UFOs: interesting developments in an old story

     While at the dinner table one recent evening, my dad brought up the topic of UFOs and their possibility of existence. He discussed several videos that have been released over the year and mentioned an upcoming release of vital documents in a Mueller-like report on what the government is hiding. My dad, worryingly, seemed to really think there was a possibility Earth was infested with gravity-defying, impossibly fast objects. That there is, in addition, a possibility that the government is hiding something more to know about these "flying saucers". My dad later admitted that he was probably wrong, that the phenomena had been explained by various light tricks or weather balloons. But I remained interested that something had made my dad, a usually very down-to-earth person, at all convinced that there could be UFOs.

    He was, I later found out, inspired by a New Yorker article written by Gideon Lewis-Kraus and titled "How the Pentagon Started Taking U.F.O.s Seriously". I figured if the pentagon and my dad are now taking UFOs seriously, why can't I? So I tried to open my mind as I start to read the article.

    The article is written mostly about a "ufologist" named Leslie Kean who had worked with "the father of UFOs" Steven Greer. Together, they had founded the Disclosure Project in 1993 which aimed to get the government to reveal what they knew about UFOs. People had been buzzing about UFOs long before this, since the 30's. Greer claims that there were UFOs flying around earth in the 30's and some were downed and studied. All these studies were classified requiring clearance "36 levels higher than the president". Leslie Kean, inspired by Greer's Executive Summary, wrote several books appealing to the public with the idea of UFOs. They were bestsellers. 

    The article then goes on to talk about more cases of sightings of UFOs and how most of them had been easily resolved by the government but about 5% remain unsolved. Some of them are public, and include things that seem impossible. For example, one is from the point-of-view of a fighter jet and it shows a pill-shaped object moving over the sound barrier and performing turns that would "turn a human to soup". This one has been recently debunked not as fake, but as a trick of the eye. It was a weather balloon that appeared to be moving on the radar because of the relative velocity of the plane against the ocean.

    But think about how many cases remain unsolved and what these could contain. Some of the most outrageous claims come to seeing up close a triangle-shaped ship with hieroglyphics written on the sides. The public cannot know if these claims have unreleased video footage to back them up. 

    Eventually, the article discusses the more current events in the UFO-community (I will not spoil anything). Most interestingly, it talks about the possibility of a report from the "Unidentified Arial Phenomenon Task Force" within the government. In June or July, almost 30 years after it was founded, The Disclosure project might get what it hoped for: full disclosure of all the cases and sightings and any information the government has been withholding. 

    Overall, the article is written in a way that doesn't much favor either side of the argument. Some strong believers in either side may say it opposes them but if you go into it with an open mind, it could sway you either way. Personally, I am very interested to see how the story develops but as of now, I think it is just a very well thought-through conspiracy theory. If you have 45 minutes or so, read the article yourself and try to have an open mind to both sides.