The Paracast Newsletter
December 10, 2023
www.theparacast.com
Cutting-Edge Thinker and Commentator Richard Thieme Reveals Details of His Amazing Personal Story, His Ongoing UFO Studies and More on The Paracast!
The Paracast is heard Sundays from 3:00 AM until 6:00 AM Central Time on the GCN Radio Network and affiliates around the USA, the Boost Radio Network, the IRN Internet Radio Network, and online across the globe via download and on-demand streaming.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVEN'T SIGNED UP FOR THE PARACAST+ YET? PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PARACAST+ SO YOU CAN SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY THE ULTIMATE PARACAST EXPERIENCE AT A SPECIAL LOW PRICE! We have another radio show and we’d love for you listen to it. So for a low subscription fee, you will receive access to an exclusive bonus podcast, After The Paracast, plus an enhanced version of The Paracast with the network ads removed, when you join The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes on your device. Flash! Take advantage of our lowest rates ever! Act now! It's easier than ever to susbcribe! For the easiest signup ever, please visit: https://www.theparacast.plus
This Week's Episode: Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present a thought-provoking episode featuring Richard Thieme. He is an author/professional speaker who addresses challenges posed by new technologies, how to redesign ourselves to meet these challenges, and creativity in response to radical change. His speaking addresses “the human in the machine,” technology-related security and intelligence issues as they come home to our humanity. For the past 30 years, his speaking, writing and consulting has focused on security, intelligence, IT, and empowering people who live on the sharper edges of life and work. His books include: "UFOs and Government: A Historical Inquiry" (2013). When a senior at the NSA told him, "the only way you can tell the truth is through fiction," he heeded his advice, and four novels and dozens of stories later, he completed his magnum opus, the Mobius Trilogy: "Mobius: A Memoir," a novel about an intelligence professional that is receiving great reviews, "The Mobius Vector: The Long Road Home," and the third book in the trilogy, "Mobius: Out of Time."
After The Paracast — Available exclusively for Paracast+ subscribers on December 10: Cutting-edge commentator Richard Thieme returns to talk with Gene and cohost Tim Swartz about such topics as the state of UFO research, particularly its ongoing narrative on the phenomenon. There is also talk about Thieme's series of fiction-based books, his Mobius series, and the possibilities of remote viewing. Thieme has published hundreds of articles, three dozen stories, 13 books, and has delivered hundreds of speeches. He spoke in 2022 at Def Con for the 26th year where he was honored him as the first "uber contributor." He has keynoted security conferences in 15 countries and clients range from GE, Microsoft, Medtronic, Bank of America, Allstate Insurance, and Johnson Controls to the NSA, FBI, U.S. Dept of the Treasury, Los Alamos Lab, the Pentagon Security Forum, and the U.S .Secret Service.
After The Paracast Special: Available exclusively to Paracast+ subscribers on December 11: Bob Zanotti, The Paracast’s staff announcer, guest cohost and a long-time student of paranormal phenomena, gives an exclusive report on his personal encounters with spiritualist minister Bill Daut, and its surprising result. He also reveals the results of a séance he had that also produced details that were amazingly accurate. Gene and cohost Tim Swartz will also talk about their encounters with psychics and psychic readings over the years. Zanotti got interested in UFOs back in the 50’s as a pre-teen. In the 1960’s he hosted a New York college radio talk show called “Coffee Klatsch,” which was devoted to the offbeat and the paranormal. After broadcast journalism studies in New York and Montreal, his calling led him to Switzerland, where he was a full-time broadcast journalist and presenter at Swiss Radio International, Switzerland’s international shortwave station. During his 32 years with SRI, Bob also produced a number of features involving the paranormal and the esoteric.
Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: The Paracast Community Forums. Visit our new online shop for great branded merchandise at: https://www.theparacast.shop.
About Simulated Realities
By Gene Steinberg
To some, Star Trek’s “Holodeck” feature might be a dream come true. You activate the ship’s computer and utter a few commands to activate the place or universe you’d like to visit. You enter the chamber and you find yourself in another reality indistinguishable in most ways from the “real world.”
So maybe you’re in the late 19th century wearing the classic “Sherlock Holmes” clothing, and go about solving crimes. Perhaps you want to visit Coney Island in Brooklyn, NY and have a genuine Nathan’s hot dog. Well, it appears there are few if any limits.
On the other hand, if you choose the gunfight at the “O.K. Corral, and your opponent shoots you, you won’t be injured.The Holodeck system has built-in protections to prevent such consequences, until it doesn’t. That’s where “Star Trek: The Next Generation” had some entertaining plot lines.
A more mundane concept in simulated reality was employed in the movie, “Tron,” released in 1982, where someone enters a simulated or digital reality, in the form of a video game.
