RB-47 Aircraft“Something is here.”
Remember those words.
It’s cool here in Paris, but things are heating up at the SETI symposium currently under way at the UNESCO headquarters, sponsored by the International Academy of Astronautics. This is my third report from the conference.
Tuesday was an intriguing day, particularly the presentation by Alain Labeque of the Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale in Orsay, France, which took an unexpected and -- for me -- shocking turn.
Entitled “Active SETI and the Zoo Hypothesis,” Labeque’s presentation began conventionally enough with a review of the well-known Fermi Paradox and it’s possible solutions. (For those of you who don’t know, the Fermi Paradox is simply the quandary that science tells us the Universe should be teeming with intelligent life, and yet the aliens don’t seem to be here on Earth – or anywhere else that we look. Where are they?)
There are several possible solutions to the Fermi Paradox, including the aliens don’t exist at all or interstellar travel is impossible or simply too expensive -- even for civilizations that may be millions (or billions) of years more advanced than humans. (I’ve discussed these proposed solutions before.)
Another possible solution to the Fermi Paradox is the Zoo Hypothesis, which I’ve also discussed before. Simply put, the Zoo Hypothesis is the suggestion the aliens have imposed a Star Trek-style “Prime Directive” to quarantine the Earth, for any one of many possible reasons:
Maybe they want to study us in our pure state, without us knowing they are watching.
Maybe they consider us to be too primitive and too savage.
Or maybe they are simply marinating us and aren’t ready to throw us on the grill.
In all seriousness, I find the Zoo Hypothesis the most plausible of the possible solutions, because it is a reasonable speculation on how a scientifically (and hopefully ethically) advanced civilization would behave toward us: they would want to study us, as we study nature, without inserting themselves into the experiment. In other words, no observational bias!
This is, of course, pure (if informed) speculation, but in his talk yesterday Alain Labeque proposed a possible method for scientists to test the Zoo Hypothesis.
And this is where my jaw dropped.
As I have written about before, I have become accustomed to the searing scorn generally heaped by the American scientific intelligentsia on anyone – inside or outside of traditional science – who proposes an advanced technological civilization in our galactic neighborhood might venture to travel between the stars – including our star, the Sun.
What I am learning at this symposium, however, is that this is a somewhat uniquely American attitude not so widely shared in Europe. (I will leave for another day – soon – my thoughts on the reasons for this seemingly American derangement that lately passes under the gross misnomer of “skepticism.”)
Labeque told his assembled colleagues they should examine UFO sightings for clues as to how to design the SETI experiment.
Suggesting we seriously consider the Zoo Hypothesis as a solution to the Fermi Paradox, Labeque essentially asked his colleagues: if we are being watched, as the Zoo Hypothesis suggests, where are the watchers? (As Labeque put it, where are the “photographers”?)
For a clue, Labeque urged his colleagues consider UFO sightings, including the 1400 or so documented in the Dominique Weinstein catalog. Labeque pointed out that, although many unexplained UFOs appear to behave as if they are under intelligent control, no organized scientific effort to understand the phenomena currently is underway.
In particular, Labeque pointed to the well-known July 1957 RB-47 sighting, during which:
Remember those words.
It’s cool here in Paris, but things are heating up at the SETI symposium currently under way at the UNESCO headquarters, sponsored by the International Academy of Astronautics. This is my third report from the conference.
Tuesday was an intriguing day, particularly the presentation by Alain Labeque of the Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale in Orsay, France, which took an unexpected and -- for me -- shocking turn.
Entitled “Active SETI and the Zoo Hypothesis,” Labeque’s presentation began conventionally enough with a review of the well-known Fermi Paradox and it’s possible solutions. (For those of you who don’t know, the Fermi Paradox is simply the quandary that science tells us the Universe should be teeming with intelligent life, and yet the aliens don’t seem to be here on Earth – or anywhere else that we look. Where are they?)
