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The Michael Shermer Show

UFO Sightings Around the World: A Comprehensive History

The Michael Shermer Show

Michael Shermer

Natural Sciences, Science

4.31K Ratings

🗓️ 3 August 2024

⏱️ 109 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

After the Flying Saucers Came explores the global fascination with UFOs, tracing its origins to the summer of 1947 when a pilot's sighting in Washington State sparked widespread reports of "flying saucers." This phenomenon, fueled by Cold War anxieties and space age aspirations, captivated the world, leading to disputed government inquiries, sensational news stories, and a fervent community of ufologists. Author Greg Eghigian delves into how UFO sightings and alien encounters have shaped cultural and scientific debates, influenced by fears of conspiracies, hoaxes, and the allure of extraterrestrial life. He chronicles the evolution of UFO discourse across the United States, Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Russia, examining the impact of these mysteries on our perceptions of science, technology, and humanity. Through the lens of history, media, and personal testimonies, the book offers a comprehensive look at how UFOs have captured both the imagination and skepticism of society.

Michael Shermer and Greg Eghigian explore the intriguing questions of extraterrestrial life and UFO phenomena in this podcast episode. They delve into the distinction between the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) and the scientific study of UFOs and UAPs (unidentified aerial phenomena). By examining these two questions—Are they out there? and Have they come here?—they shed light on how each area approaches the evidence and implications differently. Additionally, they discuss Bayesian reasoning as a method to assess the likelihood and credibility of UFO sightings and claims. Whether you're a skeptic or a believer, this discussion will challenge your perceptions and deepen your understanding of the ongoing debate about extraterrestrial visitation.

Transcript

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0:00.0

You're listening to the Michael Sherman Show. The Michael Sherber Show How does a bioethicist and historian get involved in this particular area?

0:30.0

Very carefully, I suppose.

0:33.0

I suppose.

0:34.0

Now, I was like a lot of people very fascinated with this stuff when I was growing up.

0:40.0

I was, I read a lot about it. It was probably my favorite subject to read about

0:45.8

and in many ways I have to say that it's kind of my interest as a young person

0:56.0

reading everything from Eric von Dagen to Carl Sagan and everybody in between

0:59.2

that got me really

1:05.0

interested in the idea of both history and the history of science and stuff like that.

1:06.0

So I was I really cut my teeth if you will on this stuff growing up but then I

1:10.0

got interested in other things but then several years ago a colleague of mine was

1:15.9

working on a project looking at what I didn't know was a thing that actually had

1:20.0

happened which was a kind of a mini revival of the occult in Europe after World War II.

1:27.4

And I was asking her about, you know, did that whole UFO thing take off in Europe at the time? she's like well you know I don't really know about it.

1:36.1

She said you know maybe you ought to write it something about it. I'm like I don't have time for this stuff. I don't I I'm working on other things and then I started doing what historians tend to do is I

1:46.7

started looking at old newspapers and their lo and behold was all this stuff in the

1:52.0

40s and 50s and particularly in Germany

1:54.3

about flying saucers and I thought boy I don't look into this a little and as I

1:59.8

did I just started to realize hey I think there's a book in there I think it's been way

2:05.8

too long that professional academic historians have not looked into this

2:11.4

subject and have really not

2:14.0

really gone into it on a in terms of writing an actual book about the entire

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