The Society For UAP Studies Reframes the UAP Debate

“We are trying to bring disciplines together to bear on the issue, and trying to create a shared descriptive vocabulary. The weird is something experienced, and this should be honored.”

--- Michael Cifone, phD

Co-founder and Director, Society for UAP Studies

A few weeks before the second annual Society for UAP Studies (SUAPS) Conference, Co-founder and Director Dr. Michael Cifone called to ask if I was interested in traveling to Erlangen, Germany (a few miles north of Nuremberg) to cover the symposium for SUAPS. Barely recovered from the massive SOL UAP conference in Northern Italy that convened during the last weekend in October, I would return to the Old World to interpret and report on the Society’s efforts to define the issues, narratives, ontology, and even nomenclature of the phenomenon. This year’s enticing theme was “Interdisciplinarity in Contemporary UAP Studies.”

Dr. Cifone defined his term “empirical weird” as a way of examining UAP (and other anomalous phenomena) in a way that honors the vast literature indicating that witness observations point to a reality that is currently difficult for the sciences to catalogue, measure and repeat. So far, much of this evidence seems to remain in the realm of theory and speculation. Language, terms, and definitions will need to be agreed upon in order for the study of the anomalous to progress beyond this historical logjam. For this symposium, scholars from a vast array of disciplines and (western) countries convened live and online to discuss and debate these issues.

On December 2nd, Air France flight 25 left Los Angeles (stopping briefly in Paris of course) to finally deposit me the next day in Nuremberg, a few miles south of Erlangen. I always find the weird shock of the sudden weather and cultural change of travel pleasantly disorienting. A short bus ride from the airport ended at the Kitzmann Bräuschänke restaurant, where Cifone and conference co-host Dr. Adam Dodd waited. Bratwurst, sauerkraut, a hearty mustard, dark rye bread, and an ice cream scoop-sized helping of horseradish washed down with a “dunkel” (dark) beer chased the jet lag of a nine-hour time change. A spartan, but very comfortable room was my home for the next few days.

---

Thursday, December 4 - 4PM Central European Time

By generous arrangement, the Center for Advanced Studies in the Humanities hosted the events. Participants joined remotely from around the world, including the majority of the presenters. Basic questions concerning the UAP subject were addressed as a preliminary way to set a direction for SUAPS research and themes. Associates and board members delivered talks designed to provoke deep discussion. Transcendent German pastries and coffee were provided throughout the day.

An opening roundtable titled “Consciousness Studies, Esotericism, and UAP” was led by Dodd and Cifone, who said “This involves phenomena that seem to cross the matter/ meaning divide,” indicating that the usual bracketing of the physical sciences of inanimate matter examined by the previously assumed “neutral” scientific mind and instruments is called into question by the existence of UAPs. Historian of esotericism Dr. Aaron French addressed a basic question, asking “What is empirical experience?” and continued with another: “Does the UFO resist empirical categories?” French also pointed out that UFO cults (and the sensationalistic elements of classical Ufology) have stigmatized the subject and that even accomplished authors such as John Keel were a part of this process. He also asked if putting the words “empirical” and “weird” together was actually weird in itself. Cifone added that “conventional science is being applied to the problem, but it exceeds the purview of classical science.”

SUAPS research programs director Peter Sforza asked a basic question of definitions, saying, “What counts as real, and what counts as data?” Cifone furthered the inquiry, asking “To what extent does experience count as data?” Dodd pointed out that “weirdness as a system of classification is what is excluded…we are the ones creating the anomalies by our definitions.” He described the advent of microscopy and early researchers’ attempts to describe amoebas and protozoans to those who had never seen them before. He compared this to the U.S. military’s claim that new sensor systems allowed phenomena to be detected and seen before (or in spite of) visual sightings of UAP. Russian academic Dr. Anna Tessemann provided perspective, saying that “Parasychology was not ‘para’ in the former Soviet Union,” where researchers did not make distinctions between what they thought possible and what was observed and tested. She added that the State decreed that “legends” (what the west might call “disinformation”) were created using witness testimony to cover up aspects of the Soviet space program.

