Reply #30: This subject is classified "Above Top Secret."

[Octafish]

... which was the name of the book by Timothy Goode on the subject. Those who've done any reading and research in the field take the matter most seriously -- UFO reports exist. What UFOs are, and the underlying reasons for them, are open to interpretation, but deserve serious scientific exploration.

The first name that comes to mind is the late Northwestern astronomer and USAF Blue Book Project Scientist J Allen Hynek. Next comes his protege:

Jacques Vallee — computer scientist, paranormal researcher, and venture capitalist — described the workings of the world as that of an associative universe. Somehow the mind works as a rudder that helps steer our experiences toward things and events that seem outside of our control, yet are more likely to occur because of our awareness. The theory — like Positive Thinking — has great applications in Politics.

From an essay about serendipitous discovery, “The Library Angel,” comes a decent overview of the phenomenon:

Excerpt…

When a highly unlikely, textual coincidence occurred during a Los Angeles cab ride to astrophysicist Jacques Vallee, he was inspired to consider the nature of chance. Pondering the often-cited (and mysterious) equivalence of energy and information, Vallee decided "we live in the associative universe of the software scientist rather than the sequential universe of the space-time physicist."

Vallee's obscure concept sums up the egghead approach to this phenomenon. More fun is to imagine there really is a library angel. Not as some schoolmarm with mottled wings, from cosmic central casting -- but rather, as a Hepburn-ish archangel from the Bureau of Coincidence. With sly humour, she zooms about book stacks, dumping a pixie-dust of cross-references on amazed readers and researchers (that's my angel, you can imagine your own).

Continued…

http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Gallery/3452/libangel.htm

PS: Thanks for a great post, Minstrel Boy!



Tippo: double-posted text.