Early Innovations in Serious New Ufology
Paul Budding
Paul Budding
Serious New Ufologists try to study the UFO Phenomenon without bias. They try to think from within the spirit of objectivity and less so (or not at all so) from the projection of archetypal contents such as awe, fascination, mystery. So they do not articulate mysterious answers to mysterious questions and they do not project an unconscious assumption onto the unknown and then declare it to be FACT.
Early Innovations in Serious New Ufology
Introduction
This paper articulates and expresses developing thought within the field of Serious New Ufology. Any changes are very small as might be expected considering that the founding paper is only a couple of months old.
Serious New ufology is characterized by its categorizing terms which are contextual. Content is important but is secondary to the context. i.e., UFO hypotheses equate to content material. Serious New Ufologists are free to disagree with one another over content issues but they remain Serious New Ufologists so long as they are:
* Interested in developing the Living Myth through hard thinking. (as opposed to attaching to the dominant Myth (ETH). ETH is a very time specific cultural phenomenon which seems to possess a lot of psychological archetypal projection as well. Hence without ruling ETH out it would require a coincidence of the dominant myth equating to the reality of the phenomenon and vice versa. Educated guesses are therefore required.
* Not dogmatic and certain about one theory to the exclusion of all others.
* Respectful of the ‘Unknown’ aspect of Unknown Intelligently Controlled Craft. (UICC)
Already we have touched on some key terms. But to be clear the key terms are:
• The Living Myth
• Serious Old Ufology
• Serious New Ufology
• Unknown Intelligently Controlled Craft (UICC)
Those terms (and others) are defined in Part 2 of this paper.
If a Serious New Ufologist (whether that be me or someone else) says that they think that X is the explanation for the best sightings then that person hasn’t changed the category. He or she has merely voiced an opinion. (Personal Content). Someone else who is a Serious New Ufologist could take a different view.
Hence Serious New Ufology is primarily Context driven and this is expressed in its terms and categories. Nevertheless there have been three interesting developments since the founding paper:
1) Kate Henson’s work on Mysterious Answers to Mysterious Questions (See Henson’s Paper in this magazine)1
2) Kate Henson’s theory of AI’s as a necessary progression for UFO explanation due to humanity’s technological development as going from biological humans to human/machine merger and increasing development of machines that are intelligent and can think for themselves. This is consistent with the progression of thought at SETI.
3) Concerning the term/category of Living Myth… we can only mature the Living Myth because all of our ideas concerning possible exotic explanations are assumptions onto the unknown. So the split in Living Myth material is between those who attach to ETH through awe, mystery, fascination AND those that make educated guesses in developing their theory. I primarily mean this within the context of IF there are non-human based intelligence(s) out-there. Again this is consistent with SETI.
I also forward CONTENT theories within the CONTEXT of Serious New Ufology. These content theories are therefore personal to me and other Serious New Ufologists can largely reject them while still agreeing with the contextual outline of Serious New Ufology.
For reasons of clarity we feel the need to express who isn’t a Serious New Ufologist. This is said without disrespect to those who are more firm in their viewpoint but someone who is not open to being wrong (i.e., someone who is not willing to leave the door a-jar) is rightly or wrongly too narrow to be considered a Serious New Ufologist. There are some who have spent years (even decades) investigating UFO cases. Their work may or may not be brilliant. However if their work is dominated by accumulating cases then the spirit of their endevors equates to Serious Old Ufology as opposed to Serious New Ufology. Most importantly, Serious New Ufology refers to Unknown Intelligently Controlled Craft. (UICC). Anyone who declared that they KNOW for certain what these craft are so as they become KNOWN Intelligently Controlled Craft cannot be considered a Serious New Ufologist. Serious New Ufology is an open field as opposed to a closed field.
The points discussed in this introduction are developed in the rest of this paper.
Part 1
Subtle Change to The Living Myth term and why Serious Ufology is not Nonsense
Subtle Change to The Living Myth term and why Serious Ufology is not Nonsense
“The progress of science depends on a finely tuned balance between open-mindedness and skepticism. Be too open minded, and you'll accept wrong claims. Be too skeptical, and you'll reject genuine new discoveries.”
