Topics

ufology

Ufology is the study of unidentified flying objects, encompassing a materialist tradition focused on physical evidence and a second tradition, arising from hypnotic regression and the contactee and abduction movements, that centres on experiencers themselves.

Ufology is the study of the Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) phenomenon. The religious studies scholar Diana Walsh Pasulka has conducted an ethnography of a variety of UFO believers and of ufology itself.¹ As part of that research, Pasulka organised a small, closed conference bringing together ufologists and scientists with humanities scholars who study the UFO phenomenon; Tyler D. was not among those invited.² Within ufology, the code of conduct expected of scientists who study UFOs in an official capacity differs from ordinary academic codes of conduct: once vetted, such researchers are required to keep their sources secret and to take oaths.³

The field encompasses two broad schools of thought, one emphasising material issues and the other addressing subjective and spiritual issues.⁴ The materialist school focuses on the empirical effects of UFOs, such as radiation burns on objects or people, blips on radar, and sightings, sometimes described as the “nuts and bolts” of a UFO event.⁵ The second school arose with the application of hypnotic regression to experiencers and with the rise of the contactee and abduction movements, and it centres on the experiencers themselves and the content of purported extraterrestrial messages.⁶ Budd Hopkins was an American artist, author and ufologist.⁷

James Master has said that Jacques Vallée has infuriated most ufologists because he will not commit to a single explanation of the phenomenon.⁸ According to American Cosmic, the astronomer Massimo Teodorani and the physicist Eric Davis have confirmed the existence of a parallel research tradition within ufology that is unknown to outsiders but well known within the culture of ufologists.⁹

Rey Hernandez has been careful to note that the Dr. Edgar Mitchell Foundation for Research into Extraterrestrial Encounters (FREE) is not an organisation devoted to ufology.¹⁰ Hernandez has said that the ufology paradigm has revealed very little about the UFO phenomenon over the past sixty years, and that a new paradigm, which he calls the Consciousness Paradigm, is needed.¹¹ Within the field, “disclosure” is a term used to mean that UFOs have revealed themselves, or that there is public awareness of their presence.¹² The Jesuit scientists of the Vatican Observatory are not actively searching for UFOs and are not engaged in ufology.¹³ Jason Samosa has observed that the role of the Vatican in the UFO subject is hinted at by many researchers he respects, recurrently surfacing and then disappearing, with no one willing to focus on it.¹⁴

Pasulka has related that the sociologist Brenda Denzler found ufology, and the study of anomalous aerial phenomena generally, to be overwhelmingly white and male, and more than 90 per cent Anglo-American.¹⁵ Pasulka has also said that historians of ufology, with few exceptions, overlook African American and Indigenous traditions concerning the UFO that predate the standard assumption that the UFO mythos began in 1947.¹⁶

Testimony from Samosa and Jesse Mitchells further describes alleged psychological operations (psyop) tactics directed at the UFO research community. Samosa has assessed that running a UFO researcher as a source turns them from active and passionate investigators into passive ones, waiting to be told what is going on rather than analysing and piecing together evidence themselves.¹⁷ He has assessed that cultivating researchers as sources is a practically free technique that, combined with flooding disinformation into the UFO community, does a great deal of damage.¹⁸ In his assessment, the most effective way to neutralise a UFO researcher is to run them as a source: supplying a few genuinely good pieces of information to build trust, then progressively feeding in untrue material that spreads through the community and surrounds the true information.¹⁹ Samosa has also assessed that UFO researchers turning aggressively against one another is the easiest way to destroy the research community,²⁰ while Mitchells has assessed that infighting among UFO researchers makes the field look crazy, itself a symptom of manufactured division.²¹ Samosa has assessed that the UFO disclosure movement has an inevitable life cycle in which different evangelists are needed for different audiences at different stages,²² and that few people in the United Kingdom talk publicly about the UFO topic.²³ He has said he worries about the religious component of the UFO subject and about an inability to cautiously distinguish what people have experienced from dogma.²⁴ Mitchells has separately assessed cult creation around a single contactee, typically involving a prophecy of an event within the next few years, to be a recurring pattern within ufology,²⁵ and considers it among the biggest fallacies of UFO research to treat figures such as Ronald Reagan as though they spent most of their time on UFOs, when the subject was under one per cent of their attention and their real focus was geopolitics.²⁶

