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.

Disclosure or Psyop: Richard Dolan on skeptiko

"Richard Dolan, UFO Disclosure, Toothpaste Out of the Tube? |438|." Premiered on skeptiko YouTube channel on January 21, 2020. Duration: 2:10:09.

Richard Dolan on UFO disclosure, good versus bad ET, and the consciousness question. For more visit: https://skeptiko.com/richard-dolan-uf...

Introduction

This is a great conversation between host Alex Tsakiris and Richard Dolan. Since some of the most interesting and thoughtful topics in the interview are not always on the UFO subject, I highly recommend everyone to listen to the conversation in its entirety. You can find a transcript of the conversation on the following link: https://skeptiko.com/richard-dolan-ufo-disclosure-toothpaste-out-of-the-tube-438/.

While they talk about different UFO subjects, the conversation between Tsakiris and Dolan mostly revolves around the events following the To The Stars Academy of Arts and Sciences (TTSA) press conference in October 2017.Was it the beginning of a benign disclosure of the truth of the UFO phenomena, or was it a rollout of a Psyop? Or is something else going on? And what are the arguments for or against those different points of view?

So in the following,  I will reflect upon the principal topic of disclosure or Psyop. Hopefully, I can add something new to Dolan and Tsakiris' conversation about the major topic. My comments and reflections come in Part 2  and Part 3.

What is the lesson of prof. Diana W Pasulka's Twitter-"controversy"?

In the following, I am presuming that the reader is familiar with the professor in religious studies, Diana Walsh Pasulka, her first and latest book on the UFO phenomena, American Cosmic, and how the content of that book has reverberated through the ufo community. In case you are not familiar with prof. Pasulka or her book, you can go to her American Cosmic website here.

So, what is the "Twitter controversy" the title of this post refers to? Again, I will presume that most of the readers of this post are familiar with the tweets that prof. Pasulka shared on January 11, 2020. My purpose with this post is neither to reproduce those tweets nor analyse their content verbatim.

Amendment, 2020-01-12: Today, on January 12, 2020,  several of prof. Pasulka's trusted friends reported that her Twitter account was hacked. Not any of the tweets which caused "controversy" on January 11, 2020, were neither written nor published by prof. Pasulka. I believe that to be the case, and I hope she is alright. Back to the main text. /Janne

Odd incongruities in the USS Nimitz 2004 UFO encounter story

"12-03-19 Chris Lambright, Mysteries of the US Navy and UFOs." Live-streamed on Martin Willis Live Shows YouTube channel, on December 4, 2019. Duration: 1:49:06.

From the video description:

Guest Chris Lambright discusses his research into the US Navy, and its relation to UFOs, which includes the USS Nimitz UFO Encounter, also Bigelow Aerospace as well as connections between the US government & TTSA and more.

CHRISTIAN LAMBRIGHT has worked extensively in Computer Technology and Internet services, has a background in graphic arts, illustration, and CGI, and holds a degree in Psychology from Baylor University. He is a former investigator for the Center for UFO Studies and contributor to the Computer UFO Network, and is a licensed private investigator. Currently in Austin, Texas, he is working on a documentary film on a classic sighting, doing independent research, and always writing.

CHECK OUT HIS 22 PAGE DOCUMENT ON THE SUBJECT HERE: https://podcastufo.com/show-notes/chr... With active links here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1waE8...

In this post, I will comment on some important questions Mr Chris Lambright raises in his paper, particularly his questions about the USS Nimitz UFO encounter (see his paper in any of the two links in the video description above). In the interview above, you can listen to host Mr Martin Willis and Lambright talk about his paper, but I am only commenting on some parts of Lambright's paper. Which parts I am explaining further down.

With this post, I hope to illustrate the amount of information a single individual has to keep track of and process (which is impossible) to reach conclusions with any degree of certainty. Which is why collaboration between researchers is essential in the search for the truth about not only Lambright's questions but about the UFO phenomena in general.

In the interview, Willis and Lambright are basically going through the content of a paper that Lambright recently published. Around the 16:00 minute mark, Lambright explains why he wrote his paper called "Bigelow, BAASS, the Nimitz encounters, and To The Stars Academy" and summarises the four parts of his paper:

UFOs and nuclear weapon systems

"August 23, 2019, Before the Supreme Court of India - Sabir Hussain." Published on the YouTube channel of Bob Salas on August 22, 2019. Duration: 20:53 minutes.

The decision by the Supreme Court of India to consider this petition was historic. They now have the opportunity to create a world safer from nuclear war.

If you are unfamiliar with the UFO phenomenon in general and its significance to us all in particular, then the video above should make you more aware of why the military and the world's governments have taken the UFO phenomenon seriously for decades.

Mr Sabir Hussain, director of "Indian Society For UFO Studies" (INSUFOS), made the video above. Hussain has written the book Accidental UFO Apocalypse and based on the findings in his book, he has sent a petition to the Supreme Court of India with the purpose "to prevent an accidental India-Pakistan nuclear war due to misunderstood UFO activities." At the 9:20 minute mark (to the 11:40 mark) in the video above, Hussain describes why this awareness of UFO activity at and around nuclear military sites is critical in India and Pakistan today.