(Boerner, R)1
The author of this paper considers earth-based UFO sightings as being (Boerner, R)1
(1) Mainly mundane phenomena (carrier bags, flocks of birds, balloons, Chinese lanterns, helicopters, areoplanes, natural phenomena). And in the best cases they are:
2) Advanced military technological craft.
See the extended footnote for why I advance the theory of Advanced Military technological craft. 2 It is not the place here to discuss it because my personal hypotheses are CONTENT based whereas Serious New Ufology is CONTEXTUAL. However Ufology without any content would be a strange beast so it cannot be overlooked… it is merely secondary to the context. But moreover, any theory that I advance is not much of an attack on the other theories. I may advance an hypothesis with great confidence that many cases can be explained with X hypothesis. But I remain open to Y hypothesis and Z hypothesis. I do not shut my eyes nor block my ears to them.
Note that (above) we emphasized ‘earth-based UFO sightings’. This is important to note because in this paper we refer to SETI’s approach which of course looks further out into the Universe. The reason for this is because SETI express a more educated assumption concerning the more exotic theories. And indeed this educated assumption has in-turned impacted on the term Living Myth… i.e., impacted on ‘living myth’ within the context of Serious New Ufology. Their more educated assumption equates to the AI hypothesis.
Serious New Ufology is not a nonsense field as this paper demonstrates. It is not about attaching to a great myth nor even about saying that something exotic is definitely invading our airspace (Most Ufologists do believe that). Nor is it about saying that something exotic definitely exists somewhere in the Universe. (SETI do believe that). But just like science needs to be careful not to accept wrong claims science also needs to keep eyes open and ears unblocked so as not to reject new discoveries and new knowledge. Hence Serious New Ufology is not a debunking Ufology either. We reject faith and we reject debunker-ism.
… We acknowledge that the Living Myth equates to the projection of awe and fascination thus turning much mundane phenomena into a Living Myth that gets identified with (not given up) because to give up the Living Myth would equate to giving up on awe, fascination, mystery. However a development in Living Myth terminology is necessary because Ufology is not a hard science. We cannot say that X = this and Y = this and Z = this. It is an open field where the progress is made by viewing our human level of technology and then projecting out into the universe in order to try and understand what it is that we are trying to discover. Just like the debunker we do not want to carelessly believe in something that is completely untrue. But unlike the debunker we also realize that if you reject phenomena apriori, then you fail to see new discoveries (i.e., new knowledge) that emerges or is emerging. Hence earth-based Ufology is in an odd situation. All of the ET/Interdimensional/time-traveler material maybe wrong. But even so, the field cannot become close minded. Therefore the best method to adopt is to mature the Living Myth and to encourage some seriousness in tone, more akin to the respect that SETI has. So Ufology definitely has a function. If everyone was a debunker then EVEN IF THEY EXISTED we would never gain new knowledge about ET’s, interdimensionals, time-travelers. Hence we need an open-minded field although not so open-minded that the field endlessly accepts wrong claims. The keen reader should be able to see that we have developed the term Living Myth… which before had to be sharply distinguished from Serious Old Ufology and Serious New Ufology. Now we think that its important to mature the myth. Nevertheless the point remains that to attach to the Living Myth due to its link to your inextricably linked psychological feeling of awe/fascination/mystery is non-thinking. To merely attach to a flying saucer myth may or may not be a good idea for the individual but it is about psychology and is not about doing Serious Old Ufology or Serious New Ufology. But as said, Serious New Ufology is no longer sharply at odds with the Living Myth. Educated guesses and educated assumptions are necessary.
