Two talks this month, both on UFOs – a subject I occasionally write about but rarely talk about since some deeply sensitive souls get upset when told there’s nothing to it.
The first is at the Fortean Times UnConvention on October 23. I’m told this is a great event but have never been before. The speaker line-up certainly looks impressive. I’m particularly looking forward to seeing Helen Keen’s presentation, It IS Rocket Science. At the end of the second day, I am apparently doing a UFO-bashing session with Dave Clarke, Peter “Mad Dog” Brookesmith, and, er... Nick Pope. (How did he get in there?)
My talk will look at the facts of the Rendlesham Forest incident, still regarded by some as among the best UFO cases ever. Like the story of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, the UFO believers have long-since abandoned the facts of Rendlesham and decided to “print the legend”. This talk will be an attempt to go back to the facts and deconstruct the legend.
Then three days later, on October 26, I’ll be at Skeptics in the Pub in Cambridge to give a more general talk titled UFOs: Fact or Fantasy (go on – guess which of the two it is). This is a potted history of UFOlogy from Kenneth Arnold to the present day, of course including Rendlesham. I’ll include a primer on common causes of UFO sightings, and end with the conclusion that the government really has told us the truth about UFOs, i.e. there’s no evidence for anything unusual beyond perhaps a few ill-understood atmospheric phenomena.
Those who are demanding UFO “disclosure” from the government find such a scenario impossible to contemplate. Their sales pitch is that we’re being shielded from the truth because governments fear mass panic. As is so often the case in UFOlogy, the truth is quite the opposite: the “disclosure” crowd are keeping the truth from the public because they are the ones who will be discredited, not the government.
Hey Ian, I really enjoyed your book "Message from the Stars" which I recently read. Although it is a bit dated, I really appreciated the future outline of where we should be in exploration. It's ashame you couldn't account for the future masses being preoccupied watching sports and reality shows to pass the time instead of us all focusing on what really matters - exploration of space and solar energy. It's the spirit of space exploration that seems to be lacking in our world. When you try to talk to someone about it you always get befuddled looks and stares.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to know if you have a dated follow-up book to "Message from the Stars?". Again, I really enjoyed your book.
Gosh, you are going back some years... Messages from the Stars was really the follow-up to an even earlier book called Worlds Beyond. After that I felt I had said it all. Since then I've become increasingly doubtful whether there is anyone else out there – at least, anyone as advanced as us. As someone once said to me: "Someone has to be first. And maybe it's us."
ReplyDeleteWhich, in its own way, is perhaps more sobering than thinking we are just one civilization among many.
Thanks for the kind words!
Ian