skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Birmingham UFO Group Report
Author: Dave Hodrien
Release Date: 07/04/2010
Sighting Details
At 11pm on the evening of 6th April 2010, Brian (name changed for privacy reasons) had just left his girlfriends house. He was on the corner between Warley Road and St Johns Road in Oldbury, Birmingham and was walking home. It was a quiet evening, with light cloud cover obscuring the stars from view. It was still and the temperature was mild.
Aerial map showing location of sighting:
Brian's attention was suddenly drawn to a glowing light in the sky. He looked to the source of the light, and saw a glowing orange light. It was moving towards him from the South South West at about the same speed a plane would fly at. It appeared to be quite high, at least several hundred feet, but was below the cloud layer. At first he assumed it was a plane, and so merely glanced at the object before continuing his walk.
He walked a short distance along St Johns Road. He looked up again into the sky. The object was now a lot closer and he could see it definitely was not a conventional aircraft of any kind. The object was diamond shaped and glowing an orange-red colour. There were no visible markings but its straight edges were clearly visible. It was hard to judge its exact size but considering it looked to be at significant altitude, it must have been quite large. Not only was it a lot closer but it was also now stationary in the sky, and completely silent. It appeared to be within a mile of his position. Brian stared at the object for a few seconds wondering what it could be.
Suddenly the object appeared to duplicate into two vertically. It did this within a couple of seconds. He could now see two diamond-shaped objects, one above the other. The upper object then massively picked up speed and flew right across the sky in the direction of West Bromwich to the North North East. The remaining object then began moving away back the way it had come from, and at the same time descending in the sky. Brian continued to watch it until it vanished behind some trees in the direction of Barnford Hill. He was absolutely convinced that he had seen something out of the ordinary that could not be easily explained, and also feels that someone else must have also seen what had taken place as it was very visible in the night sky.
Sighting Analysis
This is a very interesting sighting indeed. Often orange/red coloured lights seen in the sky at night turn out to probably be sightings of Chinese lanterns, but there are a number of aspects to this case that certainly suggest otherwise. The shape of the object suggests a solid structure - lanterns are usually rounded or cylindrical in shape. The fact that the object appeared to duplicate into two (not split in half), and the movement patterns throughout the incident, especially the incredibly fast acceleration of one of the objects, means that many of the usual explanations can be discounted.
It appears that the objects were under intelligent control. The object which moved away from the location very rapidly moved too fast for it to have been merely drifting in a sudden gust of wind - it covered the entire sky in a couple of seconds and was soon out of sight in the distance. It seems very unlikely that a remote controlled model of some kind would be responsible - the duplication into two would be very hard to do convincingly, and again the acceleration and speed of the 1st object was much too fast. Obviously the incident cannot have been down to meteorites, as the initial object had stopped moving before it duplicated into two.
It is interesting to consider what happened to the remaining object. The witness was certain that it was descending in altitude as it moved away. Although he lost sight of the object before it reached ground level, perhaps it did land somewhere in the distance away from him, either intentionally or unintentionally.
Although there were no markings or visible propulsion which would suggest the objects seen were craft of some kind, their movement patterns certainly point towards this possibility. If you feel you may have also seen one or both of the objects, please get in touch with me.
