UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) and
UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) are in the news again, this
time purported to be "real" by no less than the Pentagon and
The New York Times. But what does "real" mean in this context,
and how should we think about "unidentified" anomalies? In
this talk Dr. Michael Shermer, the founding publisher of
Skeptic magazine and one of the world's leading experts on
UFOs, considers the three hypotheses on offer for these
UAP/UFO sightings: (1) ordinary terrestrial (camera/lens
effects, visual illusions, balloons, etc.), (2) extraordinary
terrestrial (Russian or Chinese spy planes or drones capable
of feats of physics and aerodynamics unheard of in the US),
and (3) extraordinary extraterrestrial (alien intelligence).
About the Speaker:
Dr. Michael Shermer is the Founding
Publisher of Skeptic magazine, the host of the podcast The
Michael Shermer Show, and a Presidential Fellow at Chapman
University where he teaches Skepticism 101. For 18 years he
was a monthly columnist for Scientific American. He is the
author of New York Times bestsellers Why People Believe Weird
Things and The Believing Brain, Why Darwin Matters, The
Science of Good and Evil, The Moral Arc, Heavens on Earth, and
Giving the Devil His Due: Reflections of a Scientific
Humanist. Dr. Shermer received his B.A. in psychology from
Pepperdine University, M.A. in experimental psychology from
California State University, Fullerton, and his Ph.D. in the
history of science from Claremont Graduate University. He has
been a college professor since 1979, also teaching at
Occidental College, Glendale College, and Claremont Graduate
University, where he taught a transdisciplinary course for
Ph.D. students on Evolution, Economics, and the Brain.