Advanced Studies Center faculty member Dr. Marta Hansen, a historian of Chinese medicine and eastern healing modalities suggested that “Anomalous phenomena are a good grist for the mind’s mill.” Board member Dr. Benda Denzler, who has studied the UFO community for decades, concluded with a warning: “Are we on the cutting edge of discovery, or the edge of the lunatic fringe?”

The reframing continued in closed-session workshops for the SUAPS membership, with separate Social Science and Humanities tracks. Member Brian Sentes presented a short talk which argued that researchers are part of the phenomenon that they are studying, and that the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) project is a “search for ourselves,” as we are using human intelligence to define a nonhuman intelligence (NHI). In the discussion, Dr. Sfroza added that “agreed upon ontologies are forced into structures and institutions.” SUAPS Advisory Council member Edoardo Russo said that much of the stigma has been removed from the subject, but that researchers are still looking at themselves as ostracized and “may be causing the situation we are complaining about.”

In the Social Sciences track, part of the discussion centered around how a government UFO disclosure would be handled. Communications Director David Metcalfe reminded the group that “you have to know what the motivation behind it would be” and recalled a finding from religious studies scholar Dr. Diana Pasulka that there are documented histories which show media was used to create a public “memory” that was not necessarily the truth. Member Louise Pederson said that the phenomenon affects witnesses on an individual level and that “we need to have people [researchers] who are more objective.”

Dinner break featured a variety of burritos probably made by German hands. From the perspective of a resident of Los Angeles, they were admirably equal to fast food versions, but for Germany, they were minor miracles. There was even guacamole, which was likely frozen and shipped. I “borrowed” some hot sauce that I brought as a gift to Cifone (with permission of course) and this covered up for any perceived food sins. The local beer worked well with these fairly massive treats.

The first keynote presentation was delivered by Dr. Steve Fuller: Thinking About the Unthinkable, UAP-Style, which opened with the idea that “what it means to be human is very much up for grabs.” Fuller described a period during the Eisenhower administration where the concept that ideas and possibilities, properly presented, were “game changers as far as real-world effects.” He also mentioned the concept of “precipatory governance,” which considered “the worst consequences” of world-changing revelations and how a society or country would be able to recover. If the issue of nonhuman intelligence (as applied to alien life) was brought to the forefront of public discussion, the issues of animal and even artificial intelligence rights would likely be dragged into the debate, he contended. Fuller speculated that any ETs may not feel that each individual has human rights, as we currently define it, and wondered whether the primary sense of rights would be applied to societies in general.

The first plenary presentation was delivered by board members Drs. Michael Glawson and Courtney Bower. From Something Less Than Science, To Something More: A New Framework for Credible, Legible, and Tractable Research into UAP-Type Phenomena dealt with the framing and categorization of UAP research. “Evidence,” Glawson said, “must fit into currently existing frameworks,” and we don’t advance in science by increasing the vagueness with which we are studying” a subject. He suggested a radical idea: “We need a methodology such as natural science combined with the methods of the intelligence community,” such as a way to “strategically observe” UAP phenomena and effects. Bower presented the idea of Von Neumann probes as one working hypothesis, in which autonomous ET devices may be the source of sighting reports. He added that the Earth and Moon contain most of the elements that would be needed for these probes to self-replicate if the probes contained the “DNA” to reproduce themselves. Glawson continued with the observation that “data and hypotheses are co-consitutent,” in other words, the mere collection of data is not useful if there is no theory to guide it, and conversely, the data should guide evolution of theories.

For the second plenary, Emeritus Professor Dr. Michael Zimmerman asked, If 'Alien Abductions' Have Ended, What Then Were They All About? Zimmerman began with a finding from the late abduction researcher Dr. John Mack that abductees’ confusion, terror, and resentment about their experiences seemed to decrease over time. Zimmerman also recalled that reported abductions appeared to have decreased dramatically in 1991, just as the USSR collapsed, and perhaps the perceived threat of nuclear annihilation had an effect, since many abductee narratives recalled alien warnings about a looming nuclear exchange. From the Non-Human Intellegence’s point of view, this perhaps caused them to be less engaged with us as they were in the preceding decades. Zimmermann recalled a workshop that asked participants to imagine that they had only a few minutes to live before a nuclear exchange and what why would say to complete strangers. This deeply affected Zimmerman and the participants in very similar ways to those who have reported abductions, he said. He recalled his reaction to seeing the cover of Whitley Strieber’s book Communion in 1988, and, echoing the reaction of countless others, said it was “almost as if I’d seen it before” and noted the similar emotions and thoughts it engendered to the nuclear war exercise. Once we “own our own mortality,” he said, noting the similarities of death fears to the effects of UFO close encounters, the contemplation of either becomes less intimidating. He ended with the observation that some would prefer “to be dubbed ‘crazy’ rather than acknowledge the reality of abductions.”