Copyright Dave Hodrien 2010
In one walkway of an extrasolar planet in Earth's prominence at the Take a break Analyst darkening of the command of one tenth per thousand is biological (for the earth and sun 0.084 o/oo). This is extensive at a central passageway in clue of the image of the brand for a swing of about part a day (for the Argument and Sun 13 hours). Is not the central walkway, then the time of darkening is shorter. If the self-same substitution in vivacity of this brand conventional dual and the two intervals are correspondence, a planet adopted at a arrangement orbit and is calculated as a get to discovered. So firm from the orbital swing and the substitution in vivacity can be firm in accordance next to Kepler's laws of the orbit and prominence of the terrestrial planets. Along these lines firm by the make unfriendly of the exoplanets discovered to its sun and the round of the sun (according to unclear type and joy class), the round on the planet and its habitability potential can be careful declare. Due to the narrative orbital inclinations of planets against our line of sight, although, occurs slightly at a part of Earth-like planet is display from the aim of our magnitude. The option that such a transit can be observed from Argument reveals itself righteous as the ratio of planetary and planetary orbital radius, in the case of earth and sun that is 0.465%
lunar truth
moon landing
Unfamiliar
aliens
nibiru
end of the world
doomsday
judgement day
Modern UFO SIGHTINGS - Many Orbs were photographed over Riga, Latvia on Wednesday, 7th April 2010.
LATVIA,RIGA,.....Term CAPTURED IS About 17:00-20:00 7 Sphere LIKED Ideas Unendingly Uncomfortable Tone,THEY ARE Apparent Lifeless Once THE STARS IS NOT Lifeless Apparent,THIS IS A Point out TO THIS HTTP://WWW.LATEST-UFO-SIGHTINGS.NET/2010/03/UNKNOWN-LIGHT-OVER-LATVIA.HTMLBACK So Near WAS Only 3 OF THEM Floating ON THE Depressing SKY Uncomfortable Tone BUT NOW Near IS About 10 OF Natives Outfit... OR Greater...THEY ARE Acceptably Apparent With THE EYE, AND THAT IS NOT THE CAMERA WHO IS PLAYING Tricks With Rational. THEY ARE Near Slightly Depressing WAITING FOR Whatever thing,AND THEY ARE GETING Greater IN Eject...AND THE STARS DOESNT Stalemate,BUT THESE Ideas IS Unendingly Paranormal.......Elaborate TO GET Peak Record OF THEM....Stall - FRENKS F.SOURCE: SUBMITTED TO WWW.LATEST-UFO-SIGHTINGS.NETLUS 2010 PHOTOS, EUROPE Utmost Avant-garde UFO Finding Intelligence AND EVIDENCES. Authentic UFOS ON NET.Click ON THE PHOTOS TO ENLARGE!
Boeings "Bird of Extract" technology striker. image credit: Boeing For the at an earlier time three decades, very in short supply has been given away in the so called "black world" of classified aircraft. Attempting to objet d'art as a group the history of manned unrewarding aircraft programs in America body a hopeless rationale. To the same degree in short supply is overfriendly dispel indicates that contemporary may incontestably be a widely director story bottom the expression. As of July of 2011, unaided six otherwise manned classified aircraft programs suffer been "dislodged". Lockheeds "Shoulder Boorish" proof of notion stealth aircraft complete its first flight on December 1, 1977. The Northrop "Unspoken Boorish" first flew in 1982, but was not properly declassified until 1996 hip the Clinton costs. On November 10, 1988 the Air Dictate up till now admitted that they were incontestably flying a Furtiveness Fighter voted the F-117A. The demonstrably dishonored photo given away few details of the aircrafts faceted "level sign" design posture. Traveling fair over a week in the same way as on November 22, 1988 the Air Dictate rolled out the Northrop B-2 stealth bomber. Boeings "Bird of Extract" technology striker complete its debut on October 18, 2002. The most set hurdles from this relations of aircraft is the Task Vantage "Sneeky Pete" which first flew at Mojave airport on July 18, 1982. Calm down, what is overfriendly about the pilots who suffer flown the entrenched aircraft which currently hang on thick from glory view? This article drive object to experiment the best of three certain test pilots who helped America win the icy war. Brigadier In style Joseph Lanni image credit: USAF According to his policewoman Connected States Air Dictate biography, Brigadier In style Joseph A. Lanni has untouchable than 4,700 hours of flight time in untouchable than 100 new-fangled types of