There are several possible solutions to the Fermi Paradox, including the aliens don’t exist at all or interstellar travel is impossible or simply too expensive -- even for civilizations that may be millions (or billions) of years more advanced than humans. (I’ve discussed these proposed solutions before.)
Another possible solution to the Fermi Paradox is the Zoo Hypothesis, which I’ve also discussed before. Simply put, the Zoo Hypothesis is the suggestion the aliens have imposed a Star Trek-style “Prime Directive” to quarantine the Earth, for any one of many possible reasons:
Maybe they want to study us in our pure state, without us knowing they are watching.
Maybe they consider us to be too primitive and too savage.
Or maybe they are simply marinating us and aren’t ready to throw us on the grill.
In all seriousness, I find the Zoo Hypothesis the most plausible of the possible solutions, because it is a reasonable speculation on how a scientifically (and hopefully ethically) advanced civilization would behave toward us: they would want to study us, as we study nature, without inserting themselves into the experiment. In other words, no observational bias!
This is, of course, pure (if informed) speculation, but in his talk yesterday Alain Labeque proposed a possible method for scientists to test the Zoo Hypothesis.
And this is where my jaw dropped.
As I have written about before, I have become accustomed to the searing scorn generally heaped by the American scientific intelligentsia on anyone – inside or outside of traditional science – who proposes an advanced technological civilization in our galactic neighborhood might venture to travel between the stars – including our star, the Sun.
What I am learning at this symposium, however, is that this is a somewhat uniquely American attitude not so widely shared in Europe. (I will leave for another day – soon – my thoughts on the reasons for this seemingly American derangement that lately passes under the gross misnomer of “skepticism.”)
Labeque told his assembled colleagues they should examine UFO sightings for clues as to how to design the SETI experiment.
Suggesting we seriously consider the Zoo Hypothesis as a solution to the Fermi Paradox, Labeque essentially asked his colleagues: if we are being watched, as the Zoo Hypothesis suggests, where are the watchers? (As Labeque put it, where are the “photographers”?)
For a clue, Labeque urged his colleagues consider UFO sightings, including the 1400 or so documented in the Dominique Weinstein catalog. Labeque pointed out that, although many unexplained UFOs appear to behave as if they are under intelligent control, no organized scientific effort to understand the phenomena currently is underway.
In particular, Labeque pointed to the well-known July 1957 RB-47 sighting, during which:
"An Air Force Boeing Stratojet reconnaissance jet RB-47, equipped with electronic countermeasures gear and manned by six officers, was followed by an unidentified object for a distance of well over 700 miles, and for a time period of more than one hour, as it flew from Mississippi, through Louisiana and Texas and into Oklahoma. The object was, at various times, seen visually by the cockpit crew as an intensely luminous light, followed by ground-radar and detected on ECM monitoring gear aboard the RB-47. Of special interest in this case are several instances of simultaneous appearances and disappearances on all three of those physically distinct observation channels, and rapidity of maneuvers beyond aircraft possibilities."
According to Labeque, during the sighting the RB-47 detected a 3 GHz microwave transmission from the unknown craft.
Since the unidentified craft exhibited intelligent maneuvers and appeared to be communicating with someone, Labeque suggests SETI scientists use this data point to design an experiment.
Positing the craft may have been a scout craft sent from an alien station somewhere in our solar system, Labeque proposed SETI scientists transmit a microwave signal at 3 GHz and see if it elicits a reply. Since the possible location of an alien station is unknown, the signal would have to be broadcast in all directions of the sky. After transmitting for a period of time, the signal would be shut off, and scientists would listen for a response.
A few of Labeque’s European and Russian colleagues appeared intrigued by the suggested plan and challenged Labeque to clarify several points. In reference to the wealth of unexplained UFO sightings, Labeque concluded, “Something is here.”
The American contingent of SETI scientists asked no questions, politely applauding like everyone else at the end of Labeque’s talk.
