90 Percent Fact and 10 Percent Whimsy?
Being a San Jose chiropractor, and living in a city as technologically- (and logically-) minded as San Jose, I often quell my tendency towards whimsical thinking. If I find I need a little fanciful stimulation, in lieu of a chiropractors convention, I generally drive into San Francisco for the weekend. But, I just read an interesting Reuters article on Britain and UFO sightings that got me to thinking, once again, about the nature of whimsical thinking and the inherent possibilities that might be discovered by its practice. After all, “the truth is out there.”
The article began by relaying information, according to files released by the National Archives on Monday, that a cluster of UFO sightings over Britain in 1996 may have had more to do with public fascination with TV shows like the “X Files” than extraterrestrial activity. Documents from Britain’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) indicated there were 609 UFO sightings in 1996, compared with 117 in 1995. This coincided with the rise in popularity of the X Files and the release of the alien blockbuster film “Independence Day.”
The files, which span 15 years and contain more than 4,000 pages, show that for most cases the UFO sightings had ordinary explanations such as bright stars and planets, meteors, artificial satellites and balloons. So, apparently, 90% of UFO sightings have been explained away as having “mundane” reasons behind them. That, of course, is no surprise when it comes to government explanations for almost everything. The part I found fascinating was that 10% of the sightings were classified as “unexplained.”
I’ll take the conclusion of 10% whimsy any day when it comes to “factual” documents. In fact, the article concluded with a new detail found in the files on Britain’s best known UFO incident, the Rendlesham Forest sightings of December 1980 in which “American airforce men” saw a series of mysterious lights: “The then government of Margaret Thatcher summarily dismissed the affair but a letter from a former chief of defense staff in 1985 warned it not to be so cavalier. ‘The case has puzzling and disquieting features which have never been satisfactorily explained … which continue to preoccupy informed sections of the public,” said the letter.”
So, take a moment today to give your mind flight. Who knows what UFO you might discover there!
Full article at:
http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSTRE57G2EU20090817?feedType=RSS&feedName=scienceNews&rpc=76
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