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What Is The Point?


How Should Ufology Be Treated ?

  • As a business — Sell rights and access to the info and strictly enforce copyright.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • As an academic field of study — All info should be freely redistributable for educational purposes.

    Votes: 10 71.4%
  • As a non-profit or charity — Decisions made politically by a board that controls access and price.

    Votes: 1 7.1%
  • Who cares — I don't have time for this nonsense.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • As a hobby — not suited for academic study.

    Votes: 1 7.1%
  • As a science — The social and cultural aspects are irrellevant to the field.

    Votes: 2 14.3%

  • Total voters
    14
  • This poll will close: .

Randall

J. Randall Murphy
What do you think?
  • Why do you have an interest in or want to pursue UFOs or the paranormal?
  • How do you think access to information should be handled?
  • At what cost?
  • Should it be considered a money making venture over and above a search for truth?
  • Should it be open to anyone with a genuine interest, or only those who pay dues?
  • What would your ideal version of a ufology organization strive for?
  • How could it survive economically without compromising ideals?
  • If there's any point to it all, what do you think it is?
 
Why do you have an interest in or want to pursue UFOs or the paranormal?

Because if you want to learn what is "paranormal" you have to know what is "Normal" too.


How do you think access to information should be handled?

Depends on the information, if it has "military/defence" significance then it should remain secret.


At what cost?

See next answer below:


Should it be considered a money making venture over and above a search for truth?

I have no issue with people making money, but only via advertising, the content should not be profit driven.


Should it be open to anyone with a genuine interest, or only those who pay dues?

This is a hard one, unfortunately money makes the word go round, and if you want the best people you have to pay for them.


What would your ideal version of a ufology organization strive for?

That UFO's etc get taken more seriously, especially in terms of people that have had negative experiences, I don't think there is much support out there currently.

How could it survive economically without compromising ideals?

Advertising.


If there's any point to it all, what do you think it is?

To be open minded, to look more closely and redefine what is "real".
 
Here is what I think:

Why do you have an interest in or want to pursue UFOs or the paranormal?
In 50+ years of research we are no closer to understanding this phenomena. There is no physical evidence. There is something going on and it is consistent with what humans have been reporting for all of history. People are eager to know that we are not alone in the universe and hopeful that an alien intelligence will help us solve our problems. I feel that people should focus on the message of the Bible if they want real hope and purpose. Anyone can look at the complexity of this universe and see how much fine tuning and care for life on Earth, and see that there is a greater intelligence that cares for us and has a plan for us.

How do you think access to information should be handled?
What information? If there really is something worth looking into, then it should be handled by professionals who can properly 'analyze' it and process it and publish it for all?

At what cost?
Not sure a dollar tag can be put on it. If there is credible data, then people will gladly process it out of pure interest.

Should it be considered a money making venture over and above a search for truth? - No

Should it be open to anyone with a genuine interest, or only those who pay dues?
Open to all. The Creator has provided a single home that requires the full 13.8 billion years to put us in a unique time and place to see all of cosmic history. We should have access to everything freely - since it has been given to us freely.

What would your ideal version of a ufology organization strive for?
To use the scientific method to obtain statistically significant data to validate the inter-dimensional realm as evident throughout all of history. This will prove to unbelievers that the Biblical world view is true.

How could it survive economically without compromising ideals?
Don't know. This will be hard, but the truth is becoming obvious.

If there's any point to it all, what do you think it is?
People - think for yourselves. Actually read the Bible. It is loaded with many things that have come true. It is the only holy book that describes the major tenets of Big Bang Cosmology - thousands of years before man has. Look at what the science tells us - look at the fine tuning of the universe and the mere probability of 100's of physical constants that if any one of them is slightly off, that life in the universe can not exist. There is no conflict between modern science and the Bible. Everybody has a deep inner feeling that there is something more - explore the above options that there is a loving Creator and that He has a plan for you.

I am reminded of Romans 1:20 (ESV) "For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse."

If you are tired of the same old rhetoric that the field of ufology has to offer (which hasn't made any progress in 50 years) and want real explanations filled with hope, please feel free to contact me and I would love to help you explore this.
 
