Is Leslie Kean's New Book on UFO's a 'Game-Changer?'

[LongTomH]

I had better begin by stating that I still remain essentially skeptical on the subject of UFO's.

Author Leslie Kean has attracted considerable media attention with her new book: UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go On the Record. She has appeared on the Colbert Report and the Dylan Ratigan Show.

Interestingly, some of the reviewers who commented favorably on her book were people with good scientific credentials, like Rudy Schild, Ph.D., Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and Stuart Appelle, Ph.D., Dean of the School of Science and Mathematics, State University of New York, Brockport. You can add science popularizer Dr. Michio Kaku to the list. Dr. Kaku's comments on the book at Amazon.com were:

"At last, a serious and thoughtful book about this controversial subject. Skeptics and true believers will find a treasure trove of insightful and eye opening information. This book is bound to set the gold standard for UFO research."

Dr. Kaku was also interviewed on the Dylan Ratigan Show.

Obviously, Ms. Kean has her detractors. One of these is NBC's space analyst: James Oberg:

Kean asserts that pilots are the best describers of aerial phenomena. “They represent the world’s best-trained observers of everything that flies,” she writes. “What better source for data on UFOs is there?... are among the least likely of any group of witnesses to fabricate or exaggerate reports of strange sightings.”

This may sound like a plausible assumption, but others who have studied the raw evidence disagree. Experienced UFO investigators realize that pilots, who instinctively and quite properly interpret visual phenomena in the most hazardous terms, are not dispassionate observers. For pilots, a split-second diagnosis can be a matter of life or death — and so they're inclined to overestimate the potential threats posed by what they see.

Ms. Kean counter that: "Pilots are among the best-trained observers of things in the sky. They are trained to recognize everything in the sky, because the safety of their passengers may depend on that."

She labels herself as an 'agnostic' on whether UFOs are truly extra-terrestrial. She states: "We want skepticism, not debunkers." She defines debunkers as "people who are on a mission to prove that UFOs do not exist."

For myself, I remain skeptical until more information is available; I will probably read the book and make up my own mind.

[amerikat]

1. I don't think pilots are trained observers.

They may have more experience observing things from the air and they might have
some training in the appearance of weather phenomena but aside from that I don't
think they are trained in spotting UFOs.

I haven't read the book but I have followed the Disclosure Project and yes
I am a believer. There is a lot of misinformation and disinformation out there.
But I think UFO's deserve some looking into.

http://www.disclosureproject.org/index.shtml

[miyazaki]

6. Where and how does one train to spot UFO's?

WTF?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. You've posted this in the wrong forum.

Try the astrology forum, or the 9-11 forum.

[LongTomH]

3. OK, here we go again!

You're going to give the Argument Ad Hominem a bad name. As I pointed out, there are people with good scientific credentials who've commented favorably on Ms. Kean's book, and I did point out that I remain a skeptic.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. Since you're so interested in logical fallacies...

that one's called "argument from authority."

[LongTomH]

5. One point granted!

[qazplm]

7. I think there is a degree of difference

between the arguments for UFOs and astrology.

Now, I don't believe UFOs are alien visitations personally, but natural phenomena of some sort or something misperceived by the viewer of an alleged UFO.

But unlike astrology, where it is clearly impossible that one's personality and fate are influenced by where a body of rock against the backdrop of a certain set of stars, it is not clearly impossible that aliens could reach the Earth. We could reach Alpha Centauri in the life span of a human in the near future (say next several hundred years).

So all in all, probably unfair to lump those two groups together in total, even if elements of the latter do reach the kooky level.

[dimbear]

8. Back in the day when astrology was a respected religious concept,

the theory was that the soul joined the body at birth, after having descended down through the heavens, passing by the planets in their varying positions, and being affected by them.

That was the posited mechanism. Made more sense in their view of celestial mechanics.