UFOs: What We Really Know

The subject of UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) has been a thing for as long as humans have looked at the sky. With recent reports of such leading to efforts by a US Senate Committee to declassify a report on such, I thought it would be a good time for me to post a science-based look at the phenomenon. Click on the links below for clarity:

How Beliefs in Extraterrestrials and Intelligent Design Are Similar

UFO studies and the possibility of alien origin

The scientific hunt for life isn't about UFOs

All Right, Let's Talk About The UFO Thing

1957 UFO in New Mexico (Bettmann Archive)

The Person Who Introduced Me To Skepticism

 One of the giants of skepticism has died at 92. I first was exposed to him on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson many decades ago. Here and here are collections of YouTube videos from those shows and other media. Here is an example of his ability to expose' psychic powers. Enjoy.

James Randi - Wikipedia

To The Believers In The Paranormal: Put Up OR Shut Up

Pseudoscience is not exclusively seen in the politically conservative. I have come in contact with at least as many politically liberal folks as conservatives who are magical thinkers of some sort. Atheists, I include many of you also. Science-based thinkers have traditionally held out the James Randi One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge to these folks. Unfortunately, some critics have questioned his methodology, which has given the pseudoscientific folks some ammunition. Now comes another challenge:

• "The Center for Inquiry Investigations Group (CFIIG) at the Center for Inquiry-Los Angeles offers a $250,000 prize to anyone who can show, under scientific testing conditions, significant evidence of any paranormal, supernatural, or occult power. The CFIIG works with the applicant in designing the test protocol and defining the conditions under which a test will take place. CFIIG representatives will then administer the actual test. In most cases, the applicant will be asked to perform an informal demonstration of the claimed ability or phenomenon, which if successful will be followed by the formal test. The CFIIG conducts demonstrations and tests at CFI West in Los Angeles, California, in the San Francisco Bay area, or in special circumstances at one of our affiliates around the world."  (https://cfiig.org/250k-challenge/)

ESP (Extra Sensory Perception) Has Been Falsified

"Parapsychology is the study of paranormal psychic phenomena, including ESP. Parapsychology has been criticized for continuing investigation despite being unable to provide convincing evidence for the existence of any psychic phenomena after more than a century of research.^[20] The scientific community rejects ESP due to the absence of an evidence base, the lack of a theory that would explain ESP, and the lack of positive experimental results; it considers ESP to be pseudoscience.^{[21][22][23][24][25]}

"The scientific consensus does not view extrasensory perception as a scientific phenomenon.^{[26][27][28][29][30][31][32]} Skeptics have pointed out that there is no viable theory to explain the mechanism behind ESP, and that there are historical cases in which flaws have been discovered in the experimental design of parapsychological studies.^{[33] (Wikipedia)}

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Parapsychologists ("para" = "outside of") and other pseudoscientists ("pseudo" = false) persist in criticizing science for its findings regarding ESP. Wikipedia (rated "Least Biased") unequivocally supports the stance of science. Mic-drop.

What is more reasonable: parapsychologists/paranormal promoters are discriminated against; they are being exposed as pseudoscientists? If these pseudoscientists are correct, there should be a Nobel prize for such by now. I will side with science 100% of the time. Pseudoscientists can continue to play in their "wishful thinking" sandbox all they want, but society has to marginalize all of it.

Reincarnation

This post is an adjunct to my recent post entitled Scientific Support For The Dalai Lama.

Following are links challenging the concept of reincarnation:

An Honest Way for Christians to Separate Fact From Fiction

"What objective procedure can Christians have that will show Christianity as the only valid religion? I can imagine none."

The goal should be finding the truth, not supporting a predefined conclusion.

How History Views Claims Of The Supernatural And The Paranormal

Many criticize atheists for calling the Bible a work of fiction.  History functions like science:  nothing can be accepted as history that violates known reality.  Thus, if a significant part of a book (The Bible) contains significant portrayals of supernatural and paranormal events, isn't it reasonable to classify it as fiction?  It does not qualify as non-fiction, thus, - - -

History and the paranormal