UFology and Science - can they co-exist?

UFology and Science - can they co-exist?
September 10, 2009
Richard Sanner
Examiner.com

For many years "UFology" - or the study of the UFO phenomenon has generally been dismissed by the scientific community. Many scientists continue to debunk the reality of UFO's even in light of the fact that a recent national survey indicated that nearly 70 percent of the American public believes that UFO's are real, and that they most likely are guided by intelligent beings from other worlds or dimensions. There is ample evidence from credible witnesses including: former NASA astronauts and Russian cosmonauts, ex-military, and law enforcement officers. So, what will it take to convince mainstream science to seriously consider the possible existence of UFO's? Patricia B. Corbett, in her article "UFOs-A Challenge to Mainstream Science", suggests that it is essential to prevent this important phenomenon to serious scientists it a context with which they can identify, namely the discipline of science as it is practiced today. Second, it is equally important to show that the tools of science can be used to investigate the UFO phenomenon, and to reach valid conclusions.

Scientists hold firm to validating the existence of UFO's upon the scientific laws of nature and physics which have been proven and are understood. Quite simply stated, the scientist merely dispels the UFO notion with "They can't get here from there". And, that might be true if we apply scientific laws that we understand to exist. We can say that with modern propulsion, the sheer distance between the Earth and wherever these objects may be originating from, and combining the two variables would make it humanly impossible to achieve. If extraterrestrials truly do exist, who is to say that they aren't light years ahead of us in scientific development? There have been reported sightings of UFO's that display incredible operational capability - traveling at incomprehensible speeds, only to stop suddenly "on a dime" - defying the laws of gravity and physics, at least as defined by the "terrestrials".

Stanton Friedman, an eminent UFologist, who happens to be a nuclear physicist by profession, published a compelling book, "Flying Saucers and Science" , in 2008. Friedman states that the scientific debunkers made the mistake of assuming that chemical rockets were the only way to travel in space. Friedman suggests that another candidate could be nuclear energy. There have been several programs studying nuclear jet propulsion dating as far back as 1946. For one reason or another, usually political, the programs end up being canceled. Friedman also offers an interesting hypothesis concerning time travel. If one travels at 99.9 percent of the speed of light, it would only take 20 months pilot time to go 39 light-years to go to Zeta Reticuli. At 99.99 percent of the speed of light, the trip would take six months. Note: Zeta Reticuli was identified, through hypnotic regression, from the star map seen on board the alien spacecraft during the famous 1961 abduction case of Betty and Barney Hill. The bottom line here is that we can't always apply conventional wisdom to unconventional phenomenon. If UFO's truly do exist, could't it be reasonable to assume that they have been engineered by a society that might be vastly superior to ours? This isn't to suggest that we earthlings are an inferior lot, but that the extraterrestrials may have existed for a lot longer, and simply had a head start of many centuries.

Perhaps the most significant obstacle in the way of serious scientific research involves the official secrecy that surrounds the UFO phenomenon. Officially, since at least 1947, the U.S. government has dismissed UFO's as misidentification of conventional aircraft, planets, stars, or natural weather phenomenon. And while these identifications actually do in fact explain away a lot of the reported sightings, they don't explain away all sightings. It should be noted here that during the same period of time, the U.S. government has taken an intense interest in UFO's, classifying them at a secrecy level higher than that for the hydrogen bomb. Even the President of the United States does not receive a full briefing on classified UFO matters. The cloak of secrecy keeps crucial hard evidence, that which the scientific community demands for validation, out of their hands for any critical analysis.

In conclusion, while we have made some progress in merging science with UFology with Stan Friedman's book, and some of the testimony coming from astronauts who have been willing to come forward, there is still a long road to be traveled. Of course, the distance could be shortened dramatically if the U.S. government would simply come forward with what they know. Time will tell. But, in the meantime, UFologists need to remain firmly committed to investigating, collecting data, and searching for answers. Who knows - perhaps the day will come when one of these things finally does land on the White House lawn and we'll know the truth once and for all!