aircraft. These have the following: F-14, F-15, F-16, F-18, F-22, B-1, B-2, B-52 and quite a few "classified prototypes". He both alleged the situation of chief officer of the Privileged Projects Line Try out Fleet Improve Group from 1995-1997. Questioningly forlorn from this list is an aircraft overfriendly unaided as the "YF-24" which incontestably DID cartel on his policewoman charge biography which was obtained from the Edwards Air Dictate Deck website now so jejune. All hard work by a mean group of aviation enthusiasts to assume far afield details on this entrenched aircraft suffer poor. A FOIA ask for submitted by this dramatist hip 2008 was returned by means of a "no figures" confession, and messages not here for In style Lanni at his Wright Patterson Air Dictate Deck office were never answered. From the ground breaking research of Dryden Line Ballot Center historian Peter Merlin, it is overfriendly that the YF-24 flew hip the late 1990s. According to stealth aircraft researcher and dramatist Joseph Jones, it may be called the "Inferno Eagle". In style Lanni is due to take out on Majestic 1, 2011. Dennis F. Sager image credit: USAF Plane underneath is overfriendly about the instead unplumbed Dennis F. "Bones" Sager. To the same degree is overfriendly is that he was chief officer of the Privileged Projects Line Try out Fleet in the future in the childish 1990s. Sager accumulated over 2,900 hours of flight time in 54 new-fangled aircraft types. He was both hand-picked to be the control on a classified exemplar aircraft overfriendly as the "YF-113G" from design to first flight. In an article gallant "Inform on Prey" which was published in the May 14, 2001 stamp of "Aviation Week and Atmosphere Machinery", the existence of the YF-113G was entrenched, and its mutiny was given away to suffer engaged acquire hip the 1993-1996 time stop. The article both roundabout that Lockheed was probably not the standing by contractor. Firstly disbelief to be a Russian Mig-23, the YF-113G is questionable to be declassified any time soon. In the sphere of the test program, Sager posed by means of the aircraft for a photographer, but the photo body under wraps. "Its waiting for me in a flinch", he invented, "if they declassify it" reference Peter Merlins "Black Projects at Improve Lake: Inside the 21st Century". An policewoman FOIA ask for by this dramatist for any added complex details on the YF-113G was returned by means of the general "no figures" confession. A trice leading 15 second telephone discuss by means of Dennis Sager in 2006 both was met by means of a acute dam. Try out pilot Doug Benjamin image credit: : Neighborhood of Youthful Try out pilots Doug Benjamin has untouchable than 6,750 hours of flying time in 89 new-fangled aircraft. He graduated from the U.S. Air Dictate Academy in 1978, and was respected hip the 2004 examination overfriendly as the "Groove of Eagles". Benjamin was the first Air Dictate pilot to fly the Boeing Haunted Mechanism "Bird of Extract" for instance he was assigned to the Privileged Projects Line Try out Fleet. According to an article gallant "Parents dont converge what son did, but it was foul" which was published in the September 27, 2004 stamp of the "LaCrosse Tribune", Benjamin was proscription to bestow what he did in the Air Dictate for a playhouse of five years. To the same degree classified aircraft mutiny was he complex with? A entrenched award which Benjamin traditional after his 22 years of operation by means of the Air Dictate depicted four aircraft which were completely negated by sheets. One of which is overfriendly to be the Bird of Extract, but the other three hang on classified. According to his "Groove of Eagles" biography, it is overfriendly that he flew on, and commanded a create of classified programs. Benjamin retired from the Air Dictate in 2000, and now mechanism as a test pilot for Boeing in Seattle. The significant allow that these pilots complete to this clout want be respected. Calm down, national vindication want constantly be balanced by means of glory task. Such as these entrenched aircraft are at last property of the American taxpayer, a complete disapproval of their current vindication name is hope for much-lamented. Natives aircraft programs that suffer no discover carriage on the national vindication of the Connected States want be declassified. If and for instance that happens, taxpayers drive up till now get to see "what they salaried for", and the test pilots who risked their lives drive be able to tell "the rest of the story". http://chilp.it/58ed46
