coalition of what the New York Times in 2018 termed intellectual “renegades” who have carved out a space for themselves in the podcasting world discussing culture and politics in terms that has rendered them unwelcome in “politically correct” circles because they have questioned and criticized what they regard as the “excesses” of the political left, identity politics, etc.

Weinstein isn’t a household name, but he occupies a layer of American intellectuals and opinion-makers who enjoy a considerable audience in Podcastland. He counts the neuroscientist and unapologetic materialist Sam Harris as a close friend; each has appeared on the other’s podcast to hash out religion and other topics.

In June 2021, Weinstein took to Twitter, where he enjoys an audience of more than 696,000 followers, in the wake of the UAP report that had been released earlier that month by the DNI. A research scientist had joked that the 9-page report, characterized as a nothing-burger by skeptics, “basically looks like an Eric Weinstein post.” Riffing off that comment, Weinstein posted a series of comments that amounted to a mea culpa:

A lot of UFO people are nutty. But you the careful community that called balls and strikes as best you could with limited information deserve not only rehabilitation in the minds of the public, but some official recognition that you are to be listened to in the future. Thank you.

I believe you now when you say that there is even much more high quality data available but that it has not been released. At a personal level: You were right, I was wrong. Thanks for letting me join you at the ‘last minute’ in the few months before the report. I’ll listen more.

Eric, meet Lou; Lou, meet Eric On Sept. 29, Weinstein posted a photo of himself (above) grinning with none other than Luis Elizondo, the ex-Pentagon spook who is working behind-the-scenes with Congress to pull alleged secret government UFO programs out into the daylight and whose position basically amounts to: I’m not saying it’s aliens … but it’s aliens. Cryptically, Weinstein said he was “trying to figure out what the heck is actually going on. Thanks Lue.”

A couple weeks later, a Twitter user asked Weinstein if he’d care to elaborate on “what you learned from hanging” with Elizondo. He replied the next day:

I decline. My private conversations are treated by me as private. And there are, potentially, *serious* security implications. I may be a fierce critic of government malfeasance, corruption & gaslighting, but I’m also team United States. If that’s confusing, I can’t help much.

Inevitably, that kicked off a stream of questions, many of which Weinstein, to his credit, answered. I’ve included a selection below, and for the sake of clarity, they may not be in the exact order they appeared and I don’t identify the account posing the question. But it’s all there on Twitter for anyone to see.

Do you feel more or less optimistic that the public will anytime soon have a clearer idea what is going on?

100000000% You should worry about this too. I’m positive I’m being used. Completely.

Based on what you know, can you speculate a timeframe for further disclosure either from individuals or govt?

It’s infuriating. But I don’t feel I have a choice. I would love to stop. Smoke and mirrors are everywhere and the answer is hidden in a national security funhouse that is no fun at all. But we have zero choice here given what is claimed and what is at stake. Thanks.

Eric, we are just tired of the infinite circle jerk. There are people with answers and those answers need to be made public.

I’ve never spoken or corresponded with Weinstein, and he’s never responded to the occasional question or comment I’ve tagged him with on Twitter. But it is clear, based on what we know, is that Weinstein — by virtue of his reputation and visibility as a respected public intellectual — has been trying to find out whether there’s a “there” there in the world of ufology and that in so doing he’s acquired sufficiently compelling background to convince him that the issue is worth pursuing and that this conversation is worth having.

Remarkably, he essentially echoes here comments made in 2021 by Harris, who said that on three occasions within the space of a few months he had been included in high-level talks about the reality of UFOs. Among his remarks:

I’ve had someone reach out to me and has assured me that I’m going to be on a Zoom call with, you know, former heads of the CIA and Office of Naval Research and people whose bona fide are very easy to track, and they’re concerned about the messaging around all of this to the public …

Harris brought this up repeatedly in 2021 as the release of the first UAP report drew near, with both guests and fellow podcasters; it seemed to nag at him. He couldn’t say much, but he also wouldn’t let it go. The implication was clear: Someone who was, apparently, in-the-know about UFOs he regarded as credible wanted his help with easing the public into what would amount to a historic paradigm shift. To my knowledge he has not raised the subject since. But it is worth recalling that last May, Weinstein on Twitter confirmed on that the “outreach” did happen.

And in the exchanges excerpted above, he acknowledges as much again: “I’m positive I’m being used. Completely.”

Talking UFOs in Europe [Note: This section has been updated to reflect new statements by Weinstein]

Flash-forward to Saturday morning, Oct. 22. Several photos of Weinstein on stage in San Marino at a 2-day “World Symposium” on “UFO Disclosure” appear on Twitter, posted there by someone who said he/she attended the event. Two other Americans, Elizondo and Loeb, were scheduled to be among the speakers although the scuttlebutt Saturday afternoon was that Elizondo had to cancel and so he stepped in; sometimes, a rumor turns out to be true.

Writing on Twitter early Monday (Oct. 24) Weinstein said that he had been invited to participate in the press conference for what he termed a “totally separate” project. He said he had come as an unaffiliated observer, “so I politely declined.”

“I was not expecting to speak,” Weinstein wrote. “The guest of honor, Lue Elizondo, became unavailable at the last minute. I was asked to step in. As a courtesy I agreed, and shared some ideas that represent no one but myself as a private US citizen working with publicly available info.”

