| IN THE NEWS |
| Our �In the News� section includes interesting articles and books that you may enjoy reading. If you come across an article that you think would be a great discussion topic at our next meeting, by all means, email us the link so that we may print a copy for everyone who will be attending. CHECK OUT THIS ARTICLE ABOUT DAN ACKROYD - HE'S NOT JUST A GHOSTBUSTER BUT ALSO BELIEVES IN UFOS... ""There's this one website I go on a lot," he says, "that just ends all debate about whether they're real or not, and that's Mufon.com." http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2172314,00.html THIS QUARTER: In 2003, Mason Winfield�s Web site -- www.masonwinfield.com -- profiled Bob Galganski regarding his views on various aspects of the UFO phenomenon. The 2nd portion of that interview is reproduced below (with Mason�s permission.) |
| Mason: Are UFOs extraterrestrial or psychic?
Bob: Many UFO reports describe unrecognizable, apparently solid objects that have a fabricated, structural appearance and display fantastic operational characteristics that often appear to violate established laws of physics. UFO eyewitnesses also claim that on occasion, apparent nonhuman entities -- so-called �aliens� -- can be seen near and/or inside such a construct. These observations, coupled with the known limitations of our own, most advanced flight technology (more correctly, what�s been disclosed to the public), provide the rationale for the popular extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) -- the notion that UFOs are transport devices containing alien �occupants� from another planet. Although most UFO researchers take the ETH seriously, it is only one of many possible explanations for the phenomenon. Conservative researchers (like me) are quick to point out that no single case on record can prove the ETH consistent with the rigorous protocols demanded by science. (To paraphrase the late renowned astronomer Carl Sagan, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.) Citing the large number of compelling UFO reports compiled by government and private investigators -- pretty much worldwide -- over the years won�t cut it either. Nevertheless, the ETH remains a viable candidate because it appears to be the most straightforward of all current hypotheses considered -- one we can certainly identify with because of our own rocket-powered space-exploration missions and recent discoveries indicating that other stars besides our sun also have planetary systems. The details of some close-encounter UFO cases include psychic or paranormal elements such as telepathy, precognition, out-of-body experiences, teleportation, and poltergeist-like events. For example, people have reported feeling compelled for no apparent reason to look out a window; upon doing so, they see a UFO. Sometimes they�ll leave the house immediately after the sighting and later remember (consciously or via hypnosis) being abducted by aliens. UFO-related experiences are also purported to have caused the percipients to develop or enhance their psychic awareness or other abilities. Mason: Could UFOs themselves be some kind of psychic manifestation created by our own minds or transmitted here from elsewhere? Bob: That�s kind of far out and is hard to reconcile with the physical evidence reported at the site of some UFO close encounters. This hypothesis, however, could account for the extraordinary maneuvering capabilities -- suggesting zero or minimal mass -- described in many UFO reports. Or maybe UFOs possess or can manifest both physical and psychic characteristics, analogous to how light can behave as both a particle (of mass) and a wave (which has no mass). The reported psychic experiences may represent a deliberate attempt by the apparent intelligence behind UFOs to communicate with or control us. Or perhaps they�re merely a side effect associated with the presence or near approach of a (or certain types of) UFO(s) under specific conditions or circumstances. My own gut feeling is that -- for now, at least -- we would further muddy the already mind-boggling UFO mystery by trying to explain it in terms of another little-understood subject, psychic phenomena. |
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