It is confessed here that theres a problem not only with ETH but also a problem with Kate Henson’s/SETI’s theory that UFO’s = AI’s. Henson (who is a Serious New Ufology thinker) is thinking here within the context of Earth-based Ufology. Obviously SETi are thinking from a Universe perspective. However, despite bringing Ufology and SETI in-line with cutting-edge human technology the theory remains a projective assumption. It is an advance on ETH because ETH has failed us so far whereas AI UFO theory is new and few outside of SETI have considered it. Henson articulates the viewpoint in another extended footnote.3 While Henson’s ideas are personal (Content material as opposed to the context) she nevertheless is thinking within the context of Serious New Ufology as she advances the Living Myth thoughtfully… updating it so-to-speak within what is possible given what we know about technological progress in the modern world.
Concluding points on the Living Myth and Ufology’s and SETI’s relationship
The only real important difference between the Serious New Ufologist and SETI is that the Serious New Ufologist keeps an open/albeit sometimes doubtful perspective concerning a discovery within the earth’s atmosphere. The SETI investigator looks out into cosmic space but doesn’t believe there’s anything exotic taking place within earth’s atmosphere. Serious New Ufology supports SETI’s search into Space as much as any investigation within earth’s atmosphere. Indeed my personal content view is that SETI are more likely to find something exotic out there than Ufology is down here. However other Serious New Ufologists may disagree.
While I agree with the content thinking of Henson and SETI this is because its our best shot as opposed to being because I think it will pay off. Indeed our best shot remains a long shot. Maybe we need much more technology before we will discover intelligent life in outer space. Nevertheless for the time-being I agree with Henson and SETI that there’s not much point looking for biological beings if we know that our own human development is evolving more machine-like in the here-and-now. Afterall we are searching for advanced technological civilization… and NOT something that is less developed than ourselves.
As for the Living Myth… remember that physicists also get very passionate about their work. But most of them claim to not let it bias their work. Its precisely this distinction that aptly describes the situation in Ufology. Many in Ufology attach due to the passion. The key is (even if passionate) to remain objective. Serious New Ufology is more thinking based than the Living Myth.
Part 2
Serious New Ufology Categories
Serious New Ufology Categories
THE LIVING MYTH
Within the context of Ufology, the ETH equates to a Living Myth. The Living Myth is choc-a-bloc with psychological projection, i.e., the projection of a powerful psychological emotion onto external phenomena. So concerning the UFO phenomenon some people project fascination and awe onto what they see. They do not have to see a UFO themselves other than say, on a television show. But once they have projected these powerful feel-good emotions onto the whole phenomenon then to say that they do NOT believe in the reality of UFOs would equate to giving up on the feelings of awe and fascination that are inextricably linked to it. So just like some people project awe and fascination into the heavens these same archetypal dispositions can be projected into the skies. So these people 'Want to Believe'. Projection is different from visual hallucinations. Concerning visual hallucinations there’s nothing there at all... and they are often connected to illnesses and organic brain disorders.
Concerning the development of hypotheses (the What are They question) the Living Myth now has a role in the sense that all that we can do is make relatively unconscious assumptions. (Albeit more conscious than what went before!) So when a Serious New Ufologist expresses a viewpoint he or she does so as an educated guess. Moreover, the educated guess is developed out of hard-thinking as opposed to being the outcome of archetypal awe and fascination. Nevertheless whatever the thinker may say, it still has a high probability of equating to a fiction. The high probability is merely lower than if he/she merely attached to the dominant myth. And if humans ever do discover intelligence beyond earth it will be the result of hard thinking … unless the intelligence comes to us.
UNKNOWN INTELLIGENTLY CONTROLLED CRAFT
‘Unknown Intelligently Controlled Craft’ is a precise/accurate description concerning the BEST cases. Hence when referring to the best cases (e.g. such as Rendelsham Forest)1 then it is preferable to refer to Unknown Intelligently Controlled Craft (UICC) as opposed to Unidentified Flying Object.(UFO)
Reminder: Rendlesham Forest is ‘CONTENT’ based. Serious New Ufology should not be judged on ‘content’ issues but rather it should be judged on its setting out of the field of play. (i.e., Context)
SERIOUS OLD UFOLOGY
The seemingly never-ending accumulation of UFO cases = Serious Old Ufology. So for example if someone tries to convince you of the reality of the UFO Phenomenon by pointing to a declassified document or a person speaking about their experience… then that is more of the same. It belongs in the category of Serious Old Ufology.