Your poll should have included the option "As a hobby," which is what it really is for the vast majority of people interested in the topic.
I could add that, but it would have to be worded carefully. The poll isn't a personal question. In other words it doesn't ask how do you treat ufology. A hobby implies that academic ( not to be confused with scientific ) standards aren't applicable. So how should we phrase the question:

As a hobby - It's not suitable material for academic study.
As a hobby - ( insert your suggestion here )
 
That's the problem with these things. There is no one-size-fits-all-answer.

I voted for "hobby," but that doesn't mean I don't think the subject is fit for at least some academic study, primarily by anthropologists and others interested in how subcultures within our society develop and operate.
 
That's the problem with these things. There is no one-size-fits-all-answer. I voted for "hobby," but that doesn't mean I don't think the subject is fit for at least some academic study, primarily by anthropologists and others interested in how subcultures within our society develop and operate.

I voted for ufology to be treated as an academic field of study, which certainly doesn't prevent anyone from enjoying it as a hobby. However I also suggest that there is a qualitative difference between ufologists and armchair buffs. For example, I would hope that you would agree that those who consider themselves to be ufologists, should at the very least treat ufology as more than just a pastime and take it seriously enough to apply some academic standards, like those we might expect from a college level essay ( or better ). This would separate ufology ( as a field ) from those whose main focus is selling UFO related paraphernalia, talking trivia, or doing off-the-cuff editorializing.
 
I have met or heard just about every ufologist there is out there. I can count on one hand the number who have applied anything close to objective academic standards of research... and I'm probably being generous.
 
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I have met or heard just about every ufologist there is out there. I can count on one hand the number who have applied anything close to objective academic standards of research... and I'm probably being generous.
I hear what you're saying, which is why I support raising the bar. To be more clear, there's a difference between treating the subject in an academic manner, and treating it as a science. Ufology as a field is too broad in scope to apply the scientific method to every aspect. But that doesn't mean academic standards cannot be applied in a journalistic fashion. A UFO encyclopedia for example simply gathers factual information about the history and the people involved and presents it as a reference resource. It doesn't necessarily make judgement calls on contentious stories or get into heavy editorializing.

So in this model, those who produce content for the mass market, such as books or videos or whatever the case may be, may or may not be ufologists, or even doing ufology, and they may not even be producing content that could be considered academic in spirit, yet from a ufologist's point of view, these people still have a place in the history and culture of the field, and their contributions can be documented in that manner. This is how I approach the field, and although I do my fair share of editorializing, I do most of that in the forum, and keep it to a minimum on the USI website.
 
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For my part my interest in UFOs started because when I first joined this forum someone hete mentioned that there was a correlation between UFOs and synchronicity. As some members know I've always "been about" synchronicity and I joined this forum mostly because I came across Chris"s work and noted his presence here.

I couldn't take apart any individual UFO case if I tried as far as the details, but I've been much more interested in the percipients account from the dire warnings aboit earth stewardship to given a tour of the vessel to the "being neighborly" aspects to the abduction and assaulting that has allegedly taken place.

My interests has diverged a bit to where I'm just as interested in memes , collective social behavior such as whatRobert E Bartholomew has written about.

I'm not sure what category this would fit in but I see Ufology as a vector of sorts a spreader(?) of diffetent tboughts, ideas and concepts. Even if one wants to pass of the idea concept of synchronicity as just a coincidence but more so, anything that strikes a deep meaningful experience in a person especially in that it could induce a life change should be considered a legitimate field of study even if it's only in the head.
 
Many years ago, two things occurred that propelled me to this very spot. One evening in 2008, a neighbor visited my home with a former newspaper editor. It was summer and the three of us were seated around a table in my backyard when the neighbor asked the editor to tell me about two individuals he personally knew that had been abducted by aliens. I asked the former editor to wait a few minutes, as I had something to attend to inside. That something was to throw on Pink Floyd’s, Dark Side of The Moon, so I could capture the full effect of the former editor’s surreal narrative.

