I'll add that the analogy wasn't even good, to start with. The proper analogy would be to trust a cardiologist to give you a neurological diagnosis. Being an expert in flying aircraft and identifying other, already known of aircraft doesn't make you an expert in identifying unknown aircraft, it even may get in the way...I'll add, it is pretty standard practice NOT to just trust the medical expert, especially on anything important, but to seek a second opinion in which some other specialist looks at the evidence and renders a judgement. Perhaps MB is the second opinion provider in these cases?
House Oversight Hearing on UAPs - July 26, 2023
- Thread starter MonkeeSage
- Start date
Ann K
Senior Member.
Yes. Successive American postgraduate degrees are referred to as a Masters degree and a PhD: "Doctor of Philosophy", but it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with what we currently define as philosophy. The field of study is usually referred to after the degree.
That sometimes leads to people claiming expertise that they do not really have. For example, "Creationism" is a religious position that refers to humans having been created by god, as opposed to evolution. It's frequently seen that people denying the Theory of Evolution use a legitimate doctoral degree and refer to themselves as "Doctor ____", but their doctoral degree is in, say, history or dentistry, not in any field of biology or genetics that would pertain to evolution. They are implying an expertise that they do not have.
(derp)
Sorry, I quoted you, but I just think this thread is going in a wrong direction and though that line was relevant to my point.
I would rather there be a line to speculating, that doesn't get crossed. I think this is where such a line should be drawn. He said he wants to be an opinion leader on the subject and that is fair game, but going beyond that is just going to put off people that are trying to make sense of this and look here for help.
Sorry, I quoted you, but I just think this thread is going in a wrong direction and though that line was relevant to my point.
LilWabbit
Senior Member
No problem.
But I think psychology is very much an important aspect of all of this as well and shouldn't be dismissed just because it's uncomfortable. However, you're absolutely right about the discussion benefiting from some manner of expertise to evolve beyond dilettante psychoevals. Hence it would be good to hear from experts.
adam_n_eve
New Member
I'm sorry I'm out of here. I genuinely thought that there might be a place for discussion but the desperation to debunk as opposed to discuss things is not really for me.
In this thread we've had people suggesting Fravor saw a pod of dolphins feeding, we've had people suggesting what he saw was a balloon and that the movement he saw was parallax.
Duke
Senior Member.
I heard Stanton Friedman make similar comments about the noted skeptic, Dr. Joe Nickell and his PhD in English. After hearing that, I made a point to listen to him. As many times as I've heard Dr Nickell on various programs, I've never heard him reveal what his doctorate is in. So, that cuts both ways.
Amathia
Senior Member
I think psychological discussion about the mechanisms behind, say, alien abduction experiences is fair game. It'd be impossible to understand what's going on there without insight from psychology. But analyzing the possible motivations and discussions about a person's possible need to be in the spotlight aren't helpful or useful. And without ever meeting or talking to the person in question, any speculation about them is unhelpful. I see people doing this kind of thing to Mick all the time regarding the one childhood experience he shared regarding the Kelly-Hopkinsville encounter and it's pretty gross. He's constantly accused of being arrogant and having a need to be in the spotlight as well.
Everyone on earth has conscious and unconscious motives for what they do and our life experiences consciously and unconsciously shape our beliefs as well. Sifting through a person's psychological history isn't going to get us any closer to the truth about topics like these.
LilWabbit
Senior Member
I agree for the most part. The part where I don't see perfectly eye-to-eye isn't worth a deep dive here on this thread, and maybe not on MB in any case.
Scaramanga
Senior Member
Indeed....I'm simply point out that my baseline for all 'events' is did they ever even happen. It's not in any way meant to be derogatory. It is quite simply that if I am going to apply a standard to the Travis Waltons and Whitley Striebers of this world, then I have to be consistent and apply that same standard for everyone and nobody gets a free pass.