Exhausted and full of thoughts, research, advice, and camaraderie, we all retired near midnight.

---

Friday, December 5th - 4PM Central European Time

More pastry (including some amazing Christmas fruitcake bread called “Stollen” greeted us again this morning.

Cifone started the morning session with another question: “What remains when the brackets come off?” The researchers’ luxury of luxury of distancing themselves from their subject is not sustainable if the study of UAP as a discipline is to advance. He concluded that “The theme is the experience itself” and that anyone involved in this field can no longer afford to bracket their involvement. Dr. French pointed out the possible utility of esoteric or occult techniques in teasing out the “otherness” behind UAP phenomena.

The workshop began with a discussion of the abduction/ experiencer enigma featuring a hybrid of online and live participants. Douwe Bosga, a Dutch researcher who worked with Allen Hynek and his Center For UFO Studies in the 1970s, described his methodology using peer-reviewed data and literature. His son, data specialist Jorren Bosga, said this was in order to gain interest from the academic community, which was difficult, verging on the impossible at the time, even though findings indicated that reported abductees’ “personalities are not much different than normal people.” He also decried the “lack of standardization and no way to define it and study it in a standardized way.” The father and son team concluded that new methods and standards are needed in abduction research, and provided a small working list of their concerns: 

What phenomena fall in the "weird" UAP classification? 

What do we want to know?

Which questions are most important?

Which disciplines do we need for which questions?

Which existing methods can we use?

French offered the example of the existence of standardized procedures for authenticating reported miracles within Catholic and Islamic cultures. Cifone observed that the continuing stigma around the subject “creates its own bad feedback loop with regards to abduction research.” Sforza suggested that “we sit in the spaces of uncertainty before going ahead.” Dodd warned that “Dismissals of abductions are based on the rule of the anthropocentric order, and it’s always operating in the background.” He added some other basic issues, commenting that “The claim is received as an attack on the social order itself, with knee-jerk mythologizing.” Cifone added an ontological concern underlying the issue, saying “As soon as it is contemplated that this may be “real,’ this would mean that there is a presence of NHI on Earth.”

SUAPS Director of European Academic & Strategic Outreach, Francisco Mourão Corrêa noted the subject-object dilemma and reminded the group that “Researchers have their own subjectivity.” Legal expert Klaus Diehle framed he question from jurisprudence, observing that “The legal definition of abduction is taking someone without their consent. If there is consent, there is no abduction.” As far as evidence, Jorren Bosga suggested installing cameras and sensors in the homes of claimed abductees, but that this had been done in the past, and the equipment seemed to fail during any anomalous activity, which he also agreed was a historical problem with paranormal research in general. 

SUAPS COO Rafael Di Carlantonio brought up the issue of nomenclature and defining the problem, observing that “weirdness happens when our categories can’t include certain types of data. Subjectivity may be the starting point.” He concluded that “We cut up the field in a way that reflects institutional history more than the phenomena itself.” 

I broke my tenuous “journalistic detachment” for a moment and bought up the fact that anthropologists have started to include the subjects under study as equally credited authors in published studies, and suggested that the abductee should be included as a research partner in some way. Cifone wondered is this might be an undesired dilution of researcher objectivity and “affect the results in a way that is detrimental.” Dr. Tessemann countered with a result from her research, suggesting that “Divination study subjects from many countries and cultures interviewed each other, which provided perspective. If I don’t accept your position, I don’t listen as closely and may miss important things.”

Cifone concluded the session, summarizing: “We are trying to bring disciplines together to bear on the issue, and trying to create a shared descriptive vocabulary. The weird is something experienced, and this should be honored.”