SERIOUS NEW UFOLOGY
Serious New Ufology does not confuse knowledge with the projection of emotions such as awe, fascination, mystery. This is so even if the Serious New Ufologist is passionate about the field. Nevertheless when it comes to developing a theory concerning ‘What are They?’ he or she has to project an educated guess onto what is an unknown. If the thinker claims to ‘Know’ what the craft are for certain then they are not a Serious New Ufologist. The Serious New Ufologist states that we are dealing with UNKNOWN Intelligently Controlled Craft. (UICC)
[20th/Early 21st Century] HUMAN EARTHLY HYPOTHESIS
Human/Earthly Hypothesis is inextricably linked to Secret Government. And the classic example of this is Operation Paperclip (The U.S’ capturing of leading Nazi Scientists) who then worked for America on the Space Program. There is footage (video/photographic) of Nazi German scientists working on disc shaped craft during World War 2. And the timing and placing of the beginnings of the modern UFO Phenomenon (1947/America) fits in perfectly with Operation Paperclip. Linked to Human Earthly Hypothesis is the issue of secret design discs and other shaped crafts capable of hovering, executing anti-gravity movements and travelling at super-sonic speeds as far back as the late 1940s.
EXOTIC HYPOTHESIS
The theory and belief that some of the best UFO sightings are beyond late 1940’s human design capability… and maybe or probably still beyond human capability today. Indeed in general this theory states that there is an aspect to the UFO Phenomenon that does not fit the theory of 20th and early 21st century human/earthly intelligence as the explanation for UFO sightings. We are also aware of the problem of categorization that the 'Human Time Travelers' theory causes. Because they equate to being both human and exotic theories. Therefore we argue that the HUMAN EARTHLY HYPOTHESIS is prefaced with 20TH/EARLY 21st CENTURY so that it excludes Human time travelers from the HUMAN EARTHLY category... thus placing human time-travelers solely in the EXOTIC HYPOTHESIS category.
Other theories that belong to the Exotic Hypothesis category include the Inter-dimensional Hypothesis and ETH. For ETH to be the correct explanation there would have to be a coincidence of the dominant myth equating to the reality of the phenomenon and vice versa. Of course the UFOs as AI’s is an exotic theory when it is meant to refer to AI technology being originally designed by ET’s. This remains the case even if the proponent of this theory emphasizes that the ET’s may have died out millennia ago. Such a theory of AI UFO’s equates to a radical modernization of ETH.
NOTES
Introduction1. Henson, KATES MYSTERIOUS ANSWERS TO MYSTERIOUS QUESTIONS ESSAY THAT IS AN ACCOMPANYING PAPER TO THIS ONE ELSEWHERE IN THIS MAGAZINE
Part 1: Subtle Change to The Living Myth term and why Serious Ufology is not Nonsense
1. Boerner, R, (2003, Skeptical Investigations Website) Bogus Skepticism: Seven Warning Signs of Bogus Skepticism http://www.skepticalinvestigations.org/Skepticbogus/index.html
2. As far as my personal earth-based best UFO sightings hypothesis is concerned (the ‘What are They?’ Question) I support the [20th/Early 21st Century] HUMAN EARTHLY HYPOTHESIS. (Remember that this is content based and not the context material that Serious New Ufology is primarily associated with).
We know that for over six decades in top secret research bases flying saucers have been designed, built and flown. When Nazi Germany began to realise that they were in great danger of losing the war the leading Nazi scientists tried to design Super-advanced weaponary to swing the pendulum back in their favour. One of these scientists was Victor Schauberger who was an inventor immersed in flying saucer design. These flying saucers were to move “at supersonic speed undetected by the enemy […and…] using a tornado-like vortex […producing…] magnetic effects causing levitation.” (UFO Files: Real UFOs)
Schauberger met Hitler and was later inducted into the SS where he established the flying saucer idea.