Scaramanga
Senior Member
The entire purpose of skepticism is to 'suggest' alternative explanations. Some alternative explanations are more way out than others. But bear in mind that the aliens hypothesis is itself an alternative explanation...and is the most way out one of the lot.
Nobody is 'desperate to debunk'. Most people are simply saying ' look...here's a whole bunch of explanations which although they might be implausible are LESS implausible than aliens making it here from Beta Reticuli '. That is how skepticism works.
deirdre
Senior Member.
no i didn't. i said a whale. and it's his mucus bubble that broke the surface that Fravor saw. How would a dolphin float up in the air then pop?
Lu Ann Lewellen
Active Member
Kevin Day thinks the aliens were here studying whales so there's that.
The purpose of this site (Metabunk) is to remove bunk. It's pretty clearly stated in the About page.
Eburacum
Senior Member.
One possible scenario is a group of whales 'bubble-netting'.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble-net_feeding
This would create a region of rough water, easily visible from the air. This might even explain the Tic-tac itself; a suitably large seabird might be attracted to the fish in the bubble-net, then fly upwards and away towards Fravor's plane. Not the most likely scenario, but the whole sighting seems incredibly unlikely, aliens or not.
Bubble-netting would be debunked as a possible solution if this activity never happens in that particular region of the ocean.
Lu Ann Lewellen
Active Member
Humpback whales use bubble-netting and they do occur near Catalina. Here's a video of a pod of seven taken in 2019:
Source: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=505015940342082
Lu Ann Lewellen
Active Member
Here's a short excerpt from the BBC of bubble-net feeding:
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBiKnpqWsMI
There's an aerial shot at 1:00. The submerged whales wouldn't be seen from high altitude and the disturbance could resemble a downed aircraft.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBiKnpqWsMI
There's an aerial shot at 1:00. The submerged whales wouldn't be seen from high altitude and the disturbance could resemble a downed aircraft.
Mendel
Senior Member.
Wanna bet?
I'll take 3:1 odds it won't be extraterrestrial.
Duke
Senior Member.
Another opportunity to bet the field if the options are the usual suspects....aliens, time travelers, interdimensional beings, demons, etc.
Mendel
Senior Member.
Don't forget the people suggesting he saw an extraterrestrial craft!
We know dolphins and balloons and parallax, and that's why we can discuss them.
We don't know UFOs, so we can't.
Sounds reasonable to me?
Ann K
Senior Member.
I thought the "usual suspects" were balloons, drones, ordinary aircraft, reflections, and astronomical bodies.
Lu Ann Lewellen
Active Member
No hallucinations or hoaxes?I thought the "usual suspects" were balloons, drones, ordinary aircraft, reflections, and astronomical bodies.
Mendel
Senior Member.
Good hoaxes are rare.
"Hallucinations" are more likely encounter/abduction scenes; I get the impression that most UFO sightings are based on people actually seeing something they can't identify and thinking it's a UFO.
jarlrmai
Senior Member.
Do we think that if "alien visitors" are on the list of proposals, that humpback whales a bit out of place is higher or lower on the likeliness scale?
Last edited:
Phil Metzger discussion moved to:
https://www.metabunk.org/threads/dr...z-incident-post-uap-hearing.13080/post-296410
New topics in new threads please!!!
https://www.metabunk.org/threads/dr...z-incident-post-uap-hearing.13080/post-296410
New topics in new threads please!!!
Amathia
Senior Member
All the documents from the hearing:
https://docs.house.gov/Committee/Calendar/ByEvent.aspx?EventID=116282
(don't know if Mick has posted them here yet, I just saw them on his Twitter)
For his Bio, Grusch submitted his CV (some interesting info here, such as his current job is listed as being the COO of the Sol Foundation, which was founded by Gary Nolan)
https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO06/20230726/116282/HHRG-118-GO06-Bio-GruschD-20230726.pdf
https://docs.house.gov/Committee/Calendar/ByEvent.aspx?EventID=116282
(don't know if Mick has posted them here yet, I just saw them on his Twitter)
For his Bio, Grusch submitted his CV (some interesting info here, such as his current job is listed as being the COO of the Sol Foundation, which was founded by Gary Nolan)
https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO06/20230726/116282/HHRG-118-GO06-Bio-GruschD-20230726.pdf
deirdre
Senior Member.
