the ET hypothesis -- scientists wrestle with the possibilities

[MrPosti...@kymhorsell.com]

Hanks goes into some detail about how science is trying to deal with
the apparent reality of unknown hi tech carf zipping around the earth's
atm, oceans and LEO. Part of the problem may be trying to shoehorn
what turns out to be a huge diversity of sightings and other evidence
into a single paradigm. Of course there is a simple and logical solution to that.
To paraphrase an old movie cowboy: dont expect it to be just one thing.


<https://thedebrief.org/the-extraterrestrial-hypothesis-in-the-debate-over-uap-origins-scientists-wrestle-with-possibilities-and-biases/>


The Extraterrestrial Hypothesis: In the Debate Over UAP Origins,
Scientists Wrestle With Possibilities... and Biases


As UFO interest reaches unprecedented heights, a favored theory about
their origin presents new challenges for scientists.


Micah Hanks
30 Aug 2021
The Debrief

Few would dispute the fact that UFOs have undergone a renascence in
public interest in recent years. According to recent data, it also
appears that more Americans now seem willing to entertain the
possibility that these aerial mysteries could represent a phenomenon
unrecognized by science.

A recent Gallup survey found that while half of Americans remain
skeptical about UFO sightings, that number has dropped 10 points
since 2019, when similar surveys found that 60% of Americans had
reservations about the idea that UFOs could have anything other than
earthly explanations.

One thing the new Gallup data seems to convey is the impact recent
US govt involvement in the longstanding UFO question has had
on public opinion. The presence of unidentified aerial phenomena, or
UAP as the military prefers to call them, were seemingly confirmed
with the release of a nine-page preliminary assessment in June by the
Navy's UAP Task Force (UAPTF), which reported 144 cases involving
objects of unknown origin observed by military pilots and others that
currently remain unexplained.

Most of these incidents were collected following the institution of a
formalized reporting mechanism by the Navy in 2019, the same year
previous Gallup surveys found more than half of Americans remained
skeptical about possible extraterrestrial origins of such objects. In
late 2020, the US Air Force followed suit, with the combined Navy
and Air Force data constituting the majority of the reports discussed
within the Task Force's assessment delivered to the Office of the
Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) at the end of June.

According to the report, additional information is also being provided
by several other agencies, including the FAA, who in recent days
confirmed in a statement provided to The Debrief its own role in data
on behalf of the UAPTF. Notably, the inclusion of data from the FAA
would seemingly indicate that some incident reports from civilian
pilots are also among the 144 incidents the UAPTF has currently examined.

In the days since the report's delivery to the ODNI, several news
outlets have tried to reign in on the subject's current widespread
appeal. Just days after the delivery of the UAPTF's preliminary
assessment, the New York Post Editorial Board called out most of the
recent UFO "news" in advance of the report as clickbait, aimed at
cashing in on widespread interest in the subject, rather than
contributing anything meaningful to the ongoing discussion.

"Yes, UFOs and `little green men' are fun and have inspired tons of
entertaining fiction," the Post editorial read. "But the US
intelligence community was entirely right to dump all over the
conspiracy theories and `They're really out there' nonsense in its
report on sightings of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP)." Although
the Post Editorial Board noted that extraterrestrial sources were not
specifically ruled out in the June report, "it also provides zero
evidence supporting alien theories."

More recently, The Guardian noted that people's current UFO
fascination is primarily "rooted in hope," while elsewhere The
Washington Post Magazine argued what it labels the current "UFO mania"
simply has to end.

...

However, there is something else the recent Gallup data reveals about
people's attitudes toward UFOs. Since 2019, Americans appear not only
to have softened their skepticism toward the subject, but also appear
more willing to accept the idea that the phenomenon might represent
evidence of extraterrestrial technology. In the recent survey, 41% of
adults in America now also associate their belief in UFOs with
extraterrestrial spacecraft, representing an eight-point rise from
2019 when similar surveys found just 33% of Americans held such views.

And some scientists think this could represent a problem going forward.

Scientists Remain Divided on The Extraterrestrial Hypothesis

"In the search for extraterrestrial life, scientists must be
thoroughly open-minded. And this means a certain amount of
encouragement for non-mainstream ideas and techniques," wrote Peter
Vickers, Associate Prof in Philosophy of Science at Durham
University in an article for The Conversation.

However, even in a scientific community where open-mindedness toward
non-mainstream ideas may occasionally be encouraged, many draw the
line when it comes to UFOs.

"I have no doubt that there's extraterrestrial intelligence," SETI
Institute senior astronomer Seth Shostak told CBS in May. "But it's a
different thing to say, `And not only are they out there, but they've
come to visit!'"

For Shostak, a man who has devoted most of his professional career to
the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, the current evidence
presented by UFO proponents simply "is not good."

Although Shostak and many other scientists keep UFOs at arm's length
when it comes to the search for alien life, the extraterrestrial
hypothesis (as it has come to be known mainly among UFO proponents)
still represents a valid possibility in terms of what the origins of
these objects might be.

The problem is that it also carries a lot of historical baggage.

...

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