The Pentagon Is Increasingly Relying on Billionaires’ Rockets. And It’s OK with That.
Defense OneNov 25, 2022
The Facts
In a finalized 36-page report issued on Thursday, an independent group of NASA scientists said they had found no concrete evidence to suggest that UAP — unidentified anomalous phenomena, NASA's preferred term for UFOs — is extraterrestrial.
NASA's top administrator Bill Nelson said the team "did not find any evidence that UAP have an extraterrestrial origin," though the experts accompanied the report's release with the acknowledgement that "the collection of data is sparse, unsystematic, and lacks any curation or vetting protocols."
The Spin
Narrative A
Though this study neither approves nor rejects the existence of aliens, it does offer a roadmap for NASA to develop a standardized system for collecting civilian reports and using AI to analyze UAP and its origins. There's no reason to conclude that extraterrestrial sources are behind UAP but, scientifically, we can't rule out that possibility.
Cynical narrative
While NASA is endeavoring to shift discourse about extraterrestrial life from "sensationalism to science," the scale of online abuse received by the panel during the reporting process already suggests that efforts may be hampered. While transparently opening up the scientific process to the public is admirable, it is optimistic to believe faithful, widespread engagement will undo entrenched conspiratorial narratives surrounding extraterrestrial life.