weird. i looked up sol the other day and didnt find any SOL about ufoy type stuff. But i guess it is
https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO06/20230726/116282/HHRG-118-GO06-TTF-GruschD-20230726.pdf
https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO06/20230726/116282/HHRG-118-GO06-Bio-GruschD-20230726.pdf
Gary Nolan 15:49 just talking about starting "SOL", nothing important enough to transcript just confirmation he is involved in a foundation named SOL
External Quote:
Source: https://youtu.be/e2DqdOw6Uy4?t=949
deirdre
Senior Member.
Amathia
Senior Member
FatPhil
Senior Member.
Wouldn't "the premier center" for such things be Princeton? Or MIT? Or Harvard? Or Stanford? Or UCB? Or JHU? Or Cornell? Or Caltech? Or Yale? Or UCLA? Or CMU? Or Duke? Or UIUC?
Just what properties does he think SOL has that makes it more premier than the above?
Mendel
Senior Member.
Marketing. "Premier center for research" has a large number of google hits, though most of these claims limit themselves to specialized, narrow fields, e.g. "premier center for research into woolly mammoths". I guess SOL is the premier center for unspecific research that also does lobbying and public outreach. (Kinda like the tobacco industry, I guess?) Their slogan should be, "we can make them believe anything", they're good at it. (Perhaps even premier.)
FatPhil
Senior Member.
I may not have mentioned this before, but I'm quite a Bill Hicks fan. The snigger lobe of my brain has just been triggered.
When going through the transcript of the April 19 2023 senate meeting with Dr. Kirkpatrick, I encountered an interesting remark from an 'audience member' at the end of the meeting:
Don't know who that was, but it ties in with Grush' allegations.
Article: Audience Member: "The vehicles tend to be about 10 meters in size and the data that Dr. Kirkpatrick gave about the signatures of one to three gigahertz is the propulsion field interacting with the atmospheric water -- the water in the atmosphere. The higher gigahertz range comes from the effects of the propulsion field reducing the initial mass of the craft so they can do these outstanding maneuvers of [inaudible] degrees or rotating and flying off at hypersonic velocity.
There is knowledge within the weapons industry. More people need to come forward. We need to pull up engineers out of Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and allow them the freedom to speak and stop the secrecy. Thank you for hearing me."
Don't know who that was, but it ties in with Grush' allegations.
deirdre
Senior Member.
As Mendel noted, i think the policy and outreach perhaps sets it apart. Plus SOL is studying all things UFOs, which the others are not. (well..not ALL things UFO, just all things extra or interterrestrial UFO)
To me it sounded like how To the Stars Academy referred to themselves, but since SOL's language is a bit more "advanced" (ie subtle) that makes them 'premiere'. *we even have a fancy start-up who provided a new job to a DOD "leaker"/whistleblower..i dont know what elizondo calls himself so those are my descriptions.
Ann K
Senior Member.
Is studying?
Plans to study in the future?
Advertises as an aspiration?
Hypes as a selling point?
Exaggerates in the hopes of hiring experts?
Claims to inflate their own significance?
It's a new organization without much of a track record, so perhaps all of the above?
That sounds like gibberish rather than interesting. Propulsion field? Reducing mass? What need is there for weapon industry to come forward, he's pretty much impling he already has the knowledge he's asking for if he/she can make those kind of statements...
deirdre
Senior Member.
and has studied.
its Gary Nolan and Grusch. I'm sure they feel they have studied some aspects already, and are still studying. and some aspects they will study.
Yes, he does. Maybe someone with inside kmowledge? Which is why he said 'more' people need to come forward. This was two months before Grush came forward, so the 'more' did not refer to Grush.
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