Later in the day, another European scientist – Jean-Pierre Rospars of France -- suggested at the end of his presentation on SETI and terrestrial biological evolution:
“Possible ET presence in our environment should not be neglected. It may be partly accessible to our limited means of investigation.”
The SETI symposium wraps up today. More to come, tomorrow . . .
Since the unidentified craft exhibited intelligent maneuvers and appeared to be communicating with someone, Labeque suggests SETI scientists use this data point to design an experiment.
Positing the craft may have been a scout craft sent from an alien station somewhere in our solar system, Labeque proposed SETI scientists transmit a microwave signal at 3 GHz and see if it elicits a reply. Since the possible location of an alien station is unknown, the signal would have to be broadcast in all directions of the sky. After transmitting for a period of time, the signal would be shut off, and scientists would listen for a response.
A few of Labeque’s European and Russian colleagues appeared intrigued by the suggested plan and challenged Labeque to clarify several points. In reference to the wealth of unexplained UFO sightings, Labeque concluded, “Something is here.”
The American contingent of SETI scientists asked no questions, politely applauding like everyone else at the end of Labeque’s talk.
Later in the day, another European scientist – Jean-Pierre Rospars of France -- suggested at the end of his presentation on SETI and terrestrial biological evolution:
“Possible ET presence in our environment should not be neglected. It may be partly accessible to our limited means of investigation.”
The SETI symposium wraps up today. More to come, tomorrow . . .
14 comments:
Something is there.
And here. And now. And has been for a very, very long time.
And the SETI Institute is publicly both incapable and unwilling to acknowledge that fact. SETI sees UFO research (and the evidence) as adversely competitive to their efforts and funding.
The 1957 RB-47 UFO case is only one of many, including others, less dramatic, also involving other RB-47 encounters. The electronic counter-measures (ECM) equipment on board the RB-47 in the particular case noted here was triggered at the UFO (and it's more appropriate to say light or energy form than "craft") during the course of that encounter, and the UFO, after a slight delay, emitted a signal using the same or similar ECM signature back at the RB-47 (for a deep analysis of this case, read Brad Sparks' 50+ page article on it, from Jerome Clark's "The UFO Encyclopedia, Vol. II" for further information).
Post-WWII history is strewn with excellent-quality cases of UFO encounters involving military multiple-witnesses, and including some that also involve other simultaneous radar, photographic, and other sensor and optically-based, non-anecdotal, recorded evidence.
Read, for example, "The UFO Coverup" by Laurence Fawcett and Barry Greenwood, as an elementary, introductory primer. Check cufon.org or nicap.org.
SETI, especially the American variety, is notoriously anti-UFO, as to consider the presence of some form of non-human intelligence present and/or visiting Earth would show that what minimal public funding and science has, is, and will likely be expended in the search for advanced non-human intelligence [ANHI] (especially after over 40 years of effort with no credible evidence of an intelligent extraterrestrial signal being received), is actually evidence of such funding and science being misdirected to one of the least likely means of detecting said ANHI sources.
As such, scientists like Shostak and Tarter, who make their living off SETI funding, and which largely constitutes their misguided personal raison d'etre, are advocates for an extremely limited, and some would suggest invalid, perspective on how best to find ANHI.
The UFO evidence is on the record, for anyone who cares to look, and do the research. Much of it has been covered-up and intentionally repressed. Much has not been.
The USAF, CIA, and other elements of the US government, and other governments, do not want valid, funded, high-level multi-disciplinary UFO research to occur. At least, in any public domain or not controlled, in secret, by the military or intelligence community.
That's why, ever since the original Estimate of the Situation was repressed in the late 1940's, and as confirmed by the hand of government via the false conclusions of the Robertson Panel report of 1953, Project Blue Book Special Report #14 in 1955, and concluded with the Condon report in 1968, the "fix" has been in place. Ridicule, denial, cover-up, and debunking is and has been official government policy for over 50 years. Declassified CIA and US Air Force documentation proves that.
