re: Harvard's astronomy dept chair is more convinced than ever that Oumuamua is alien craft

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Everything in Science Is Paranormal Until It Isn’t. Here’s Why We Need To Evolve Our Perception Of The Unknown

Go to the profile of Luis Elizondo
Luis Elizondo
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Jan 17

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When you think about the word “paranormal,” what comes to mind?
Probably poltergeists, ghost hunters, or little gray aliens. Or perhaps you imagine movies like The Blair Witch Project or Ghostbusters. The idea of the paranormal has remained a constant focus of thriller and sci-fi movies, often taking the audience on a wild, but very speculative ride. Talking about the word paranormal in any context other than the entertainment industry usually results in raised brows and smirks.
But isn’t everything in science paranormal until we eventually perceive it as normal?

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What we think of as “paranormal” is often just a fact of nature.

When I was in college studying microbiology, I remember my professor telling the class the famous story of when Antoni van Leeuwenhoek first discovered protozoa.
As the story goes, he looked through a microscope and screamed, “Little beasties, little beasties!” and ran out of the room. For him and many during that time, the discovery of microorganisms was a paranormal moment. But these were living organisms, just below the threshold of our ability to observe and perceive. Today, we consider microorganisms a normal part of science, and in many cases, even beneficial. In fact, scientists discover as many as 20,000 new species per year.
A lot of what is now considered normal aspects of the observable universe were once considered paranormal.

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The U.S. has a long history of involving itself in things considered paranormal.

Historically, the U.S. has been a global powerhouse in part due to its embrace?—?albeit often reluctant?—?of the strange or bizarre.
During the early days of the Manhattan Project, many scientists and lawmakers cringed at the idea of spending tax dollars on tiny, invisible packages of matter called “atoms” that would one day be used to end the war. After all, if you can’t even see an atom, how do we know they even exist? During the 1960s and 1970s, U.S. and Soviet militaries invested millions of dollars into psychic research, psychotronics, and mind control experiments. Even today, the United States Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is developing technology to allow pilots to fly aircraft with brainwaves.

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In the case of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP), the stigma of anything that might be considered paranormal has a chilling effect on our nation’s ability to address a potential national security risk. It also severely limits the advancement of human knowledge. Advancements in technology have led to credible, reliable evidence that UFOs exist?—?far beyond simple anecdotes of untrained observer reports in prior decades. Slowly but surely, the subject is moving from the outer edges of the paranormal categorization as highly trained observers come forward with analysis of advanced aerospace technology.

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Labeling media fake becomes a political weapon that can obscure truths and spread falsehoods. Information regarding UAP, in particular, tends to be associated with unhinged conspiracy theorists, and tabloid publications are quick to compound its negative reputation.
But if we take away misinformation, hoaxes, frauds, money-making schemes, egotism, and wishful thinking, there are certain truths that cannot be denied.

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We must be careful not to give in to our human nature to dismiss what’s “para”?—?that is, above, beside or beyond?—?our understanding, just because we don’t have an explanation for it at this very moment.

That is, there is a lot out there we don’t yet understand that may be “paranormal” today but quite “normal” tomorrow.

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Advanced Extraterrestrials as an Approximation to God
Our first encounter with E.T. technology could be as baffling to us as a smartphone would have been to a Neandertal
By Abraham Loeb on January 26, 2019

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Despite the impression one gets from textbooks, our current knowledge of the universe represents a small island in a vast ocean of ignorance. The scientific enterprise is all about expanding the landmass of this island. And it is fun to engage in the activity of gaining knowledge; knowing everything in advance would have been much more boring. Still, it would be shocking to learn all at once of the discoveries of an alien civilization that been doing scientific and technological exploration for billions of years, in contrast to our mere few centuries. The eminent science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke codified this idea in the third of his three laws : “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Put another way, members of such a civilization would appear to us as a pretty good approximation to God. Meeting a piece of advanced technological equipment developed by an extraterrestrial intelligence might resemble an imaginary encounter of ancient cave people with a modern cell phone. At first, they would interpret it as a shiny rock, not recognizing it as a communication device. The same thing might have happened in reaction to the first detection of an interstellar visitor to the solar system, ‘Oumuamua, which showed six peculiar properties but was nevertheless interpreted as a rock by mainstream astronomers.

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Is there something we might be missing already here and now? When looking around us, the most mysterious phenomenon we encounter routinely is the sophistication of complex life. Some scientists wondered whether life itself was seeded on Earth by an alien civilization in a process called “directed panspermia.” One can imagine a probe that brought the seeds of life in the form of microbes or instead a 3-D printer that produced these seeds out of the raw materials on Earth based on a prescribed blueprint. The universal left-handedness (chirality) of all life-forms on Earth without exception can be interpreted as stemming from a single panspermia event, be it natural (through a rock arriving from space) or artificial in origin . Even in this context, our imagination of what aliens might do will improve once we are able to produce synthetic life in the laboratory.

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If life was seeded artificially on Earth, one may wonder whether the seeders are checking on the outcome. And if so, the fact that we have not heard from them may indicate that they are disappointed. The experiment may have failed, or we are simply too slow to mature. Well, this may not come as a surprise given the irresponsible way we behave sometimes. Perhaps if we only knew that someone is looking over our shoulders, we would do better. It is not too late for us to find out, by using the best telescopes at our disposal.

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. Some scientists wondered whether life itself was seeded on Earth by an alien civilization in a process called “directed panspermia.

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I-Team: Former Sen. Reid calls for congressional hearings into UFOs
By: George Knapp Matt Adams Updated: Jan 31, 2019 11:28 PM PST

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LAS VEGAS - Former Nevada Senator Harry Reid is calling for formal congressional hearings probing the enduring mystery of UFOs. The longtime leader of Senate Democrats quietly sponsored a secret Pentagon study of UFOs and related mysteries. The program was based in Las Vegas but ended in 2012.

Now, in his first on-camera interview in more than a year, Reid says both Congress and the Pentagon should take a fresh look at the topic, and he intends to help make it happen.

"Some people say, why is Reid doing this? He doesn't know anything about science. Well, I'm doing it out of sheer curiosity," Reid said

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"As I said, this is a worldwide phenomenon. It's not just here in the United States. There are certain places we don't understand why but there are more occurrences and have been for a long long time."

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The study based in Las Vegas explored topics far beyond the nuts and bolts of flying saucers. Physicist Dr. Hal Puthoff assigned 38 topics to academics and experts, tasking the authors to project to the year 2050 and speculate on what our cutting-edge technology might become. UFOs, whatever they are, have already demonstrated some of what is possible.

In July 2018, the I-Team first released the list of those papers. Two weeks ago, the Defense Intelligence Agency confirmed the list when it released a letter from late Senator John McCain, who had requested all available materials from AATIP for his armed services committee. Reid and McCain were from different parties but were close. "Sure, John knew what I was doing. He didn't hide the fact that he was interested also. It's why he wrote the letter." Media critics have griped that the papers explored fringe science. That was the assignment, according to Dr. Puthoff. One publication explores invisibility cloaking -- craft that are not only invisible to radar, but actually invisible. That research has reportedly been underway at Nevada's Area 51 base in recent years.

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