Nowadays, you can almost live in a simulated reality by wearing specially-equipped goggles. But all they do is immerse you in a video game, where you use some sort of control system to interact. You aren’t put in the position of living in that world as if you were part of it.
The illusion seems to come close, but no cigars, at least not yet. I suppose Apple’s forthcoming Vision Pro glasses will provide even more realism. If you can afford it, of course. The starting price will be $3,499 at the expected 2024 introduction. That’s more than a fully-equipped 2023 version of Apple’s iMac all-in-one personal computer which can actually get work done.
Just saying.
Such possibilities, real or imagined, are all due to advanced technology to simulate reality.
But what about creating a physical reality where the protagonist is fooled into believing it’s all real?
I’m thinking of a really clever sci-film from 1998, “The Truman Show.” It takes the reality show concept to an almost absurd level. A faceless corporation adopts a baby, names him Truman Burbank, as portrayed by Jim Carrey, who shed much of his manic comic personality for the role. He is placed in what’s essentially a massive TV studio that is designed to resemble a small town.
Except for Truman, just about everything he experiences is scripted. His family, his friends, even his wife, are actors playing roles. I assume except for bathrooms, cameras are placed just about everywhere, so just about everything he does is seen by audiences of millions.
But he doesn’t know any of this, and accepts his simulated life as genuine in every way. Even for his job as an insurance representative. When he wants to travel outside of this town, elaborate excuses are devised to keep him from attempting to leave.
The story begins to take its turn as Truman begins to suspect something is wrong. At first he notices that passing cars appear to repeat themselves, as if in a loop. Over the course of the film, he discovers the truth, that his entire life is just a 24/7 TV show. He becomes a hero and, eventually, finds his way out of the confines of that special studio and gains his freedom.
I’ll avoid the contradictions and plot holes, such as a story about a 30-something man living his entire life on a TV show. Take Christof (well played by Ed Harris), who is executive producer of the show. Can you believe that he has been running it by himself and his minions for over three decades, or has there been a procession of producers taking over the leadership role?
Or did Christof somehow put together this elaborate scheme at a very young age? Harris, by the way, was 48 when this film was released.
Not dealt with, also, is the incredible cost of such a venture and how advancing technologies mean that sets and equipment would have to be upgraded from time to time.
Fiction, yes, but TV reality shows such as “Survivor” demonstrate that such a thing is possible with today’s technology, and the methods of generating a simulated reality for someone like Truman are, as I’ve said, advancing faster than we might expect.
That brings us to the larger issue, which is whether the reality in which we live and breathe is also somehow simulated. Perhaps we are just processions of ones and zeros embedded in a galactic-sized Holodeck, living our lives without awareness of what’s truly in control of our fates.
Perhaps we do have an inkling, in the form of beliefs in a supernatural almighty being that created and continues to control the universe. Certainly if such a thing were occurring, that would be a Supreme Being or God by almost any definition.
We already see variations of the concept in paranormal research. The late Fortean writer John Keel told of “ultraterrestrials” as being responsible for UFOs and other phenomena. In brief, a race of advanced beings, ultraterrestrials, may exist in another universe or a different dimension, a reality that may crisscross with ours.
It doesn’t necessarily mean that ultraterrestrials created and manage our reality. It may, however, serve to explain UFOs and other strange phenomena that defy conventional explanation.
That concept may seem alien to our understanding of how things work, but it may help avoid having to accept the possibility that we live in an environment that, while it seems real, is synthetic.
Returning to the Holodeck, I’m reminded of a character featured in “Star Trek: Voyager.” It’s the “Holographic Doctor,” described on the show as an “Emergency Medical Hologram (EMH),” a projection that a starship can generate to replace or supplement the medical staff. In “Voyager,” the ship has no chief medical officer, so an EMH was created to assume that role.
Played brilliantly by character actor Robert Picardo (selected from over 900 actors who auditioned), the EMH over the years attained more and more human-like abilities. At one point, he (or it) was, through technology, able to exist outside of a starship to attend to medical emergencies, say, on a planet’s surface.
As AI concepts go, the EMH remains one of the most interesting, very much due to Picardo’s masterful portrayal.
Imagine, then, a civilization that is thousands of years ahead of us. Just what bag of tricks would they possess? And if they are truly in control, what are their motives? Are they responsible for the tribal wars, famine and natural disasters that afflict planet Earth? Is all that misery a test of our abilities to survive? Or are they just programming bugs that have been allowed to proliferate?
Or maybe they are having loads of perverse fun at our expense.
I suppose we just might be someone’s or something’s programming defect too. If so, let’s just hope that the programmers responsible for such defects won’t someday decide that the fix requires the code to be completely deleted.
Copyright 1999-2023 The Paracast Company. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy: Your personal information is safe with us. We will positively never give out your name and/or e-mail address to anybody else, and that's a promise!