More pastry and goodies and all-important break time conversations followed before the SUAPS workshops began. In the Humanities track, Finnish doctoral candidate Krystel Ruutma presented her preliminary research on her dissertation on Stigmatization of UFO reports by Military Pilots. Ruutma is in the process of collecting first person accounts from Finnish and U.S. Air Force personnel, and surprisingly, is finding it more difficult to gain interviews with her fellow citizens than in America. She also discussed how “folklore infuses the ideas of UFOs” and even the social function of folklore. “Belief narratives also affect reporting,” she said, which is greatly informed by documentaries and other media, furthering folkloric framing. Ruutma included the factor of “tacit knowledge,” which underlies narratives and even the willingness to share them, even if the unspoken knowledge has been shaped by unknown assumptions and agendas. I suggested that she contact Dr. Iya Whiteley and learn about her groundbreaking work with pilots to improve the accuracy of incident reports by addressing stigma and bypassing strong emotions that hinder accurate recall.

Board member Dr. Kimberly Engels gave a talk on her continuing research on the issue of phenomenology in UAP studies, citing early 20^th century philosopher Edmond Husserl and his axiom that human experience is valuable as scientific data, and the importance of subjectivity as information obtained through sensors and other instruments. She recalled that even Husserl wrote that memory “is partial and reconstructed.” 

In the Social Sciences workshop, Michaël Vaillant described his methodology developing a computerized data classification system for GEIPAN (Groupe d'Études et d'Informations sur les Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non-identifiés) - the French Government’s UFO working group. Vaillant presented to a panel of experts in 2008 with the dual objectives of: “Improv[ing] the assessment of a case by matching it with precise indicators, and reduction of the subjectivity at play when evaluating the case, i.e. the influence of our personal points of view.” Vaillant said that these criteria were applicable to sighting reports only and not for claims of contact with apparent nonhuman intelligences.

The main cultural export of Italy is the universal language of pizza, which was delivered and greedily consumed before the evening sessions.

Alien Abductions: The Big Picture was delivered as the first keynote speech by Professor Rom Westrum, a bona-fide veteran of classic Ufology. In 1966, Westrum was a student at Northwestern University in Chicago taking a class in astronomy with Dr. Carl Sagan, who suggested he read a book entitled Challenge to Science by Drs. J. Allen Hynek and Jacques Vallée, who were associated with the University at the time. The book changed the course of Westrum’s life and set him on a path of UFO research. Westrum made a case for abduction events as real, physical occurrences just as described by the witnesses. Referencing the famous 1973 Pascagoula, Mississippi incident involving two participants, Westrum said that the case “Improved with time,” meaning that more witnesses came forward in the years after the event, including a couple who said they witnessed the abduction from a distance, and later had their own close encounter. He addressed the strange issue of “pluralistic ignorance,” which occurs “when people have the same experience, but don’t talk about it,” and suspected many more abductions and interactions with the phenomenon remain unreported because of amnesia associated with a traumatic experience. He also recalled his research involving recordings of hypnotic regressions from famed abduction researchers Budd Hopkins and David Jacobs, saying that he detected no leading questions or bias in their methodologies.

The first of two plenary talks for the evening session was delivered by Advisory Council member Michaël Vaillant, who presented Governing Uncertainty: Building a Common Framework for Interdisciplinary UAP Investigations. “Reality should not depend on a single positive determination,” Vaillant began, emphasizing that we should not latch on to the first piece of data that confirms a previously held view or belief. The problem of objectivity vs. subjectivity was a major theme of the symposium, and Vaillant continued, noting that“Investigation corresponds to taking a phenomenon out of observer subjectivity and rendering it objective.” Defining another issue, he said that one of his problems with quantifying the qualitative is “to pass from the state of internal data to that of a corresponding external reality.” As more minds and efforts are bought to bear on the database of extraordinary experiences, definitions and room for evolution of ways to conceptualize and describe them for nonparticipants will become an important focus. Vaillant concluded with the telling statement, “Your strangeness is not my strangeness.”