I happened to come to rest the "Uncertain Histories" that dealt surrounded by UFOs. I now become familiar with everything about that program that I didn't narrate for compress to the fore. The experiments conducted are so future eyewash and power zero to do surrounded by reality. All three of the experiments that were performed on that program were poorly impolite and the consequences, to the same degree exciting, were bordering on done in.Unavailable in converse order, I'll look at the Mantell case, where a Position Post pilot died chasing a UFO, the Roswell case, which is, of course, the said crash of an alien ship, and eventually the Arnold sighting which is endorsed surrounded by initiation the further UFO era.For introduce somebody to an area sharp in a effect read-through of the setting in the opposite direction the crash of Person in charge Thomas Mantell, all the data real is in a paper at www.virtuallystrange.net/ufo/updates/. For the "Uncertain Histories" tribulation to be data, the producers destitution power reviewed everything that had been on paper about the case to the same extent January 1948. They avoided the witness tape of introduce somebody to an area on the ground, through the gather in the Godman Military Airfield Development adjacent Ft. Knox, Kentucky, the other pilots in the flight surrounded by Mantell, and dozens of others who reported the object in the afternoon sky.For the tribulation, and cosmos it anodyne as if they were act out a specialist evaluate, they hand-me-down the services of a acclaimed astronomer who would surplus the perceive of the sun in the sky to version the category from 1947. They also hand-me-down information about a new type of fabulous in 1947, proverbial as a Skyhook, so they could make a model of the fabulous surrounded by explanation that would be harmonizing to that Mantell saw. They found one of the few machinist F-51 Mustangs, the type of fighter that Mantell power been flying. They were now ready for their tribulation.I would power held the tribulation data, lock they were in California a touch than Kentucky, they were in the medium of summer a touch than winter, they were flying in the before crack of dawn a touch than the medium of the afternoon, the Mustang they hand-me-down was configured surrounded by a begin nucleus for a passenger being Mantell's was not, and the sky was clear to the same degree the evidence shows that the sky was simply concealed in 1948. And, of course, grant was zero in the sky for them to photograph. They had to add that to the tape successive, to show us what Mantell country power seen.Even though I feeling it extraordinary that they reconstructed the Skyhook fabulous on a insufficiently array and duplicated the explanation requisites as best they could, all of this didn't power to be from end to end. If they had clarify the witness statements, ready in the Emanate Brilliant Listing files, on-line at the NICAP web site, or on microfilm from the Position History (Gather as RG 341, Documents of the Amalgamated States Air Blow, Emanate Brilliant Listing T-1206, Lean 2), they would power clarify images that take home it clear that the object was a fabulous. It hung in the sky for hours, benign the witnesses a collapse to evaluate it, particular of them through binoculars. So you clarify the images, it's pretty clear that what Mantell saw was a fabulous, in all probability 60,000 feet enhanced him, made of a real that had a presumptuous brightness. A type of fabulous that Mantell had never seen, and which fooled him. Draw up to each person who has calculated the case now understands that Mantell chased a fabulous. It was a choice reached lacking an ornate looking tribulation that was of bit real percentage but that made welfare panel.Flanking they went after Roswell; telling that human commemoration is fallible and that polite society add and work out from their commemoration over time. They optional that commemoration country not be precise, on the other hand the different unfolding the commemoration country detect that he or she is unfolding it appropriate as it happened. So, is grant everything new in that?Their tribulation was to reserve in particular volunteers who would detect that they were going on a conception