References (26)

Pasulka conducted an ethnography of UFO believers and of ufology itself
“I proceeded in the conventional way in that I conducted an ethnography of a variety of believers and delved into research into UFOs and ufology, a branch of research devoted to the topic.”
American Cosmic char:15823-16004
Pasulka's closed conference brought ufologists and scientists together with humanities scholars; Tyler D. was not invited
“A few months prior to our trip, I had organized a small conference, to which Tyler had not been invited, on the phenomenon. The small, closed meeting was unique because it brought together ufologists and scientists with scholars of the humanities, all of whom studied the phenomenon.”
American Cosmic ch1:12136-12408
The code of conduct for scientist-ufologists requires secrecy of sources and oaths, unlike academic norms
“Scientist-ufologists are vetted extensively before their employment in the field and, once hired, take oaths to keep their sources secret.”
American Cosmic ch1:13226-13357
Ufology has two main schools of thought: material issues and subjective/spiritual issues
“Within ufology, there have arisen two main schools of thought. One emphasizes material issues, and the other addresses subjective and spiritual issues.”
American Cosmic ch5:6101-6245
The materialist school focuses on empirical effects: radiation burns, radar blips, sightings
“The materialist school focuses on the empirical effects of UFOs, like radiation burns on material objects or on people, blips on radars, and sightings. This school focuses on "the nuts and bolts" of the UFO event.”
American Cosmic ch5:6253-6460
The other school arose with hypnotic regression and the contactee/abduction movements, focusing on experiencers
“The other school arose with the advent of the application of hypnotic regression to experiencers and with the contactee and abduction movements; it focuses on the experiencers themselves and the content of the extraterrestrial messages.”
American Cosmic ch5:6467-6694
Budd Hopkins was an American artist, author and ufologist
“[note: Budd Hopkins - American artist, author, and ufologist]”
The UFO Cover-Up Leads to One Secret Society — and One Final Event line 308
James Master said Jacques Vallée infuriates most ufologists by refusing a single explanation
“In fact, Jacques has infuriated most ufologists because he won’t fall in line. All Jacques has ever claimed is that the phenomenon seems infinitely variable.”
American Cosmic ch2:36138-36286
Massimo Teodorani and Eric Davis confirmed a parallel research tradition within ufology
“Some scientists, such as astronomer Massimo Teodorani and physicist Eric Davis, have confirmed its existence.”
American Cosmic char:18258-18357
Rey Hernandez said FREE is not an organisation devoted to ufology
“In my discussions with him about FREE, he was careful to note that FREE is not an organization devoted to ufology.”
American Cosmic ch6:25345-25451
Hernandez said the ufology paradigm has revealed little in sixty years; a Consciousness Paradigm is needed
“He said, “This paradigm has revealed very little about this phenomenon over the last sixty years. A new paradigm is needed and this is the Consciousness Paradigm.””
American Cosmic ch6:25460-25613
Disclosure means UFOs have revealed themselves, or public awareness of their presence
“Disclosure is a term used by ufologists that means that UFOs have revealed themselves, or that there is a public awareness of their presence.”
American Cosmic ch6:25961-26093
Vatican Observatory Jesuit scientists are not searching for UFOs or engaged in ufology
“To set the record straight, the Jesuits at the Vatican Observatory are not actively searching for UFOs, nor are they engaged in anything related to ufology.”
American Cosmic ch7:26241-26389
Samosa said the Vatican's role in the UFO subject is hinted at by researchers, then dropped
“the role of the Vatican is hinted at by many people that I would respect it kind of comes up and then it disappears, right? No one wants to focus too much on the Vatican.”
The UFO Cover-Up Leads to One Secret Society — and One Final Event 02:17:57.1-02:18:04.0