They see it has a challenge to (and that would undermine) the institutional authority of government. It is the highest level national security issue in existence. SETI, as it stands now, is a feeble red herring, doomed to continuing failure.
I'm not personally against SETI in general, depending how it's conducted, and consider it a possible complementary area of endeavor, but it's just that it's not where the primary focus, funding, and effort should be. The focus should be on Earth, and the UFO phenomenon that is self-evident, here and now.
METI, given that if any form of ANHI may be "out there" is still unknown, as to nature and intent, is an extraordinarily foolish enterprise to seriously consider.
The "Zoo hypothesis" may have some validity, but that is unknown, in lieu of evidence, as that would suggest a form of surmised intent. However, if such "observation/ quarantine" hypotheses have any validity, the implication of "non-interference" often presumed is certainly (in the sense of some Star Trek-like "prime imperative") not being observed--many UFO cases involve forms of what might be considered, like in the famous RB-47 case noted above, kinds of "display" or possibly intentional intrusion into spheres of human activity, such as the provocative wave of UFOs observed by military personnel in the mid-70's, either very near or directly over various nuclear missle launch sites in the American mid-west repeatedly.
Whether deliberate or inadvertent in cause and effect, is not determined, but the intrusions and display of the phenomenon is self-evident--we just don't know how or why. And the elusive, reactive, and evasive behavior, seemingly indicating a form of intelligence in some of these kinds of cases, is also very perplexing.
It seems, or is apparent that a kind of clear intent has been shown, so in some cases, there have been obvious forms of "interference"--missles have been rendered non-functional at times.
These are facts. Most, however, are either unwilling or unable to either see, accept, or comprehend them. It is a modern taboo.
But, the UFO phenomenon (and the related liklihood that some form or forms of advanced, non-human intelligence are here) is considered so threatening to mainstream science, institutional authority and control systems, and anthropocentric belief hierarchies, that it remains a forbidden subject, and current science is both impotent and unwilling to seriously consider it, with few exceptions.
I only wish that someone of the caliber of Dr. Jacques F. Vallee, who many consider the most intelligent, reasoned, and experienced scientist and theorist regarding the nature of the UFO phenomenon, were still actively involved, but he did what he could; his many books on the subject are still a very valuable resource for anyone seriously interested in learning more about better alternatives to standard SETI practices in the real search for evidence of ANHI.
Some genuine, organized scientific efforts should be directed at coherently and empirically researching the UFO phenomena, perhaps in parallel with or as a significant part of a more comprehensive and broader SETI program, at the very least, imho.
The critical importance of the question at hand, whether there is any form of ANHI truly discernible or evident, especially here, is not a binary, either/or choice--more broadly implementing both approaches would be much better than either, as is, alone.
I wasn't at UNESCO to listen to my colleagues talks. I don't regret it by reading your post.
We have had some discussion when choosing the title of the symposium. I wanted to put SETI instead of "Search for Life Signature". Labèque argued that it wouldn't help having exobioligsts comming... and getting money for the organisation.
Science... as a candle in the dark...
Hello, very interesting.... FYI, the Dominique Weinstein Catalog was not accessible via your link. If you go to www.narcap.org and click on Techinical Reports and then click on Technical Report Four, you can see Dom's report as he wrote it for NARCAP.
or go here:
http://www.narcap.org/reports/004/tr-4c.htm
Wouldn't it make sense to scan for the 3ghz signal BEFORE sending a transmission?
A. this would provide a baseline of how much noise, abberant signals, or even intentional and Alien communication is occuring at that spectrum point.
B. Do you want to throw a rock at passing cars, if you don't know who is in them? I mean you maybe summoning something that cannot be undone and that may not be friendly simply to prove they are out there. Your confirmation could also be your destruction. Scan and catalog first and when you find spectrum activity within your bandwidth, attempt to decode/and understand the nature of the data being transmitted. Then when you understand what is being said and by whom, if such activities exist, then start shouting in the darkness on your 3ghz homing beacon.
Thank you for a great report.