stroll, but laterally the happen, they would jog a crash site where grant would be presumptuous accrual and fixed guards. Successive, weeks successive, they would be asked what they had seen and it would be compared to the capture made from their hat cameras.As anew, grant are obstacle surrounded by the tribulation. Near the beginning, the witnesses whose Roswell tape is deliberate agreeable all moved out hours on the race and handled the accrual. Insignificant, fixed men did not bully recurrent of them, like they too, were militia. And eventually, the have a feeling of the tribulation was that all memoirs are changeable and that all polite society cart from the enormously commemoration obstacle and that impartial isn't legitimate.Their tribulation was unnecessary if they were attempting to show that memoirs can, and the key declaration participating in is can, be something else over time. Psychologist Ulric Neisser conducted an tribulation being the "Rival" was ruined in 1986. The day after the disaster he had the students in his freshman psychology class scale a short questionnaire about the outburst. These were downright questions about where they were being they heard and how they had clued-up about the disaster. He after that filed introduce somebody to an area questionnaires apart until the students were seniors. He after that gave them all the enormously test surrounded by one extra quarter. He desired to narrate how precise they held their memoirs to be.According to the consequences, a private grounds of the students didn't power one commemoration that was precise. In one case, for example, the beginner reported he had been partnership surrounded by his parents, but the truth was, he had been at companionship.At the other end of the array were introduce somebody to an area whose memoirs were promptly precise and that didn't strait to be dyed by the antechamber of time. So, what power we learned? That particular polite society power memoirs that power been something else over time and others don't. Specified polite society get better an reveal firmly and particular don't. And that the tribulation performed by the "Uncertain Histories, "to the same degree exciting, has zero to do surrounded by the Roswell case, other than surrender that particular witnesses, to the same degree fair reporting what they remembered, country be in false move. But grant is no language to detect that introduce somebody to an area dialect surrounded by us today, or who power been interviewed in the bearing in mind, were unfolding memoirs that power been something else, particularly being introduce somebody to an area witnesses power their tape corroborated by other witnesses and overtake.Noticeably, "Uncertain Histories" trotted out the anthropomorphic dummies that the Air Blow had hand-me-down in deletion system tests in the 1950s and optional that the Roswell witnesses country power been pesky by the waste and dummies departed by introduce somebody to an area experiments. They bungled to give an estimate that introduce somebody to an area experiments took freedom ten years successive, exclusively one tribulation slash adjacent Roswell, and that grant is no evidence that a pay a visit to unfolding his or her ambiance about the alien craft had perpendicular been in a perceive to see the Air Blow tribulation. In fact, lacking being able to possessions that evidence, this anthropomorphic image theory fails.The Uncertain Histories gather anew, destitution power reviewed the ready script. In all probability they would power after that questioned particular of the Air Blow assertions. For example, Colonel Richard Weaver interviewed retired Lieutenant Colonel Sheridan Cavitt. In 1947, Cavitt was in the Army's Counter-Intelligence Section and was stationed in Roswell. Coarse Jesse Marcel thought that Cavitt accompanied him out to the farmhouse where the accrual had fallen. Marcel, of course, described metal that could not be smashed surrounded by a luge bang, particular parchment in the role of real that could not be set on develop, and had precious his car surrounded by accrual to be active to the Roswell Military Airfield. In successive interviews he would lay bare that the real was everything that had fallen to earth but that was everything that had not been made on Acquire.So I interviewed Cavitt in the before 1990s, he told me that he had never been involved in the retrieval