Posted on 10/25/2022 6:42:08 AM PDT by RoosterRedux
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.
Which is to say: He’s become a ufologist.
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.
The rest of his remarks may be found here.
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?
But it has to be done by the book. I’m trying.
Do you believe something world changing will happen within your lifetime?
You aren’t going to have to be wait that long.
Another gatekeeper of knowledge recruited.
No. It is not my information. It belongs to others.
Others = humanity. It’s time for this shell game to end Eric.
Totally agree.
Do you consider that you might be part of the gaslighting?
100000000% You should worry about this too. I’m positive I’m being used. Completely.
Did you find it useful?
Quite.
Shouldn’t we be team Human? All working together for a greater purpose?
That is my highest allegiance.
Are we in good hands?
I don’t know. Yet.
Based on what you know, can you speculate a timeframe for further disclosure either from individuals or govt?
Not yet publicly.
Do you find the topic worth pursuing?
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.
And so on and so forth.
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.”
So who, exactly, is using him? For what reason?
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.
A few excerpts:
True Confessions: Ufology is a danger to both National Security and Fundamental Physics. So, What’s the problem?
— UFOlogy is currently both light entertainment and serious study.
— The former is chasing away serious scientists from the latter.
— MOUNTAINS of indirect evidence for existence of something profound. (italics added).
— ZERO solid direct evidence in two years of looking at this topic. ZERO.
— This seems impossible. No story makes the above two facts make sense.
And, further down:
— STIGMA and NONDISCLOSURE chases away the people who could make progress.
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.
So you do know what everyone around here knows...and you think you are superior to them? Is that right?
UFO’s are not the spaceships of Aliens.
Once we thought that life in the Oceans only existed in a thin layer near the surface. We have learned that ‘life’ can adapt and live in unimaginable conditions. There is ‘life’ all the way to the bottom of the deepest oceans.
There is no reason that ‘life’ does not live in, throughout, and to the extent of the atmosphere surrounding the Earth.
As the jellyfish are 90% water, the creatures that live in the upper atmosphere are 90% atmospheric gases. The energy for their form of life and for the continuity of their ‘body’ is plasma.
They can survive at the edge of space (and perhaps beyond) in zero pressure environment due to the nature of their ‘body’ AND can tolerate the pressure deep in the ocean when needed. That is why there are sightings of ‘luminous saucer shaped crafts’ rising out of the water and climbing rapidly into the sky .
They don’t speak to us as they don’t use a vocal form of communication. Just like the jellyfish, they have other means of communication. Possibly electric fluctuations.
These creatures are much more powerful than a human being and they (like the jellyfish) have been here on Earth a hell of a lot longer than we have.
If anything, WE are considered to be the ALIENS by all other life forms on Earth. They work with nature. We fight it. All to no avail. While we consider ourselves to be the highest form of life on Earth , all the other creatures consider us to be THE STUPIDEST. And they are correct.
They are resilient and being almost without mass can achieve high speeds and seemingly impossible course and speed changes. They are not affected by most forces of nature.
HOWEVER, there is one thing they fear, one thing they avoid, one thing they want to stop , and that is NUCLEAR WEAPONS.
The forces from a Nuclear explosion totally destroy their plasmatic life form. Blow it into smithereens. They try to avoid nuclear detonations, but they couldn’t discern when and where we were going to set one off. From their natural abode miles and miles up in the atmosphere they had little to no connection to activities on the surface of the planet. They have had to learn to monitor our ‘activities’ in order to predict a possible detonation. Underground testing was quite a challenge for them in the beginning.
MANY of these creatures were destroyed by our ‘testing’.
One might think that was impossible since we only bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki... 2 bombs.
BETWEEN 1945 and 1998 there were 2053 Nuclear Explosions.
It’s a wonder the Oceans don’t GLOW at night. (Only because water does not ‘carry’ radioactivity. Impurities in the water can become and stay radioactive for some time, but water does not.)
Pretending to not know and playing a ‘we need to figure out this mystery’ game when you know darn well what the reality is, well that is lying by omission. It is lying for effect. The CIA is trying to get the narrative back under their control. They are not int he dark regarding the source of the UAPs or the ‘little grey aliens’. There is a hybridization program that has been going on since the rise of the cattle and wild life mutilation phenomenon went hot. But you don’t want to hear about these aspects and want to promote the ‘mystery to be explored’ perspective. Enjoy the mythology ...
That said, thank you for that response.
It certainly clarifies your position and I can't say I disagree. I don't doubt that the CIA/government knows a lot more than they are letting on.
As to the mystery to be explored, I think there is a huge mystery here...perhaps the biggest mystery of modern times. We have some loose facts, perhaps many. But there is certainly much that the public doesn't know. I suspect there is much that the government doesn't know.
I can't imagine that any civilian can guess what the CIA is up to re: this matter. I think you are correct in that they would like to control the narrative. But to the CIA: "Good luck with that." I would think the CIA would be playing its cards very close to its chest about what else it is doing.
The people who have had first hand experience with this stuff don't agree with you. Even as far back as the Roswell crash military personnel knew it to be ET craft rather than from this planet. There have been four death bed confessions from the officers who were stationed at Roswell in 1947; and, all said it was a craft that wasn't from here.
“It would be a waste of time to someone who has not been following this matter closely.”
Regarding UFOs, just show me some good photos. I haven’t seen one yet.
You might find this to be of interest: Twining Report
By just being laid back, interested, but knowing it doesn't make any difference in the long run.
You must have proof of that to make such a claim. At this point, they could be most anything.
I went to a UFO conference in 1995. All the big guys were there. Including Stanton T Freedman and the top crop circles man. Lots of fun. Also the Englishman who popularized the Rendlesham Forest incident in the UK.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendlesham_Forest_incident
**Hard to believe anything would give a hoot about us.**
They sure are good at getting noticed, but extremely shy about actually landing their chariots.
Ancient times claimed they were spirits, angels, demons, and God’s.
They do seem to have some dimensionality beyond our space-time
They were published about 6 months ago. Along with some autographed photos of Bigfoot.
This is the thrust of the regressions of Betty Andreasson conducted by Ray Fowler. Aspects of that were very spooky.
Linda Moulton Howe has done a great deal of research on that topic. It is unsettling material.
The hybridization program is probably at the very center of the UFO phenomenon; and, that cannot be grounds for pleasantries.
Rather a fascinating tale. You should consider writing a book/movie.
And no, I’m not being sarcastic. This is a take on things that I hadn’t considered before, and rather an interesting one at that.
The sci-fi/fantasy speculation in my mind still leans toward fallen angels or other dimensional oddities, but this is quite interesting.
One wonders if they like to frolic in the Aurora Borealis...
Excellent. My thoughts also. And we have documented them since the invention of writing, yet we refuse to read and understand our own documentation.
I think he meant this in the spirit of “they have always been here and so are not alien to our world”.
And they have...
I am sure you know that Elizondo has the “goods” and anyone (even the most fanatical debunker) who is given a full briefing by him (including video evidence) will be fully persuaded on this issue.
The problem is that a lot of this data is classified—for now.
For many years I thought that .gov had figured this stuff out—but I am now convinced they have not done so—they have tried—very very hard—but failed.
Russia and China have pursued the same path—and faced total failure as well.
Jim Semivan (former CIA senior official and “experiencer”) has a good discussion of this issue here:
https://podbay.fm/p/aliens-and-artists/e/1645119331
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.