What a breath of fresh air. All we really ask is for science to take a close look at these objects. People are seeing something that has all the ear marks of craft under intelligent control but a hand full of scientist have controlled the reality about this subject.
Why don't they act like real scientist and objectively solve this great mystery.
Joe Capp
UFO Media Matters
Non-Commercial Blog
Thanks to those of you who brought the broken link to the Dominique Weinstein catalog to my attention. I have fixed the link.
Adam,
Back in 1986 I pointed out a likely contradiction between the zoo hypothesis (or embargo hypothesis) and the idea that the aliens were engaging in a hands-off strategy out of ethical concern for how devastating for us it would be for modern societies to suddenly be confronted by the alien presence in no uncertain terms. And they did seem to be exhibiting a favorable ethical level in that we had not yet, since 1947 or long before, been wiped out, enslaved or eaten up. Hence, if their embargo continued to be enforced, we still wouldn't be prepared for them when they did eventually show up. Societal chaos would still ensue.
Further, if the embargo was being strictly carried out, we wouldn't be having UFO sightings, especially those where aircraft and cars were being buzzed, indicating encounters that were not accidental.
Hence I postulated the "leaky embargo hypothesis," though in my paper in the 1986 issue of the Quart. J. Roy. Astron. Soc. (27), p. 94, I dared not mention the UFO word. Later, in the href="http://www.ufoskeptic.org/JBIS.pdf">
2005 JBIS paper by myself, Haisch, Maccabee and Puthoff, we explained the leaky embargo hypothesis in its full UFO context. JBIS is a peer reviewed journal.
If SETI does now start debating the zoo hypothesis, perhaps in a decade or so they will rediscover its little contradiction, and then wonder if a leaky embargo is what has been employed, with the whole UFO phenomenon constituting the leak in the embargo.
Thanks for the post, a very interesting set of events and long over due.
July 1957 RB-47 sighting was interesting but dated. One must only look as far back as Jan 08 to find one just as compeling.
Stephenville, Texas attracted worldwide attention earlier this year when more than 30 residents specifically reported a sighting. This story was front-page headlines in a large number of news forums. Many of the witnesses were interviewed on national television programs such as CNN´s Larry King Live. All of the witnesses were credible and none were shown to be perpetrating a hoax.
There is plenty of evidence available to corroborate their story. An extensive detailed analysis of FAA radar data was conducted and it was shown that a real physical object was witnessed on January 8, 2008. In addition there are police video recordings and a police radar gun was used to track the object. There was obviously something flying over Stephenville that might be a national security threat. Why will our government not take this incident seriously?
An argument could be made that the UFO was a secret military aircraft and the government is not telling us for national security reasons. If that is the case I would like to know why our government is hiding this type of advanced technology when it could be used for a variety of commercial purposes. If the government has conducted a secret investigation we have a right to know. After all, this is a government of the people.
Click on the below link to tell the U.S. Congress to disclose what the
government knows about UFOs/ETs!
http://www.usalone.com/cgi-bin/petition.cgi?pnum=820
Regards,
Franklin Fields, Esq.
Attorney at Law
fields@gator.net
That took a lot of courage. It is not only American Scientist which frown on speculation on this matter. It is mainstreamed science all around the world. But we find now some scientist are looking at the information themselves, they know longer sit by the sidelines and let the spin masters take center stage. They are finding evidence. The same evidence we have tried to point out for decades. I personally don't ask anyone to believe me. I ask them to look for themselves. Besides the nonsense and the hoaxes and the exaggerations...there is a strong core of cases that suggest someone is here that may not be us.
Joseph Capp
UFO Media Matters
Non-Commercial Blog
The problem I have with SETI is: Why do they assume that ETs communicate by sound waves the way we do. They may well have a totally different technology that we can't even begin to pick up with ours.
Dude! Where's your next installment of the Paris SETI symposium proceedings?? Don't tell me they gagged you!! O.o
Another uniquely American attitude, not widely shared in Europe is that of national sovereignty.