Dr. Matteo Polato’s talk was near to my heart, since it was an academic explication of the UFO subculture titled Neither Objects nor Flying': The Legacy of a Resonant Ontology of UFOs from John Keel and Jacques Vallée to Hellier. The issues discussed represent the culture and ideas that have dominated a segment of the UFO field for the last 30 years or more. “Most of the history of ufology can be seen as a history of materiality,” he began, tracing the work (beginning in the 1960s) of John Keel and Dr. Vallée and their varying methods of addressing UAP and associated encounters viewed as materially real objects, albeit with paranormal or even symbolic import. Polato recounted the influence of the culture that formed around these mostly non-E.T. philosophies and how they reached their apotheosis in the Hellier film, written, produced and directed by Greg and Dana Newkirk, which used mythologies outlined by Keel and Vallée as a stepping-off place to spin a reality TV version of Ufology, using elements of folklore and ritual magic to build a fantastical story which became reality for many viewers.

Questions pushed us past midnight and a quick adjournment to get some sleep. The rain-washed Saturday night streets of Erlangen were completely deserted, which made for a surreal walk back to the hotel. 

---

Saturday, December 6th 3PM Central European Time

As I availed myself of the espresso machine in Mike Cifone’s office, he told me that on leaving the house, he found some Nuremberg Lebkuchen in his shoes, which are spiced Christmas cookies with icing – a tradition of which he was ignorant until that morning. Later, I bought many more to give away along with Christmas presents back home. I knew that December 5th and 6th are also the traditional days of Krampus parades and processions in southern Bavaria and other Tyrolean communities. The character is traditionally a horned monster who accompanies St. Nicholas to punish bad children with a birch switch or even throwing them in a basket to be taken away and eaten. Folklore and UAP studies are natural partners, and folklorists were some of the first academics to tackle the subject. No Krampus events were planned for Nuremberg, so this would be left for another, better-timed trip.

After more stimulating pastries and conversations, a short welcome and introduction brought on friend and colleague Dr. Massimo Teodorani, exploring the probable physics of UAPs, with a presentation titled Plasma, Consciousness, and Advanced Propulsion: A Unified UAP Framework. Dr. Teodorani is an astrophysicist specializing in the study of plasmas; the fourth state of matter and which is the process of every star in the universe. Teodorani asked if this universal constant could be used as a propulsion source, and could be the cause of the bright lights associated with many UAP sightings. 

The first question addressed was “Are UFO phenomena plasma, or a UFO surrounded by a plasma sheath?” If consisting of pure plasma, what is the cause of their movements and seeming interaction with human observers? Teodorani described the phenomenon of plasma crystals: “When fine dust particles are immersed in plasma, they acquire electric charges and form crystalline structures which can self-replicate, store information, and evolve, displaying behaviors traditionally associated with living systems.” He furthered this idea with a proposition: “If plasma systems can sustain quantum coherence - similar to models proposed for microtubules in the human brain - they might support information processing or even consciousness-like phenomena.” The Hessdalen light phenomena in Norway have exhibited this sort of behavior, he said, and have seemingly reacted to the thoughts and intentions of observers as well as physical stimuli such as lasers. Dr. Teodorani suggested an experiment that would monitor the mental state of an observer when light phenomena are present and look for evidence of any interactions. 

He further proposed a model of propulsion based on plasma confined and directed by strong magnetic fields, which he said could work in theory, but that the energy requirements and materials science are beyond our capabilities at present. The effects of these processes could also account for some observed properties of UAP, such as visual and radar stealth, as well as immunity to kinetic weapons.

After another short break, interim roundtable discussions again took place, discussing goals and methodologies, with Cifone stating “What I founded [SUAPS] was an experiment - We need to get back to engagement as a question and not the alien/ not alien debate.” The end goal can be achieved through “A space of scholarly engagement” where members would “inhabit different spaces of meaning and cognitive languages,” he concluded. During a separate session, Communications Director David Mecalfe reminded the scholars that “The grey literature [historical amateur and even tabloid sources] has been ignored.”

SUAPS gifted us a magnificent catered Mediterranean feast for the last night of the conference. Hardly any leftovers reamined. 

