By the way, UAPs are the government’s polite name for what we normal people call UFOs or unidentified flying objects. I don’t really have a problem with future UFO research; sounds like a good job program for scientists. But let’s be clear What’s going on here: this is a government agency that shows UFO boosters are in Congressand he wants damn financing.
Why do I say that? Well, I read the report and noticed this discreet detail:
The scientific processes used by NASA encourage critical thinking; NASA can model for the public how to best approach the study of UAP through the use of transparent reporting, rigorous analysis, and public participation.
UH Huh. So what NASA is proposing is, essentially, Myth Busters for aliens. I hope they make a fun public access show.
Look, I don’t think we’re alone in the universe. I suspect that, at the very least, there are probably a lot of bacteria on habitable planets. The question of whether there is intelligent Life is more complicated, but I’m a little skeptical because I’m not even sure there is intelligent life on Earth. Am very doubtful that UFOs or UAPs, or whatever we want to call them, are extraterrestrials. I think it’s more likely that there are some weird things going on that we haven’t explained yet because, folks, (a) the planet itself is weird and (b) so are they. human brains.
But one thing that remains “is aliens!” Conspiracy theories are elusive. This tends to be used as evidence by true believers that They just don’t want you to know. And then when I see things like Pentagon forms task force to investigate UFOs, I tend to think of it as a corrective measure: “Hey, do you want us to see if there are aliens? Okay, we’ll look.” That’s also part of what you see in NASA’s press release: “NASA will do this work transparently for the benefit of humanity,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a press release.
Most UFO sightings (or UAP, or whatever you want to call them) have no real data behind them. I don’t mean it as a knock, that’s what Nelson said at a news conference.. That’s one of the challenges here! Many military pilots claim to have seen strange things while flying. I think they did! I just don’t know what they saw. It could be anything: secret spy planes from some other country, weather balloons, strange atmospheric phenomena, or anything else we haven’t discovered yet.
And you know, getting data requires funding, and NASA’s budget is decided by Congress. Yeah Congress is interested in UFOsSo why shouldn’t NASA get some budget for that? Makes sense, great administrative decision, congratulations to management. Nelson wants to change the conversation about UFOs “from sensationalism to science,” he said at the news conference. And you know what science always needs more of? Money.
