Remembering Oumuamua

Avi Loeb's ridiculously titled Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth (as though the entire UFO phenomenon never existed) is about the discovery and significance of the Oumuamua asteroid (the first interstellar object observed by astronomers) and has received generally positive reviews, including in The New York Times and The New Yorker.  In my view, we actually have a lot more compelling evidence of extraterrestrial visitors to earth than we do evidence that Oumuamua was more than an oddly shaped rock doing a fly-by of our sun -- though I also agree with Loeb that “If we acknowledge that 'Oumuamua is plausibly of extraterrestrial-technology origin, whole new vistas of exploration for evidence and discovery open before us.” It's odd that The New York Times reviewer fails to mention UFOs, given the superb reporting the paper has done on the subject -- as several of those commenting on the article point out.  At least Elizabeth Kolbert mentions UFOs in her New Yorker piece, and even reaches out to Erich von Däniken, author of Chariots of the Gods, who calls Loeb courageous, as “No scientist wants to be ridiculed, and whenever they deal with U.F.O.s or extraterrestrials, they are ridiculed by the media.”  Kolbert certainly recognizes that possibility, and she quotes Loeb, who says, “Extraordinary conservatism keeps us extraordinarily ignorant.” Too true.

Is Sleepwalking Paranormal?

I am increasingly interested in the ways that entrepreneurs seem to be trying to commercialize paranormal happenings.  As I mentioned in class, two examples of this phenomenon are the Phoenix Lights Festival in Arizona and the Mothman Festival in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. When extraterrestrials give you lemons, I guess you should make lemonade--and then open up a stand to sell it.  A weirder example of capitalizing on the paranormal might be the bizarre sleepwalking videos of Celina Myers, which have gone viral according to the article "Move over Paranormal Activity, it's time for sleepwalker TikTok."

Of course, sleepwalking has been known at least since Lady Macbeth kept yelling "out damn spot" in her sleep.  It features in the early American gothic story Somnambulism by Charles Brockden Brown, who also made it a major theme in his novel Edgar Huntly.  Parapsychologist Baron Karl Ludwig von Reichenbach (1788–1869) attributed sleepwalking to what he called the "Odic force," which sounds like a rather spooky explanation.  But I think Myers is the first to turn it into a sort of reality TV.

"Heaven's Gate" UFO Suicide Cult Discussed on NPR's "Snap Judgment"

 

The National Public Radio program "Snap Judgment" presents a fascinating history of the "Heaven's Gate" cult that began in 1972 and gained international notoriety in 1997 when 39 of its members committed suicide in a San Diego mansion, with the expectation that they would be carried into another dimension by extraterrestrials.  The nearly hour-long program covers the history of the cult, its beliefs, and the cultural influences that encouraged so many to join.  One of its major cultural influences was Erich von Daniken's Chariots of the Gods, as discussed by Benjamin Zeller in his book Heaven's Gate: America's UFO Religion (also available from the Rutgers Libraries).  Worth a listen, and definitely a viable topic for this class.

The Phenomenon

I always like to include a documentary film among the class readings in the Research in the Disciplines course. Fortunately, there is a first-rate film this year called "The Phenomenon" -- about unidentified flying objects. You can rent the film for less than $4-$5 at various streaming sites, as listed on the main website for the film.