Dear Adam,
The Leaky Embargo Hypothesis in its present form is un-testable if based solely on UFO data alone. Here is my breakdown of the hypothesis…
“Extraterrestrial intelligence’s exist in abundance in the Galaxy and are benevolent toward earth-based life forms. The lack of any human detection of extraterrestrials is due to an embargo assigned to prevent any premature disclosure of their existence. Evidence of the ETI presence is being conveyed to humanity in the form of controlled leaks.” [Deardorff, J. W., “Possible Extraterrestrial Strategy for Earth”, Royal Astronomical Society, Quarterly Journal, 27, pp. 94-10, 1986. and Fiebag, Johannes, “Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligences - Possibilities, Chances and Perspectives with Special Attention given to the Leaky-Embargo Hypothesis”, Journal Astronautik, 26, pp. 115-118, 1989].
PREMISES: ETI exist; Benevolent; Technologically based; Developed interstellar travel; Have discovered Earth; Placed an embargo on contact until our civilization is ready; Acclimate our society to ETI using controlled leaks within the embargo.
HISTORY: The Leaky-Embargo first came to light in 1986 in a paper written by James Deardorff. To Dr. Deardorff's thinking an “embargo made a good deal of sense” as a way to logically explain the lack of credible evidence for ETI. If an embargo existed and needed to be lifted then it must be done gradually using carefully orchestrated “leaks” to minimize the social shock to our civilization. If ETI is advanced both technologically and ethically, then the leaks would need to be slow, steady and designed to gradually acclimate the majority of the population to ETI. The leaks would need to seem absurd or bizarre (e.g. abductions) to the scientific establishment (especially SETI) lest they take a serious interest in the evidence and uncover the ETI presence too soon.
STRENGTHS: Based on observation of the lack of an ETI presence on Earth combined with anomalous observations which have increased the general populations awareness and interest in ETI as a pop culture.
WEAKNESSES: Defies falsification; Un-testable mainly because anomalous observations do not logically lead to proof of an ETI embargo on overt contact.
After reading Deardorff (et. al) JBIS paper, I tend agree that if the observational data was collected under more ideal circumstances (i.e., not by happenstance) then the Leaky Embargo theory could be established as possibly explaining the observations. Given the fact that so many people have looked at the available “high quality UFO reports” since 1947, it seems reasonable to expect that the Leaky Embargo theory would have been generally accepted by scientists, especially SETI scientists.
Why is that not so? Probably because of the elusive nature of collecting the data, and the fact that most of it was not recorded with instrumentation. If robotic probes of ET origin are visiting our solar system to the degree the UFO phenomena suggests then collecting scientific observational data should be possible. Indeed, a few people have tried this, but the funding to do it right has always been lacking. All they’ve been able to prove is it is highly anomalous. The way to prove ET probes are visiting Earth is not going to come from UFO reports. It can only come from a rigorous program of observation as I laid out with the SETV strategy. Not only can SETV show the phenomena to be of artificial non-terrestrial origin (an ET presence), but it could help to validate or refute the Leaky Embargo Hypothesis. I don’t want to hear the phony argument that SETV can’t work because ETI would confound our instruments. The mere act of confounding the readings from a perfectly functioning instrument platform is evidence of intelligence at work. Besides, platforms can be designed with the requirement to minimize external tampering and interference. I know why traditional SETI researchers aren’t interested in SETV, but I fail to understand why researchers who are interested in the possibility of robotic visitation keep gravitating to UFO reports. My petition here to give SETV a go is not a plea for acknowledgement on my part, but rather a desire to get SETI scientists involved and get the gifted researchers (like Deardorff, and those at the SSE) out of the 60 year UFO rut to organize a solid observational study. If you or any of your readers would like copies of all my published papers I can provide them.
Sincerely,
Scot Stride
Have there been any other transmissions that would suggest the 3GHz signal is not "their" search radar?
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