A SURVEY AMONG U.A.P.S. INVESTIGATORS AND SCHOLARS - PART XVII

It is a wonderful experience to get the opinion of a very selective group of people at an international level and get them together giving answers to just 8 questions referred to the Unusual Aerial Phenomena.

We give a big thanks to all those colleagues who are answering our survey and we are very pleased to present to you their ideas. We hope that what they say would be useful to you in your own work with the UAP and that their criteria would help to shape your own one.

We continue today the publication of the answers of these colleagues, and we are doing so in the order they were received.

CLAUDE MAUGÉ

Born 1946, teacher in maths and physics in a vocational school (retired); studies in physics and (because of UFOs) in psychology. 

Interested in UFOs since 1974, virtually in all aspects of the problem. 

Some 35 contributions in various UFO medias. Currently preparing a catalogue of abductions in France and an annotated bibliography of UFO books in French.

1) Do you use the acronym UFO or another designation, and if so, why?

Use of acronym UFO (and ovni in French): Yes; because both it's now a common term and it can have a rather broad meaning. But whenever it's necessary to be more precise, I distinguish: 1° pre-ovni (pre-UFO) = any stimulus, objective or not, which someone labels "UFO"; 2° quasi-ovni (quasi-UFO) = unidentified after close scrutiny; 3° vrai-ovni (true-UFO) = the still hypothetical stimulus (stimuli) which is (are) not only not yet acknowledged by our science but which would revolutionize it (e.g. extraterrestrial spacecraft).

2) Have your idea about UFOs changed along the time?

Change of idea about UFO: yes, around 1980/82, from a reasonable conviction in the existence of true-UFOs (E.T. craft) to a strong skepticism.

3) Should the UFO investigator become an expert in IFOs?

UFO investigator expert in IFOs: "Expert" is probably a term a little too strong, but he/she indeed needs a serious knowledge of them. In the contrary, mundane stimuli will be labeled "UFOs", as the literature (old or current) shows in profusion.

4) If there were still some unexplained phenomena, what could they be?

Nature of possible unexplained phenomena: Possibly various, but my opinion is that the ETH is the best way to account rather "economically" for an hypothetical fully abnormal phenomenon (most alternative hypotheses are far less economical -- e.g. see 8 -- or event totally irrational).

5) How do you consider this issue in general? What do you think about the whole subject?

The whole subject of UFOs: An intellectually formidable puzzle, and in any case an important sociological matter. And of course a major problem for mankind if the ETH would be the right one.

6) Is it possible to do something effective to bring the truth to the public and to change the mind of those who still proclaim or believe that extraterrestrial beings are living with us on Earth?

Possibility of education of "believers": For those for whom UFOs = $$$, no; for conspirationnists, no more; for reasonable people, probably for a part of them, by a progressive personal process.

7) Do you think SETI and similar searches are valid activities?

SETI as a valid activity: A priori, yes; the question is: after several decades of unsuccessful results, when will it be reasonable to stop the quest? [But this applies too to pro-ETH ufologists...].

8) What is your idea about multiple universes?

Multiple universes: Basically, a concept valid in mathematics; but in the physical world, nobody knows. As a possible explanation for true-UFOs: apart the problem of their mere existence, another big question arises: how can they interact with our own spatio-temporal continuum?

Next publication: answers from Edoardo Russo, Italian investigator.

A SURVEY AMONG U.A.P.S. INVESTIGATORS AND SCHOLARS - PART XVI

It is a wonderful experience to get the opinion of a very selective group of people at an international level and get them together giving answers to just 8 questions referred to the Unusual Aerial Phenomena.

We give a big thanks to all those colleagues who are answering our survey and we are very pleased to present to you their ideas. We hope that what they say would be useful to you in your own work with the UAP and that their criteria would help to shape your own one.

We continue today the publication of the answers of these colleagues, and we are doing so in the order they were received.

IGNACIO CABRIA

Ignacio Cabria García was born in Santander (Spain) in 1955. He graduated in Cultural Anthropolgy at the University of Barcelona and has an M.A. in Social Anthropology  and an M.A. in International Cooperation at the Universidad Complutense of Madrid. He has worked in Spanish Embassies and in international cooperation for development in Mozambique, Argentine and the Philippines.

 He started in ufology in 1976 associated to CIOVE (Santander), and later to CEI (Barcelona), and belonged to the editorial board of the journal Cuadernos de Ufología.

 He has long been studying UFOs and ufology under the viewpoint of social sciences, and has written two books about that subject: “Entre ufólogos, creyentes y contactados: una historia social de los ovnis en España” (1993) and “Ovnis y ciencias humanas” (2002). His M.A. thesis in social antrhopology was about an Spanish contactee group: "Valores, símbolos y representaciones en una experiencia de contacto extraterrestre: el Grupo Aztlán". He is also author of papers about history and anthropology of African countries and the Philippines. 

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1) Do you use the acronym UFO or another designation, and if so, why?

I particularly do not use the acronym OVNI (UFO), but the noun ovni (ufo), in lowercase letters, denoting that we no longer deal with unidentified observations, but with testimonies that are not neutral, but are loaded with meanings linked to the concept of extraterrestrial visitors.

2) Have your idea about UFOs changed along the time?

Although I started in ufology in the seventies as a believer in the extraterrestrial hypothesis, since the eighties my anthropological approach has not changed substantially.

3) Should the UFO investigator become an expert in IFOs?

The investigation of the UFO phenomenon should be undertaken from different angles of the human sciences: the psychology of perception, sociology and anthropology in particular. Not necessarily every researcher should focus on the observation, there are other valid approaches.

4) If there were still some unexplained phenomena, what could they be?

The fact that some UFO cases could not be explained by the ufologist does not mean that they do not have a rational explanation. The causes can be multiple, without having to resort to the improbable extraterrestrial hypotheses.

5) How do you consider this issue in general? What do you think about the whole subject?

In short, I believe that ambiguous perceptions are interpreted according to previous beliefs in the myth of extraterrestrial visitations.

6) Is it possible to do something effective to bring the truth to the public and to change the mind of those who still proclaim or believe that extraterrestrial beings are living with us on Earth?

From my point of view, that of the social sciences, an effort can be made to understand how beliefs in alien visitors are generated and how social phenomena such as waves of UFOs are set in motion, among many others.

7) Do you think SETI and similar searches are valid activities?

Of course, SETI is an unquestionable initiative for the understanding of our place in the universe.

8) What is your idea about multiple universes?

I do not feel competent to comment on cosmological concepts.

Next  publication: the answers from Claude Maugé. )France)