Projected behind Weinstein on a large screen as he spoke was a series of slides with talking points. Given that he was filling in “at the last minute” for Elizondo, all the material on the slides, which have been subjected to Talmudic levels of analysis on #UFOTwitter, were either prepared by or for him.

True Confessions: Ufology is a danger to both National Security and Fundamental Physics. So, What’s the problem?

— MOUNTAINS of indirect evidence for existence of something profound. (italics added).

On another slide, the text refers to UFOs being equal to “hope,” in the context of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. “UFOs,” the slide reads, “aren’t merely interesting or fun to talk about. They may be our best way out.”

Responding to questions on Twitter today (Oct. 24) Weinstein had some interesting things to say, though nothing conclusive. At one point, he speculated that the UFO phenomenon “could sorta kinda maybe be a cover story for advanced tech. But I can’t get that to make sense yet.”

Weinstein, clearly not caring about stigma, appears to have arrived at a place where he believes, for reasons known only to him and those he’s spoken with, that there is something to disclose, and that it is essential that it be disclosed, sooner rather than later.

Something is flying around. I tend to believe they are of earth origin. Space is very big. And we are a speck in a distant part of our galaxy. Hard to believe anything would give a hoot about us.

Lue has never said he is former CIA. I think you are playing fast and loose with the truth. If you have evidence to the contrary, please provide a source.

I have never said I believe the government is trying to figure out what these things are.

Of course, that doesn't stop you from flinging accusations, does it?

Again, specifically what is it that you disagree with Lue about?

Your comment that Lue is misleading by "omission" might be valid. But if you are going to accuse someone of being a liar, the least you can do is state what you believe they are lying about. Specifically. Not generally, like "by omission."

The unspoken issue is the propulsion and the source of fuel. IF even a few of these things are from earth science then there exists a source of energy to fuel civilization that is being withheld while the great lies are spewed forthon global warming and energy scarcity. THAT is why the CIA is trying to get the narrative back into the toothpaste tube via professional liars like Lue and a physicist or three (white courtesy phone for Hal Putoff).

BTW, you may be correct about Elizondo. But it is immature and unprofessional to accuse someone of being a complete liar (so that everything they say is a lie) without providing some specificity to your accusation.

I think you are better than that.

“Yes. That is my impression. No so-called "aliens"...but a very big mystery.”

I agree. My belief, based on just my intuition, is that the mystery at the heart of the UFO/alien phenomena involves the nature of our consciousness, particularly our incomplete understanding of it. We may not be who and what we think we are, nor even when or where we think we are, all in a very profound and unsettling way. If this were revealed in a manner such that one had to believe it, how could the structure of society survive?

I was a licensed MUFON field investigator. You have no idea what the true issues are. I am also 77 years old, so calling me immature is a joke on you.

Been following UFO stories for years. Once thought they could be Aliens but now I'm convinced they are fallen angels set to deceive the world. Fallen angels that are not the Renaissance version that we think off.

If our government understands the tech, there are a couple reasons to keep it quiet.

First, the military benefits would be a game changer to the point where it would provoke action against the country before they could deploy it effectively.

Second, a very efficient energy source would do the same. It would create such an economic advantage it would immediately destroy all of the other economies in the world.

I appreciate the “Star Trek” crowd thinks that a breakthrough like this would lead to world peace…but, the opposite is true. Based on this thinking, Something like this needs to be fed into the system slowly.

Not sure I agree with the thinking. But “shocks” to the world need to be considered.

You toss around around facts and speculation without clarifying either. I don't give a damn who you were a field investigator for, that's bullshit and immature.

I was in the business where many millions were invested based on information. Speculation is incredibly valuable but it needs to be identified as such and sourced. Same for facts.

And calling people "liar" without specifically indicating what you "think" they are lying about isn't just immature, it is despicable.

You have no idea what the true issues are.

See, there you go again, getting up on your high horse.

You have no frikken idea what I or anyone else around here knows. You just assume you are THE BIG authority. But, of course, you keep your vast knowledge to yourself.

You accuse people of being liars (Lue) but never bother to say specifically what they are lying about.

Eric and his brother Brett are old school Liberals. They are not Leftists, they are liberals. They’re also both really smart guys. Brett Weinstein was the one who was fired by Evergreen college in Washington State for not consenting to overt racial discrimination.

About UFO’s....I too have come around after having been a skeptic previously. I’m not ready to say anything definitive - just that we don’t know what’s up with them, who/what they are. Too many credible people have seen them and there’s even radar and other recordings. This isn’t fake and the technology for some of them appears far beyond anything any country has.

That is my impression also.

This might (I repeat, might) have an incredibly unsettling and dangerous effect on our society and institutions. I can only guess how the stock market might react given its dislike of uncertainty.

And a lot of folks keep coming back to the consciousness-related aspect of this mystery. That seems to be an increasingly popular topic.

UFOs are religion for atheists.

Agreed.

Interesting about Brett and Evergreen. The Weinstein boys seem to have an independent streak when it comes to doing the right thing.

I'm with you on the UFO issue. I have been following this issue since the 1960's. And every time I think this issue might settle down, it takes another turn and becomes even stranger.

UFOs are religion for atheists.

Just my opinion, of course, but a lot of experiencers do seem to identify themselves as atheists, agnostics, and followers of New Age religions.

Good points. Have you considered that governments made deals for tech BEFORE they realized what they were dealing with were liars, fallen angels? Keeping that truth under wraps is huge.

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