Are We Alone In The Galaxy? Updated Drake Equation Suggests We Might Be

[Karl12]

I had heard (but I'm not certain it's true) that Dr. Sagan was "convinced" to withdraw his support from the idea of alien/ufo topics by the "authorities."  They didn't want him fanning the flames of public interest in this area... That if he wished to be relevant as a scientist, he had to stop speculating on such things in public...

I wonder if that explains his relative silence, and even resistance on the matter later in his career.

Yes mate well said and many folks (including me) think that Sagan was a prime candidate for CIA recruitment.


There's some relevant info below regarding the CIA Robertson Panel whitewash and if I were an astronomer I'd be feeling pretty 'duped'.

• "They were coming up with the conclusion that 'we should debunk the UFO phenomenon' (in essence they should lie about it) and 'here's how we are going to do it'.

One of the key ways this panel commissioned by the CIA pointed as a way of doing this (they called it 'disseminating their gospel') were amateur astronomers.

When you put that in context you say it makes sense that Dr Menzel might be involved in the effort to cover things up because as the nation's leading astronomer who better to convince amateur astronomers that the whole UFO thing is bunk?

3:25

Stanton also describes below a 2013 pseudo-sceptic 'debunking' article published in 'Astronomy Magazine' so it looks like the CIA 'gospel' is still being 'disseminated'.

• "There's an article in the current issue of astronomy magazine 'The Science Behind UFOs' which mentions none of the large scale scientific studies, mentions none of the dozen PhD theses that have been done about UFOs, mentions nothing about the physical trace cases, the radar visual sightings, the abduction cases - this is the 'science behind UFOs?"

1:20

Probably no coincidence that the author of that article (Phillip Plait) was awarded the 'Philip J. Klass Award' in the same year (nor that CIA/NSA operative Donald Howard Menzel was 'mentor' to Klass).

Klass also used to boast about citing both Bobby Ray Inman and Daniel O. Graham as references (not bad for an 'electrical engineer').

Admiral Bobby R. Inman (USN Ret.)—the former Director of the National Security Agency, who also held Deputy Director positions at both the Central Intelligence Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency—and Lt. General Daniel O. Graham (USA Ret.), the former Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and former Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

Link / 22:30

Luckily not all astronomers have fallen for this BS and thought some of the statements made here were pretty relevant - especially the ones by Dr. Bernard Haisch (Director for the California Institute for Physics and Astrophysics).

Personally not that fond of the ETH as an explanation for unidentified flying objects but it certainly is a bit fishy the way astronomers have been lied to by intelligence agencies about this subject.