World War 2 was first and foremost an infinitely horrific historical phenomena. The late 1930s and the first half of the 1940s were a period of evil but also “a period of new scientific and technological thinking.” (ibid) Nazi scientists did not just focus their energies and efforts on the construction of advanced rockets and missiles. They also designed flying saucers as a critical aspect of the weapons program. The advanced weaponary came too late for the Nazis but was just the beginning of the UFO Phenomenon. Indeed it is well-documented that the real beginning of the modern UFO Phenomenon came a couple of years later in 1947. But the link between Nazi Germany and the modern UFO Phenomenon cannot be over-stated. For example, while it is true that the Soviet Union captured many Nazi Rocket Scientists, the U.S. captured the majority of Flying Saucer Scientists such as Schauberger. Then in 1947 the Kenneth Arnold Flying Saucer incident catapulted the UFO Phenomenon into the public imagination and it has remained there ever since. Roswell happened just days later thus the most iconic case of all-time occurred in the first year of the modern UFO Phenomenon.
The U.S. had in their possession “blueprints for advanced designed craft. And among them were the Horten 229”. (ibid) This (and other craft) “were very similar in shape to the first description of a flying saucer sighted over America in 1947.” (ibid) At that time some of the American public feared they were Soviet Craft. Cold War tensions, the fear of a return to world war, and the thirst for space exploration also combined to open some Americans minds to the prospect of ET visitation. Here we see unconscious projection onto unknown craft within a conducive cultural context.
But what was really happening was technological craft construction and testing at facilities such as Area 51, White Sands, and Los Alamos. At these bases missile tests were carried out, tests of technologies concerning future space flights were carried out and work on flying saucers was in full-swing. What the U.S. tried to develop in the 1950’s were radar-invisible supersonic aircraft.
In 1953 the CIA realised that the Canadian Company called AVRO were developing flying saucer craft. The genius behind AVRO’s flying saucer design was the British engineer John Frost. Frost’s inspiration for his innovations were flying saucer sightings from across the world. Indeed Frost kept a scrap-book of newspaper cuttings concerning these reports. Frost was especially interested in the Nazi’s flying saucers and was shown plans, photographs, blueprints of disc designs. The type of design that Frost was interested in was one that equated to a supersonic, easily faster than the speed of sound aircraft that could fly higher and faster than any other craft. And such a craft would, in Frosts view, never need a runway to operate from. Hence within AVRO, Frost set-up a Special Projects Group to bring such ideas to life.
The Special Projects Group consisted of engineers, technicians and scientists. This group invested enormous effort into constructing completely circular aircraft, that would take off vertically and so-on. But problems arose and efforts were abandoned. However, even when Frost left the scene some or many of his team members kept striving to make the craft stable… they realised that flying saucers needed to spin like a frisbee if they were to possess adequate control mechanisms. And witnesses were to see as clear-as-possible that such attempts did come to fruition whether thanks to Frosts team or from elsewhere.