Pasulka related Denzler's finding that ufology is overwhelmingly white, male and over 90% Anglo-American
“ufology and the study of anomalous aerial phenomena, as observed by my colleague Brenda Denzler, are “overwhelmingly white and male” and over 90 percent Anglo-American.”
American Cosmic ch7:38244-38403
Pasulka said historians of ufology overlook African American and Indigenous UFO traditions predating 1947
“The historians of ufology, with few exceptions, ignore the history of African American and indigenous traditions of the UFO, which predate the standard assumption that the UFO mythos was born in the year 1947.”
American Cosmic ch7:38549-38753
Samosa: running a researcher as a source turns them passive rather than analytical
“Because I've turned you from someone who is active and passionate, and you've become passive. You're waiting for the sources to tell you what's going on.”
The UFO Cover-Up Leads to One Secret Society — and One Final Event 01:54:39.2-01:54:46.1
Samosa: cultivating sources is cheap and, combined with disinformation, damaging
“it's a very simple, but it's practically free. And if you, alongside that, if you just flood disinformation into the community, you'll do a wonderful job of making things very difficult.”
The UFO Cover-Up Leads to One Secret Society — and One Final Event 01:54:59.7-01:55:09.4
Samosa: neutralising a researcher works by building trust then feeding in untrue material
“The really smart thing to do is sources... I give you a couple of really good bits of information to start with... And you build a relationship of trust with me... then I start to introduce more and more unusual, unnecessary extra information, which is not true, which gets distilled into the community, which then surrounds all the true information.”
The UFO Cover-Up Leads to One Secret Society — and One Final Event lines 150-163
Samosa: researchers turning against each other is the easiest way to destroy the community
“it's like just researchers turning against each other and getting so aggressive... It's the easiest way to destroy a community.”
The UFO Cover-Up Leads to One Secret Society — and One Final Event 01:56:08.1-01:56:14.5
Mitchells: infighting makes the field look crazy and is itself manufactured division
“We all look crazy, which then you're, you're falling prey to the manufactured division.”
The UFO Cover-Up Leads to One Secret Society — and One Final Event 01:56:57.1-01:57:01.2
Samosa: the disclosure movement has a life cycle needing different evangelists per stage
“the same people who did the first, you know, kind of movement of this aren't going to be the same people who do the next one... because you need different types of evangelists for different types of audiences at different times. So there is an inevitable life cycle as well.”
The UFO Cover-Up Leads to One Secret Society — and One Final Event 01:58:05.0-01:58:20.7
Samosa: few people in the UK talk publicly about the UFO topic
“Like in the UK, we really don't have that many people who talk about this topic.”
The UFO Cover-Up Leads to One Secret Society — and One Final Event 01:58:23.2-01:58:26.8
Samosa worries about the religious component of the UFO subject and about dogma
“I do worry about the religious component and our inability to cautiously delineate between what people have experienced and dogma.”
The UFO Cover-Up Leads to One Secret Society — and One Final Event 02:06:03.2-02:06:11.8
Mitchells: cult creation around a single contactee, with prophecy, is a recurring pattern
“The cult creation seems to be this thing in UFOlogy where like you have this one kind of contactee, you know, and around that person is created this sort of mythology and... often there's a prophecy involved”
The UFO Cover-Up Leads to One Secret Society — and One Final Event 00:09:53.3-00:10:09.2
Mitchells: treating figures like Reagan as UFO-focused is a fallacy; the subject was under 1% of their attention
“And I think maybe the biggest fallacy of UFO research is we talk about Reagan, like he spends all his time on UFOs. They're realizing it's sub 1%. And he really is just geopolitics.”
The UFO Cover-Up Leads to One Secret Society — and One Final Event 02:29:48.7-02:30:00.5

ufology

Language