The second event, which propelled me here, is when a college-educated friend strongly suggested there were such things as UFOs. So, in not believing such nonsense, I had to allow myself to cross the threshold into the land of the believer for a while.

Wading through piles of rubbish, Jacques Vallee was then discovered, and to an extent reignited my interest.

I rarely comment on a particular show because the true believers will immediately sharpen their pitchforks, light their torches, and scramble in my general direction.
 
@Wade and @S.R.L. thank you very much for your posts! Both of you cite some sort of personal experience that ignited or motivated you to look further into the paranormal for answers. There are times when being so much inside the ketchup bottle when I forget how powerful personal experience can be. It's not simply academic. It affects us on a personal level. I find the idea of synchronicity intriguing because one of my pet theories about alien visitation is that they are studying us, and that implies a controlled setup, which could conceivably explain a lot of what we think of as synchronicity ( with respect to them ).

On Pink Floyd, it seems that for those of us who were in our teens when Dark Side of the Moon was released, it was one of those everything that came before and after type experiences of that era. I still recall getting my own vinyl copy with the stickers and posters and using the lyrics from the song Time in an English class essay. In connection with the paranormal, it was Led Zeppelin II, which was playing on an 8 track loop the night my girlfriend, her friend, and I saw the UFO out near Lake Windermere.
 
What do you think?
  • Why do you have an interest in or want to pursue UFOs or the paranormal?
  • How do you think access to information should be handled?
  • At what cost?
  • Should it be considered a money making venture over and above a search for truth?
  • Should it be open to anyone with a genuine interest, or only those who pay dues?
  • What would your ideal version of a ufology organization strive for?
  • How could it survive economically without compromising ideals?
  • If there's any point to it all, what do you think it is?
- as I lived a spiritual aware life I began to notice my patients were being attacked by nuclear/atomic information.....the feedback psychic advice told me. I learnt that UFO is artificial and an introduced life attack due to occult practices....science conversion
- to inform the public and allow public awareness to be notified of conditions that occult/science/government organizations have kept secreted for their own greedy purposes
- at the cost of human choice and lifestyle change as a worldwide solution to all of its personal living problems.....greed itself
- no.....because the reason it was caused is due to personal greed and want of life control
- if the organizations and forums are honest about their research, it should be research done to stop the personal attacks on life, Nature and the body of Earth and its atmospheric condition. Therefore all of humanity should be able to apply information as a status of freedom, a condition denied us by our occult brother for far too long
- the organization would strive for human justice and human rights against the attacks notified as the UFO condition
- if human kind are actually in want of a real answer, the monetary condition would no longer have to be considered
- the point is, human kind's self awareness of its inhumane ownership as a historical evidence that supports the advice about the UFO.....why awareness has always related to occult conditions of caused phenomena and the human ownership of inequality ideals as the organizations who support human abuses. No human wants to be born into a condition of inheriting personal abuse, when life is created equally.
 
Great question - although I voted for the science one I was a bit taken aback at the statement that social and cultural aspects are irrelevant.

That's pretty much how I feel about it, but that's not science. It could have been lumped in with the academic response.

To me, the social and cultural aspects are the "entertainment" part of the field. But that's just me, not science.
 
What do you think?

  • Why do you have an interest in or want to pursue UFOs or the paranormal?
    • Personal experience and curiosity since I was a kid.
  • How do you think access to information should be handled?
    • Freely, openly.
  • At what cost?
    • I don't understand the question. If the scientific establishment can open their databases for free, so can ufology.
  • Should it be considered a money making venture over and above a search for truth?
    • Science creates income streams as a secondary effect. Imagine what a patent on antigravity propulsion would be worth.
  • Should it be open to anyone with a genuine interest, or only those who pay dues?
    • anyone
  • What would your ideal version of a ufology organization strive for?
    • Abandonment of the pseudo-science community that exists because the actual scientific community is functioning in this space.
  • How could it survive economically without compromising ideals?
    • The same way universities do.
  • If there's any point to it all, what do you think it is?
    • The survival of the human species.
 
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