We might be veering slightly off-topic, here. But I hope this will clarify things enough so we can move back to the original topic.
Indeed this is one of Shermer's "stock phrases" to introduce topics and, as
@Gary C said above, to keep conversations going.
AFAIK, he got this idea, or at least he sort of "polished it", during his 2020 (holy s*, this was over 6 years ago, already!?) interview with Dr. Diana Walsh Pasulka, author of
American Cosmic: UFOs, Religion, Technology.
Link.
Here's a summary of Gemini's reply about this:
- Show: The Michael Shermer Show (originally released under his Science Salon banner)
- Episode Number: #105
- Title: "Diana Pasulka — American Cosmic: UFOs, Religion, Technology"
- Release Date: February 25, 2020
- Title: American Cosmic: UFOs, Religion, Technology
- Author: Dr. Diana Walsh Pasulka
Dr. Pasulka is a professor of religious studies, and her book details a six-year ethnographic study of mainstream scientists, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, and high-level professionals who harbor a deep belief in extraterrestrial intelligence.
During this conversation, she and Shermer explicitly map out how modern media and technology are supplanting traditional religions. For secular individuals who reject supernatural doctrines, the idea of highly advanced, biologically or technologically superior aliens can step in to fill that exact same existential void. The official episode outline explicitly highlights this theme:
Discussion Topic: UFOs as Sky Gods for Skeptics; aliens as deities for atheists, and the rise of the "Nones" (the religiously unaffiliated).
Shermer loved this framing so much that he previously wrote a
Scientific American column under the exact title
"Sky Gods for Skeptics," and has since woven the concept into his broader literature on how humans determine what is true. It is a great episode if you want to look at the UFO phenomenon through a psychological and sociological lens rather than a purely conspiratorial one!
So, while I agree that calling UFO nuts "skeptics" is missing the mark entirely, if we just understand what he means by it and where he's coming from, I think we can let this one go. Also, lots of skeptics are interested in extraterrestrial life, we just don't think that they're here, or that contact has been made yet.
And... About getting back to the original topic.
Instead of having a bunch of believers and crackpots with a token skeptic or two, it should have been the other way around. It's skeptics that have good track history of finding out what these things are.
Loeb has a history of making fantastic claims with little evidence and then becoming enraged and throwing fits when people point out the many ways in which he's wrong. And then, as more evidence emerges that reinforce how wrong he is, he spins it upside down and still holds on to his fantastic claims. There aren't many people who have been shown to be less capable than he is to lead such a project. Except for most Ufologists.
Any sensible administration, that cares about reason, would... Well, they wouldn't create such a council, but if Congress forced their hand, or something, they should choose skeptics and actual scientists, with maybe a couple token believers to shake things up.