December 10, 2023
www.theparacast.com
Cutting-Edge Thinker and Commentator Richard Thieme Reveals Details of His Amazing Personal Story, His Ongoing UFO Studies and More on The Paracast!
The Paracast is heard Sundays from 3:00 AM until 6:00 AM Central Time on the GCN Radio Network and affiliates around the USA, the Boost Radio Network, the IRN Internet Radio Network, and online across the globe via download and on-demand streaming.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVEN'T SIGNED UP FOR THE PARACAST+ YET? PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PARACAST+ SO YOU CAN SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY THE ULTIMATE PARACAST EXPERIENCE AT A SPECIAL LOW PRICE! We have another radio show and we’d love for you listen to it. So for a low subscription fee, you will receive access to an exclusive bonus podcast, After The Paracast, plus an enhanced version of The Paracast with the network ads removed, when you join The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes on your device. Flash! Take advantage of our lowest rates ever! Act now! It's easier than ever to susbcribe! For the easiest signup ever, please visit: https://www.theparacast.plus
This Week's Episode: Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present a thought-provoking episode featuring Richard Thieme. He is an author/professional speaker who addresses challenges posed by new technologies, how to redesign ourselves to meet these challenges, and creativity in response to radical change. His speaking addresses “the human in the machine,” technology-related security and intelligence issues as they come home to our humanity. For the past 30 years, his speaking, writing and consulting has focused on security, intelligence, IT, and empowering people who live on the sharper edges of life and work. His books include: "UFOs and Government: A Historical Inquiry" (2013). When a senior at the NSA told him, "the only way you can tell the truth is through fiction," he heeded his advice, and four novels and dozens of stories later, he completed his magnum opus, the Mobius Trilogy: "Mobius: A Memoir," a novel about an intelligence professional that is receiving great reviews, "The Mobius Vector: The Long Road Home," and the third book in the trilogy, "Mobius: Out of Time."
After The Paracast — Available exclusively for Paracast+ subscribers on December 10: Cutting-edge commentator Richard Thieme returns to talk with Gene and cohost Tim Swartz about such topics as the state of UFO research, particularly its ongoing narrative on the phenomenon. There is also talk about Thieme's series of fiction-based books, his Mobius series, and the possibilities of remote viewing. Thieme has published hundreds of articles, three dozen stories, 13 books, and has delivered hundreds of speeches. He spoke in 2022 at Def Con for the 26th year where he was honored him as the first "uber contributor." He has keynoted security conferences in 15 countries and clients range from GE, Microsoft, Medtronic, Bank of America, Allstate Insurance, and Johnson Controls to the NSA, FBI, U.S. Dept of the Treasury, Los Alamos Lab, the Pentagon Security Forum, and the U.S .Secret Service.
After The Paracast Special: Available exclusively to Paracast+ subscribers on December 11: Bob Zanotti, The Paracast’s staff announcer, guest cohost and a long-time student of paranormal phenomena, gives an exclusive report on his personal encounters with spiritualist minister Bill Daut, and its surprising result. He also reveals the results of a séance he had that also produced details that were amazingly accurate. Gene and cohost Tim Swartz will also talk about their encounters with psychics and psychic readings over the years. Zanotti got interested in UFOs back in the 50’s as a pre-teen. In the 1960’s he hosted a New York college radio talk show called “Coffee Klatsch,” which was devoted to the offbeat and the paranormal. After broadcast journalism studies in New York and Montreal, his calling led him to Switzerland, where he was a full-time broadcast journalist and presenter at Swiss Radio International, Switzerland’s international shortwave station. During his 32 years with SRI, Bob also produced a number of features involving the paranormal and the esoteric.
Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: The Paracast Community Forums. Visit our new online shop for great branded merchandise at: https://www.theparacast.shop.
About Simulated Realities
By Gene Steinberg
To some, Star Trek’s “Holodeck” feature might be a dream come true. You activate the ship’s computer and utter a few commands to activate the place or universe you’d like to visit. You enter the chamber and you find yourself in another reality indistinguishable in most ways from the “real world.”
So maybe you’re in the late 19th century wearing the classic “Sherlock Holmes” clothing, and go about solving crimes. Perhaps you want to visit Coney Island in Brooklyn, NY and have a genuine Nathan’s hot dog. Well, it appears there are few if any limits.
On the other hand, if you choose the gunfight at the “O.K. Corral, and your opponent shoots you, you won’t be injured.The Holodeck system has built-in protections to prevent such consequences, until it doesn’t. That’s where “Star Trek: The Next Generation” had some entertaining plot lines.
A more mundane concept in simulated reality was employed in the movie, “Tron,” released in 1982, where someone enters a simulated or digital reality, in the form of a video game.