Happy participants and full tummies awaited Rainer Haseitl’s talk, The Hessdalen Phenomena - History and Current Research. Haseitl is currently designing, building, and deploying mobile sensor arrays in the Hessdalen Valley of Norway, a hotspot for anomalous light phenomena for decades, if not centuries, As Haseitl recalled, when U.S. Air Force Blue Book astronomer J. Allan Hynek visited in 1985, he called it “a UFO laboratory.” Haseitl described witness reports of a” glowing cube inside a fog ring or sphere,” as well as a large area of sod weighing many thousands of kilograms cut out with precision and moved many meters away. 

The remote sensor systems contain video recorders, accelerometers, magnetometers, gyroscopes, temperature and pressure sensors among other instruments, and are set to record any changes in the environment. Haseitl described small anomalies in the recordings, but no remarkable events for the time they were deployed. Haseitl also presented stunning and beautiful images of what were essentially calibration activity; insects, birds, aircraft, and even cosmic particles showed up, sometimes in graceful arcs of multiple images captured over a few seconds. Some anomalies were noted, but await analysis.

The penultimate talk was delivered by Associate Professor Tiina Mahlamäki from Finland, and detailed a rich history of UFO research in her country. During the 30 Years War (1618 - 1648) Mahlamäki said that reported shapes in the sky such as “tombstones, crosses, brooms, and swords In the sky were common.” Beginning in the 1960s, articles and books gained widespread readership, although associated media attention did not appear until the 1980s. Mahlamäki observed that media interest seemed to decline with an explosion of UFO books and articles, perhaps as a reaction to the wild speculation that seems to accompany much literature on the subject. The first notable work was done by Tapani Kovula, now 80 years old, who produced a book entitled “The Cosmic Message of UFOs,” published in 1988, and touched on common themes, such as UFO reports and spiritual awakenings. By 2013, Kavua had broken with any semblance of neutrality and authored “The Cosmic Touch,” which featured leaping dolphins on the cover and proposed that UFOs “held the answer to mankind’s great questions.” Mahlamäki continued with the story of Rauni-Leena Luukanen-Kilde (1939-2015), who began as a psychic researcher and medium, eventually organizing the first UFO convention in Finland in 1996. Luukanen-Kilde eventually dove deeply into conspiracy territory (as Kovula had before her.) Mahlamäki ended with the fact that “only a few academics” are currently studying the UAP issue in Finland, although she is faculty advisor for Krystel Ruutma’s dissertation on pilot-UAP encounters, noted earlier.

The honor of the final lecture was given to Dr. Dodd, and it seemed appropriate as a cap to the proceedings. UFOs as More-than-Human Media examined themes that wound through the many of the other presentations, such as subject-object questions, indigenous views about personhood in the natural world, and the UAP as a “thing-in-itself.” 

Beginning his narrative, Dodd asked the attendees to take a thousand-foot view of the UAP issue, saying “Dividing what is seen, the seer, and the description of it is a mistake. The process and continuum are more representative.” Abandoning the observer/ observed view would very likely yield more dividends in understanding, because it allows for avenues of information that routinely slip through a binary method. He continued the discursive line, observing that “We can think of UFOs as discursive statements - as statements in themselves,” or perhaps as opening gambits in an open-ended conversation. Dodd showed extended clips from the 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind to illustrate what he called “part of our co-constitutive communication with nonhuman intelligence” - something I myself have called “co-creation” - any message perceived is not being conveyed from one intelligence to another, but is a product of the interaction between the two. He noted that, ”translation and decoding are important to the film:  Images, sign language, and sounds” are the mediums of co-constituative signaling.

In the Q&A, we discussed and referenced other films and television programs which exhibit what Dodd observed as the audience becoming “the close encounter itself,” such as 2001, Arrival, and others. 

Cifone called for reactions, and I was so involved that I forgot to take notes, but the consensus was that we had all been a part of a process that was nascent and important to the further understanding of the UAP realm. SUAPS seems to be asking new and better questions of both UAPs and the people who study them. This self-examination of method and process has been almost totally lacking in the conversations and research into the phenomenon, but is hallmark of the academic method. A few years ago, I predicted that once the stigma around the subject began to lift, that there would be a renaissance in the field. Thankfully, this transformation is occurring right before our eyes, and has transformed the subject into one worthy of the attention of the “smartest people in the room.”