Jack Pickett who wrote for Military Magazines and possessed Security Clearance is one example of someone who knows that the U.S. possess flying saucers. He saw four flying saucers parked in hangars at an Airforce base in Florida. He describes them as all “perfect circles” of different sizes. Interestingly Pickett also saw photographs of them including photographs of the flying saucers being accompanied by Jet-escorts. Therefore Pickett had been shown evidence that the flying saucers had actually flown. In Picketts own words he says “I saw the photograph of them in-flight. I walked up and touched the actual aircraft themselves. I really examined them. There was no question about it… it was a remarkable aircraft and looked exactly like what flying saucers are supposed to look like.” (Pickett, J, in UFO Files: Real UFOs)
Warren Botz is another witness of flying saucers. While at a pilot’s reunion event - Botz discovered the craft at a restricted hangar at Wright Patterson Air-force Base. (UFO Files: Real UFOs)
UFO Investigator Mike Schratt says that this all means that “You can get to your enemy completely unannounced [and] you have radar invisibility, you’ve got acoustic invisibility, no runways necessary, you have potential to fly outside our atmosphere into space and that is the holy grail that the U.S. Air-force had always wanted from the beginning”. (Schratt, M in UFO Files: Real UFOs)
Of course some of this has come into the open. In the late 1980s the F1-17 Stealth Fighter was revealed to the world. In 2010 the British Ministry of Defence unveiled the Disc-like Taranis Craft, (The Truth Behind the Scenes Website) and the U.S. has openly tested the Falcon HTV-2, capable of speeds up to 16,700mph. The visual design of Falcon HTV-2 wouldn’t look out of place on an episode of Star-Trek! (Yahoo News, August 12th 2011)
3. Henson, (Kates AI UFO Theory ref)
Part 2: Serious New Ufology Categories
1. Rendlesham Forest is an outstanding example concerning UICC. The UFO researcher Nick Pope writes “Rendlesham is Britain’s best known UFO incident. What makes it so important is that everything that makes a UFO case good happened here all at once. Firstly you had an incident which happened over a series of different nights so its not just a one-off. Secondly the witnesses… most of them were military so you’ve got trained observers. Thirdly you’ve got trace evidence and this is absolutely critical. The UFO landed. Markings were found in the forest floor where this thing had come down on a tripod-like device. And critically when the base personnel checked this area with a Geiger-counter the radiation readings were assessed by the Defense Intelligence Staff at the Ministry of Defense as being significantly higher than background.” (Pope, N, in Redstar Films Limited) Despite much of what I have said in these notes concerning advanced human technological craft… there is no way that Ufology can latch onto this theory and simply dump ETH. Ufology must be an open potential science. It cannot be anything else because if it was certain concerning one theory then it would overlook new discovery and new knowledge, i.e., if there was something new to discover. Its always a long shot where monumental discoveries are concerned but Ufology fulfils a function in being open to against-all-odds discoveries and so for that matter does SETI. Moreover there are intriguing things to be heard within the Ufology community. The articulate and intelligent-sounding Richard Dolan keeps the door-ajar for ETH when he says things like the following… (note that this was a lecture given by Dolan in Amsterdam)
“There are anonymous leaks” Dolan is here referring to political elite insiders who get frustrated by the secrecy (i.e., they come to think that its not a good thing to hide explosive information from the public) and they therefore decide to talk. Dolan mentions one senior government scientist who confirmed to him that technology with alien origins is a reality and that he knows of one alien body. Dolan hints that he has more than this one contact. However he sticks to this case. And he says “this is actually a very famous man. And I think the day will come when I give his name but I wont right now. But I had a long conversation with him. He knows a couple of Presidents of the U.S.”
Dolan’s source told him that “I’m speaking to you as a scientist. I’m not speculating here. I’ve known factually for X number of years […that…] there are scientists who have in their possession ET technology and at least one body…”. However Dolan claims that the secrecy is immense. The UFO historian says that his source told him that this classified/compartmentalized knowledge is so hidden that you would be shocked at how secret it is. (Dolan, R, April 3rd 2011)
Bibliography
Boerner, R, (2003, Skeptical Investigations Website) Bogus Skepticism: Seven Warning Signs of Bogus Skepticism http://www.skepticalinvestigations.org/Skepticbogus/index.html
Dolan, R, (April 3rd 2011) The Secret Space Program: Breakaway Civilization (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsJDsxmzMDw)
Henson, K,
Redstar Films Limited, Best Evidence: Top 10 UFO Sightings: http://www.redstarfilmtv.com/bestevidence.php)
The Truth Behind the Scenes Website Taranis: The £143 million unmanned stealth jet that will hit targets in another continent: (http://thetruthbehindthescenes.wordpress.com/2010/07/12/taranis-the-143million-unmanned-stealth-jet-that-will-be-hit-targets-in-another-continent/)
UFO Files: Real UFOs, (YouTube Video: History Channel) (
Yahoo News (August 12th 2011) Superfast Plane Crashes in Pacific Ocean (http://uk.news.yahoo.com/worlds-fastest-plane-designed-us-military-112431862.html)