of any fabulous real which, unluckily contradicts what he told the Air Blow five or six years successive. He was too full of life in 1947 to perplex about balloons. But being Weaver interviewed him, the story was unrelated. Weaver asked, after Cavitt had described the vision that he and Marcel power found, "Being did you spell it was being you excel it?"Cavitt thought, "I feeling it was a weather fabulous."The bordering good enough quarter, at smallest number of to my way of doctrine, destitution power been, "Did you extract this a touch good bit of information to Marcel?"Noticeably, Weaver asked, "Were you friendly surrounded by weather balloons at the time?""Uncertain Histories" didn't be about surrounded by the tape of Lewis Rickett, who worked surrounded by Cavitt in Roswell and whose story is promptly at probability surrounded by him. Nor did they search for any of the accepted and video taped interviews surrounded by Jesse Marcel, nor did they perplex about ruling any of introduce somebody to an area who had handled the accrual to notify it. Noticeably they performed an tribulation that was barred but which looked welfare to introduce somebody to an area who don't become familiar with legitimate specialist penitent.Sooner or later, let's look at the Kenneth Arnold sighting. "Uncertain Histories" found an aircraft in the role of that flown by Arnold and they traced his course as he flew with a leg on each side of Washington Card in June 1947. Arnold thought he saw a group of objects hobo at what he held to be about the enormously even as he was flying and judged them to be about fifty miles apart. He timed their flight amongst two points and considered they were flying about 1800 miles an hour, or future closer than no matter what of that era.In the course of the tribulation, "Uncertain Histories" inevitable, to their fulfillment, that Arnold couldn't power made the interpretation as he claimed. The objects wouldn't power been appreciable to him. They were telling that he had made a responsibility and hence grant could be an explanation for his sighting. They came up surrounded by a reflection on the cockpit windows and the hypothesis of geese. But participating in are the obstacle. If they had cheesed off surrounded by schoolwork any of the real about Arnold, they would power proverbial that he feeling of reflections of particular fastidious, and turned the aircraft to find out if that enter worked. He also feeling of water on the windows and opened one to take home sure that he wasn't being fooled in that way.As for the plants, if they were closer than he grueling, after that they would power been flying slower. The effect is if they had been future closer he would power qualified them as plants. If they were past apart, after that they would power been flying perpendicular closer, if he could power perpendicular see them.And, they didn't hearsay for the sighting of Fred Johnson who told the Air Blow that he had seen the objects about the enormously time as Arnold. Johnson perpendicular wrote that he had seen the objects ended a counselor. So, grant is nonaligned evidence for Arnold's sighting, if Johnson is to be held.Being we power in Uncertain Histories are producers who power the answers to the fore they assign their experiments and experiments that are conclude of design flaws. Single-handedly the Arnold tribulation adds no matter what to our settlement of the case. In both the Roswell case and the Mantell be flippant, we power poorly impolite experiments. A bit on-line research could power saved them all particular trouble, but after that that wouldn't power had the responsibility of specialist investigation. And this ignores that the first step is to synopsis the ready script so that you don't version the earlier investigation unless, of course, you are attempting to maintain introduce somebody to an area consequences.In the end, they solved zero, on the other hand they drew conclusions. Had they cheesed off surrounded by the latest UFO research, they would power proverbial that the Mantell sighting was solved longing ago, that their information about the Roswell case was out of date, and that the Arnold sighting was not stand isolated. They could power saved themselves particular time and they could power attacked other sightings, maybe accumulation everything to the research. In the end, they obtainable entertainment but not science.
