ABSTRACT Since the late 1940s, a tenacious disconnect between popular interest and professional disinterest in unidentified flying objects (UFOs) has typified the controversy surrounding the subject. Numerous high-profile scientists have seen the topic of UFOs as an opportunity to denounce and rectify a popular, yet allegedly misguided, conviction—that some UFOs are physical anomalies indicating the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence—and thus to advance the explanatory authority of science. Rather than constituting rigorous, informed, and effective assessments, however, the ways in which many prominent scientists publicly address the UFO question often exemplify both the problematic “boundary-work” of scientific discourse in this area and, more specifically, the role that logical fallacies can play in the rhetorical construction of scientific authority in public domains. Through a critical discourse analysis, this article argues that ignorance of UFO phenomena is socially and discursively constructed in ways that are conducive to the public faces of individuals and institutions. More broadly, it suggests that the rudimentary standard of science communication attending to the extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) hypothesis for UFOs inhibits public understanding of science, dissuades academic inquiry within the physical and social sciences, and undermines progressive space policy initiatives.

  • Thanks for this!

    You’re welcome! Now please help spread the word about this sub :)

    I wonder if cataloging these things by topic so that when a related topic comes up in a post on the main page or another subreddit then you could link here to the expanded discussion or paper. Do this periodically when relevant to get more people here? Foster a weekly or monthly discussion sticky post once there are users around to give them some place to stay

    You absolutely bring up a GREAT set of suggestions! This sub was kind of dead over the last year or so and I decided to resurrect it and get some energy going on because I feel this is a niche that sorely needs to serve the community. So many of us share studies or academic articles etc and there’s no one place to go find these.

    I think I’m going to work on this over the next few days. I had thought about it briefly a few months ago and I think you totally hit the nail on the head.

    Feel free to suggest some categories for the flair! Let’s get brainstorming :)

    Sceptical; Astrobiology; Exogeology; Astronomy; Engineering and Applied Science Chemistry; Material Science; Physics; Metaphysics; Consciousness; Health; Psychology; Sociology; Anthropology; Aerospace; Peer Reviewed; Prepub; Opinion; Earth Sciences; Off-Topic; Popular Culture; Xenobiology; Solar System; Scientific Mission;

    I could go on.

    Based on your feedback I created a ton of new flairs. See the new flair post that is stickied to the top of the sub. I may do more of what you suggested. I want to see also how this goes.

    I want to thank you for this valuable feedback and please feel free to make more suggestions or thoughtful criticism. I want this sub to grow and be a resource for the UFO community.

    That's fantastic, and I think it will really help parse science from pop culture perspectives and queries which pop up here.

    Physics is so broad, but it would include quantum mechanics, string theory, gravitational waves (thought those could be double-flaired with astronomy), to name a few. Recently I read an article about morphohedrons which are structures that pop out of Feynman diagrams and have properties that speak to a structure independent of the geometry of space that results in a spatial geometry (mind blown by the elegant geometry that they represent). I thought right away about this sub, and how to flair that article. :-)

    I can’t thank you enough!! I will break out physics as you said - there’s so much we talk about and yes that study is related to what we may be experiencing - I think about all the aspects of what the explanations might be and I guess anything that falls into these broad categories in terms of scientific study would be appropriate to post here. I wish any post could have multiple flairs like tags though. I want this sub to be a resource that people can link to in other conversations out there and also - importantly - a place to talk among ourselves and with scientists, researchers, whatever about what this could mean to ufology.

    Please keep the ideas coming. I seriously appreciate the ideas!

  • Check out my post regarding the AI breakdown of Disclosure events. The scientific community is accepting UAP research at the same pace as many other societal categories (media interest, government legislation, whistleblowers, military incidents, etc.). It appears none of these categories stand alone. Just wanted to give you a little optimism. A rising tide lifts all ships.

    Great work, thanks.