Nowadays, you can almost live in a simulated reality by wearing specially-equipped goggles. But all they do is immerse you in a video game, where you use some sort of control system to interact. You aren’t put in the position of living in that world as if you were part of it.
The illusion seems to come close, but no cigars, at least not yet. I suppose Apple’s forthcoming Vision Pro glasses will provide even more realism. If you can afford it, of course. The starting price will be $3,499 at the expected 2024 introduction. That’s more than a fully-equipped 2023 version of Apple’s iMac all-in-one personal computer which can actually get work done.
Just saying.
Such possibilities, real or imagined, are all due to advanced technology to simulate reality.
But what about creating a physical reality where the protagonist is fooled into believing it’s all real?
I’m thinking of a really clever sci-film from 1998, “The Truman Show.” It takes the reality show concept to an almost absurd level. A faceless corporation adopts a baby, names him Truman Burbank, as portrayed by Jim Carrey, who shed much of his manic comic personality for the role. He is placed in what’s essentially a massive TV studio that is designed to resemble a small town.
Except for Truman, just about everything he experiences is scripted. His family, his friends, even his wife, are actors playing roles. I assume except for bathrooms, cameras are placed just about everywhere, so just about everything he does is seen by audiences of millions.
But he doesn’t know any of this, and accepts his simulated life as genuine in every way. Even for his job as an insurance representative. When he wants to travel outside of this town, elaborate excuses are devised to keep him from attempting to leave.
The story begins to take its turn as Truman begins to suspect something is wrong. At first he notices that passing cars appear to repeat themselves, as if in a loop. Over the course of the film, he discovers the truth, that his entire life is just a 24/7 TV show. He becomes a hero and, eventually, finds his way out of the confines of that special studio and gains his freedom.
I’ll avoid the contradictions and plot holes, such as a story about a 30-something man living his entire life on a TV show. Take Christof (well played by Ed Harris), who is executive producer of the show. Can you believe that he has been running it by himself and his minions for over three decades, or has there been a procession of producers taking over the leadership role?
Or did Christof somehow put together this elaborate scheme at a very young age? Harris, by the way, was 48 when this film was released.
Not dealt with, also, is the incredible cost of such a venture and how advancing technologies mean that sets and equipment would have to be upgraded from time to time.
Fiction, yes, but TV reality shows such as “Survivor” demonstrate that such a thing is possible with today’s technology, and the methods of generating a simulated reality for someone like Truman are, as I’ve said, advancing faster than we might expect.
That brings us to the larger issue, which is whether the reality in which we live and breathe is also somehow simulated. Perhaps we are just processions of ones and zeros embedded in a galactic-sized Holodeck, living our lives without awareness of what’s truly in control of our fates.
Perhaps we do have an inkling, in the form of beliefs in a supernatural almighty being that created and continues to control the universe. Certainly if such a thing were occurring, that would be a Supreme Being or God by almost any definition.
We already see variations of the concept in paranormal research. The late Fortean writer John Keel told of “ultraterrestrials” as being responsible for UFOs and other phenomena. In brief, a race of advanced beings, ultraterrestrials, may exist in another universe or a different dimension, a reality that may crisscross with ours.
It doesn’t necessarily mean that ultraterrestrials created and manage our reality. It may, however, serve to explain UFOs and other strange phenomena that defy conventional explanation.
That concept may seem alien to our understanding of how things work, but it may help avoid having to accept the possibility that we live in an environment that, while it seems real, is synthetic.
Returning to the Holodeck, I’m reminded of a character featured in “Star Trek: Voyager.” It’s the “Holographic Doctor,” described on the show as an “Emergency Medical Hologram (EMH),” a projection that a starship can generate to replace or supplement the medical staff. In “Voyager,” the ship has no chief medical officer, so an EMH was created to assume that role.
Played brilliantly by character actor Robert Picardo (selected from over 900 actors who auditioned), the EMH over the years attained more and more human-like abilities. At one point, he (or it) was, through technology, able to exist outside of a starship to attend to medical emergencies, say, on a planet’s surface.
As AI concepts go, the EMH remains one of the most interesting, very much due to Picardo’s masterful portrayal.
Imagine, then, a civilization that is thousands of years ahead of us. Just what bag of tricks would they possess? And if they are truly in control, what are their motives? Are they responsible for the tribal wars, famine and natural disasters that afflict planet Earth? Is all that misery a test of our abilities to survive? Or are they just programming bugs that have been allowed to proliferate?
Or maybe they are having loads of perverse fun at our expense.
I suppose we just might be someone’s or something’s programming defect too. If so, let’s just hope that the programmers responsible for such defects won’t someday decide that the fix requires the code to be completely deleted.
Copyright 1999-2023 The Paracast Company. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy: Your personal information is safe with us. We will positively never give out your name and/or e-mail address to anybody else, and that's a promise!