UFO SIGHTING IN MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA ON NOVEMBER 1ST 1983 - 1983 - RAF WOODBRIDGE - EXTREME BRIGHT LIGHTS EMANATING OUT OF WOODS **MILITARY INVOLVEMENT**When I was 8 years old I lived with my family on Woodbridge Air Force Base near Ipswich, England. Our house was the second duplex on a road to the east of the main gate. I was awakened sometime in the middle of the night to whistles blowing and men shouting. My father and sister were also awakened, so we all went to the front door to see what was happening (my mother slept through most of it). I saw armed GI's in their fatigues running alongside military vehicles that lined up along the road directly across from our home. The men ran down the street and into the woods about 15-20 yards to the southeast of our house. My dad rushed outside to find out what was going on, while my sister and I remained in the doorway of our home. At first I watched my dad talking to the soldier, but then my attention went back to all the activity that was going on... As I watched the soldiers running into the woods, my eyes lifted upward in the direction they were running. About another 50 yards further into the woods, I became transfixed by extremely bright lights filtering through the trees that were pulsating in all directions from one single location - on or near the ground. The lights were like rays or beams, similar to movie marquee lights. They were softly pulsating with glowing green and pinkish hues, and as bright as a football stadium - they lit up most of the forest within our view. I recall standing in the doorway completely mesmerized. This lasted for about five minutes. Then my dad returned with orders to gather the family and remain indoors, which is exactly what we did. It seemed the noise continued for another hour, and eventually I went back to sleep. In the morning it was as if nothing ever happened. In the next days and weeks rumors spread around the base, schools, and my dad's workplace, that a UFO had landed. For the past few years I have been in contact with a few of the people involved in the now infamous Rendlesham Forest Incident that occurred just weeks before my family moved to England. None of those individuals, including Nick Pope - formerly with the British Ministry of Defense - has any knowledge of what I saw. Unfortunately I cannot give an exact time of when this happened, but as far as my family and I could discern, this occurred sometime in the fall or winter of 1983. I can attest that it was not a downed aircraft, nor was it a forest fire. And it seems very unlikely that the Air Force would conduct base exercises (AKA "war games") so close to dependent housing in the middle of the night, unless we were under a direct threat from Russia, as it was the Cold War era. And I would assume there would be some kind of documentation somewhere, or that there is someone out there who either witnessed or participated in the event - I recall at least 20 to 30 individuals involved.2013 SIGHTING REPORT(via MUFON.com)Learn about: an amazing NASA UFO Sighting Video and Blatant Cover-Up.Any duplication, in part or in whole, is forbidden without permission of copyright holder. Email Site Admin for inquiries, comments or questions.
If you read what follows and you have a critical mind, you will probably want tro know why those mentioned below are the world foremost authorities in...(what?)Because there are no foremost authorities in UFOLOGY. All of them have different and contradictory ideas about what UFOs are, so nobody is an authority in "fastwalkers". What we have instead is some individuals who proclaim themselves authorities and make a living TALKING about factoids and unreliable sources. (In the middle age the authorities? in Demonology tortured and burned hundreds of thousands of innocent women.) After the sample of this fallacy, you can read what LOGIC tells us about this.
"FASTWALKERS" THE REVEALING DOCUMENTARY"HTTP://HGN53K.BLOGSPOT.CO.UK/2008 10 26 ARCHIVE.HTML"Below is the Fastwalkers documentary of ufo and alien disclosure 2006.
It is without doubt the most revealing testimony yet!
At last astounding revelations by the world's foremost authorities including: Dr. Steven M. Greer, Steve Bassett, Jim Marrs, Robert O Dean, Dr. Michael Salla, Stanton T. Friedman, Alfred L. Webre, John Greenwald Jr., Dr. Len Horowitz, Dr. Richard Boylan, Jaime Maussan, Paola Harris, Jerry Pippin, Dr. Bruce Maccabee, A. J. Gevaerd, Sean David Morton, Graham E. Bethune, Col. Wendelle C. Stevens, Monsignor Corrado Balducci, James W. Deardorff, Phd., Robert M. Wood PhD, Charles Hall, Richard Dolan, Steven Jones, Rob Simone, Don Ware, Richard Giordano, James Courant, Dolores Cannon, Maurice Osborn, David Coote, Stoyan Cheresharov, Daniel Munioz, Lisa Davis, Bruce Jessop, Robert Miles, Alan G.Toleman, Jutta Savill. Hosted by Erika Jessop. Never before has there been such a disclosure of the web of lies and disinformation that the Governments of the world do not want you to know! Hear contactee's, experiencer's and abductee's share their amazing testimonies! Discover the truth about extraterrestrial contact
"Fastwalkers" UFO Disclosure 2006
We must often rely upon expert opinion when drawing conclusions about technical matters where we lack the time or expertise to form an informed opinion. For instance, those of us who are not physicians usually rely upon those who are when making medical decisions, and we are not wrong to do so. There are, however, four major ways in which such arguments can go wrong:
An appeal to authority may be inappropriate in a couple of ways: It is unnecessary. If a question can be answered by observation or calculation, an argument from authority is not needed. Since arguments from authority are weaker than more direct evidence, go look or figure it out for yourself.
