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| The False Mirror, 1928 - René Magritte. |
Introduction
The idea of this post came from a comment on #ufotwitter. The gist of the comment, or reflection, was something to the effect: How can we study such an elusive and strange phenomenon as UFOs/UAP with the scientific method? My interpretation of the comment is that the person implicitly referred to the high strangeness aspect of the UFO phenomenon (-na). The person wondered how the metaphysical assumptions (for instance, "physicalism") of contemporary science can even take seriously phenomena that seem to contradict our concepts of what is real or not, possible or impossible. (The term "physicalism" is defined in sections 1 and 2 after this introduction).
I use the term "high strangeness" in J. Allen Hynek´s (1910 - 1986) meaning as a qualitative measure of the plausibility of a UFO sighting (roughly, "the more bizarre and absurd, the more plausible"). But I am using the term high strangeness in a broader sense, including phenomena manifesting at Skinwalker Ranch, Marley Woods, and similar places worldwide. Thus, high strangeness experiences and events can occur independently of a UFO presence (which does not rule out the possibility that high strangeness events (paranormal phenomena) and UFOs are connected).
