Political scientist Alexander Wendt on UFOs

 The link at the end of this text takes you to an interview with a professor of international relations, Alexander Wendt, done by Sean Illing for Vox. The article was updated on July 24, 2020, because of the New York Times (NYT) article about the Pentagon's Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force (there is a link to the NYT-article in Illing's article). 

My main point with this text is to highlight the fact that most people who study credible data on the UFO phenomenon will end up with the conclusion that there is a real phenomenon worthy of a scientific investigation. Most people reaching that conclusion can separate the issue of UFOs being real from what they are. Sadly, unsound sceptics like Seth Shostak and Neil deGrasse Tyson try to make it the case that everyone interested in the UFO phenomenon cannot differentiate between those two issues. 

For sure, some UFO believers have a hard time understanding the difference between saying that UFOs are real and what/who is behind UFOs. But Sean Illing and Alexander Wendt do not fit into that category. I think both Illing and Wendt's approach to the UFO phenomenon, and their conversation in the interview, can serve as a model of how to be and stay, both open-minded and sceptical. 

Scientists think UFOs deserve scientific investigation

In an opinion piece in Scientific American, two scientists write UFOs are a scientifically interesting problem and deserve objective scientific analysis.

The two scientists and authors of the article in Scientific American, Ravi Kopparapu, a planetary scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and Jacob Haqq-Misra, an astrobiologist at the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, suggest that interdisciplinary teams of scientists should study UFOs, or UAP (UAP, referring to “Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon”, is the preferred term by the U.S. Department of Defence).

Why should scientists spend their time and energy, and risk their reputations, on studying UFOs, according to the authors? Their answer in the article published on July 27, 2020, is partly based on the released videos by the Department of Defense (DoD) showing UFOs/UAP, the recent confirmation by the DoD that the videos are in fact genuine, and that the flying objects are still classified as “unidentified”, or “unexplained.”

But the authors' main answer to the question of why study the UFO phenomenon is also the most pertinent one:

US Senator Marco Rubio Speaks Out About UFOs

"NEW INTERVIEW: US Senator Marco Rubio Speaks Out About UFOs." Posted on brian hanley's YouTube channel on July 17, 2020. Duration: 2:12 minutes.

"This interview was conducted by investigative reporter Jim DeFede".

A short, but what may very well turn out to be a historical, interview with Senator Marco Rubio for CBS Miami. Even though the interview is short, and Rubio repeats his main premise ("national security") as to why the US government needs to study UFOs, he also says some interesting things.

These are the most important things Rubio said, in my opinion, and how I understand them within the larger context of the current governmental transparency on the UFO issue.

The Select Committee on Intelligence wants public analysis of UFO reports

A significant development in the wish for more public information on UFOs from the U.S. government may be on the horizon. Senator Marco Rubio, who leads the Intelligence Committee, is pushing for more open information about UFOs by asking the DNI to make a public report about "Advanced Aerial Threats" (i.e. UAP or UFOs).

In that report, on page 11, you can read under the subtitle Advanced Aerial Threats that:

Scepticism, David Hume, and UFOs

"Perceiving Necessity". Legg, C & Franklin, J (2015).

Background

[This post is foundational to my project to create a "sociology of UFO disclosure". Foundational regarding my epistemological stance in trying to understand the UFO issue and the implications of UFO disclosure. - J. T]

What does a Scottish philosopher from the 1800th century have to do with the UFO phenomenon? As far as I know, David Hume (1711 - 1776) was not a believer in UFOs, nor did he in any of his books or essays discuss UFOs.

So, what is my point in bringing up one of the most influential philosophers to write in English? Bear with me for a moment.

David Hume is famous for many contributions to philosophy (also to, for example, history and politics). Still, among philosophers and scientists, he is likely most known for his thoughts on causation and "the problem of induction". Hume's thesis about knowledge and if we ever can justify something as certain knowledge made his contemporaries call his epistemological standpoint "radical scepticism."

Hume was quite shaken by his own discoveries about the limits of human knowledge.

My discussion of Hume's ideas on knowledge and truth is not directly about UFOs. Instead, I am using Hume's skepticism to address people who want the UFO issue to be taken more seriously outside of UFO circles. 

The point of this post is to use Hume's epistemology (or scepticism) as a principled basis for encouraging the epistemic humility that UFO discourse currently lacks on both sides.

We want to know the truth about the UFO phenomenon. Knowledge. Truth. Reasons and justification. Before we move on, let us do a thought experiment.

Ask yourself: What do I know with certainty is true about the UFO phenomenon? Seriously, think about it for a moment before you continue reading. Be brutally honest in your answer.