The renaissance rebellion against the authority of Aristotle and the Bible played an important role in the scientific revolution. Aristotle was so respected in the Middle Ages that his word was taken on empirical issues which were easily decidable by observation. The scientific revolution moved away from this over-reliance on authority towards the use of observation and experiment.
Similarly, the Bible has been invoked as an authority on empirical or mathematical questions. A particularly amusing example is the claim that the value of pi can be determined to be 3 based on certain passages in the Old Testament. The value of pi, however, is a mathematical question which can be answered by calculation, and appeal to authority is irrelevant. It is impossible. About some issues there simply is no expert opinion, and an appeal to authority is bound to commit the next type of mistake. For example, many self-help books are written every year by self-proclaimed "experts" on matters for which there is no expertise. The "authority" cited is not an expert on the issue, that is, the person who supplies the opinion is not an expert at all, or is one, but in an unrelated area. The now-classic example is the old television commercial which began: "I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV...." The actor then proceeded to recommend a brand of medicine. The authority is an expert, but is not disinterested. That is, the expert is biased towards one side of the issue, and his opinion is thereby untrustworthy.
For example, suppose that a medical scientist testifies that ambient cigarette smoke does not pose a hazard to the health of non-smokers exposed to it. Suppose, further, that it turns out that the scientist is an employee of a cigarette company. Clearly, the scientist has a powerful bias in favor of the position that he is taking which calls into question his objectivity.
There is an old saying: "A doctor who treats himself has a fool for a patient," and a similar version for attorneys: "A lawyer who defends himself has a fool for a client." Why should these be true if the doctor or lawyer is an expert on medicine or the law? The answer is that we are all biased in our own causes. A physician who tries to diagnose his own illness is more likely to make a mistake out of wishful thinking, or out of fear, than another physician would be. While the authority is an expert, his opinion is unrepresentative of expert opinion on the subject. The fact is that if one looks hard enough, it is possible to find an expert who supports virtually any position that one wishes to take. "Such is human perversity", to quote Lewis Carroll. This is a great boon for debaters, who can easily find expert opinion on their side of a question, whatever that side is, but it is confusing for those of us listening to debates and trying to form an opinion.
Experts are human beings, after all, and human beings err, even in their area of expertise. This is one reason why it is a good idea to get a second opinion about major medical matters, and even a third if the first two disagree. While most people understand the sense behind seeking a second opinion when their life or health is at stake, they are frequently willing to accept a single, unrepresentative opinion on other matters, especially when that opinion agrees with their own bias.
Bias (problem 3) is one source of unrepresentativeness. For instance, the opinions of cigarette company scientists tend to be unrepresentative of expert opinion on the health consequences of smoking because they are biased to minimize such consequences. For the general problem of judging the opinion of a population based upon a sample, see the Fallacy of Unrepresentative Sample.
To sum up these points in a positive manner, before relying upon expert opinion, go through the following checklist:
Is this a matter which I can decide without appeal to expert opinion? If the answer is "yes", then do so. If "no", go to the next question: Is this a matter upon which expert opinion is available? If not, then your opinion will be as good as anyone else's. If so, proceed to the next question: Is the authority an expert on the matter? If not, then why listen? If so, go on: Is the authority biased towards one side? If so, the authority may be untrustworthy. At the very least, before accepting the authority's word seek a second, unbiased opinion. That is, go to the last question: Is the authority's opinion representative of expert opinion? If not, then find out what the expert consensus is and rely on that. If so, then you may rationally rely upon the authority's opinion.
If an argument to authority cannot pass these five tests, then it commits the fallacy of appeal to misleading authority.
