The Other Side of Midnight - Richard C. Hoagland - Live Chat Thread

[zeebo]

Heinlein reference ... take a jello shot.

[trostol]

next thing RCH is gonna tell us was found on the moon is Alice Kramden

[SaucyRossy]

What kind of ratings would a manned moon mission today get?

[Bradsmith313]

Mmmmmm. Pistols might have been an original choice for survival kits. I know that the Russians did have guns in their survival kits.

[BellBoy]

What kind of ratings would a manned moon mission today get?

6 Neilson points below Kim K. getting her nails done  :

[trostol]

What kind of ratings would a manned moon mission today get?

depends..would the Kardashians be hosting it?

[Bradsmith313]

What kind of ratings would a manned moon mission today get?

A part of me hopes that the ratings would be high, but . . . .

[pate]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qexS5hBB1C0

[Pumamama]

I am genuinely amused at how much this guest annoys you.

Why isn't there one picture of this guy in a cop or military uniform online?

Yep, I'm all snarked out tonight. Too much caffeine, weird schedule, the usual.

"Americans lost interest in the moon."   Spoken by a true doofus pinhead airhead.

[Juan Cena]

OMG:

RCH & R Heinlein were in Downey for the moon landing?

Wait, I thought RCH was hanging out with Cronkite when the Moon landing happened?

[norland2424]

depends..would the Kardashians be hosting it?

maybe we should launch the kardashians to the moon 

[Pumamama]

next thing RCH is gonna tell us was found on the moon is Alice Kramden

Got it. Anyone else?

And for bonus points:   what does his reference have to do with Richard Nixon.

Just lost the stream.

[Bradsmith313]

Wait, I thought RCH was hanging out with Cronkite when the Moon landing happened?

Yeah I know . . . .

[Pumamama]

He's Forrest Gump!

[GuerrillaUnReal]

[trostol]

[Manx]

Got it. Anyone else?

And for bonus points:   what does his reference have to do with Richard Nixon.

Just lost the stream.

stream is cutting out on me too, but it comes back

[Pumamama]

maybe we should launch the kardashians to the moon 

Send Con-yay too.

[Bradsmith313]

Skinwalker Ranch?!

[zeebo]

What kind of ratings would a manned moon mission today get?

You'd have to mix it up with some reality show competition.  Maybe have Survivor in Space, or Moonbase Talent Show, etc.

[trostol]

Skinwalker Ranch?!

thats what it sounded like

[Pumamama]

Thank you so much for that!!!!

[Pumamama]

Next time you're unhappy w/ your spouse, watch an episode of the Honeymooners for perspective.

[Pumamama]

You'd have to mix it up with some reality show competition.  Maybe have Survivor in Space, or Moonbase Talent Show, etc.

Dancing With the Stars...On the Moon!

[Bradsmith313]

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/The_Brookings_Report

Warnings

In the most interesting section of the report, the authors contemplated the possibility that contact might be made with extraterrestrial intelligence, and they warned that this might not be an unmitigated cause for celebration.

"Anthropological files contain many examples of societies, sure of their place in the universe, which have disintegrated when they have had to associate with previously unfamiliar societies espousing different ideas and different life ways; others that survived such an experience usually did so by paying the price of changes in values and attitudes and behavior." (p. 183)

"It has been speculated that, of all groups, scientists and engineers might be the most devastated by the discovery of relatively superior creatures, since these professions are most clearly associated with the mastery of nature, rather than with the understanding and expression of man. Advanced understanding of nature might vitiate all our theories at the very least, if not also require a culture and perhaps a brain inaccessible to earth scientists." (p. 103)

However, they looked on the bright side as well:
"The knowledge that life existed in other parts of the universe might lead to a greater unity of men on earth, based on the 'oneness' of man or on the age-old assumption that any stranger is threatening. Much would depend on what, if anything, was communicated between man and the other beings" (p. 183)

[Morgus]

The infamous Brookings Report again.

[Bradsmith313]

Did Brookings tell NASA to STFU about ETs if evidence were ever found?

No.
[edit]How did the rumor get started?

NASA haters repeat ad nauseam the mantra that NASA has already discovered evidence of extraterrestrial civilization, at least on the Moon and the planet Mars, and possibly elsewhere in the solar system. On poorly-designed web sites and in very poorly-researched books, they point to what are called "anomalies," and loudly accuse NASA of covering up the evidence. It does not seem to bother them that the "evidence" for a NASA cover-up is derived from NASA itself.
Historically, a question they found difficult to answer was "Why would NASA wish to suppress news that would cause its budget to increase dramatically, as the US Government pulled out all the stops to ensure that it would be the representative of world civilization in dealings with ET?" In 1993 the former museum curator Richard Hoagland came up with a plausible answer. Assisted by Don Ecker and Lee Clinton, he dug up the then-obscure Brookings Report and triumphantly pointed to the following passage:
"...two research areas can be recommended -- Continuing studies to determine [the public's] emotional and intellectual understanding and attitudes -- and successive alterations of them if any -- regarding the possibility and consequences of discovering intelligent extraterrestrial life. Historical and empirical studies of the behavior of peoples and their leaders when confronted with dramatic and unfamiliar events or social pressures. Such studies might help to provide programs for meeting and adjusting to the implications of such a discovery. Questions one might wish to answer by such studies would include: how might such information, under what circumstances, be presented to or withheld from the public for what ends? What might be the role of the discovering scientists and other decision makers regarding release of the fact of discovery?"
Note that the text gives exactly equal weight to the expressions "presented to" and "withheld from." Note that this text merely recommends a research effort, and does not itself express any opinion on the matter. Note that no such research was ever in fact funded or carried out. Surely, a man would need to be very dishonest to cite this report as evidence that NASA was directed to cover up ET evidence.
And yet, we have this, from authors Richard Hoagland and Mike Bara:
"So here we had the proverbial smoking gun. Not only was NASA advised--almost from its inception--to withhold any data that supported the reality of Cydonia or any other discovery like it, they were told to do so for the good of human society as a whole." --Dark Mission 2nd edn, p. 163
Appearing in the cable TV show Ancient Aliens (S4E5, The NASA Connection), Mike Bara said this:
"The Brookings Report said very specifically, 'Don't tell anyone'"
Writing in UFO Digest, editor Robert Morningstar gave his interpretation:[1]
"To really understand the official NASA non-disclosure policy, ... we must first remember an important historical point. NASA internal policy prohibits disclosure by command and control mechanisms engineered and implemented after the Brookings Institution 1960's report on "Peaceful Uses of Outer Space".[sic]
In that report, the Brookings Institution recommended prohibition of disclosure, with a warning against the revelation of the existence of extraterrestrial life to the people of America or the world. Brookings Institution thinkers feared social, economic and religious upheaval would result."

[trostol]

Next time you're unhappy w/ your spouse, watch an episode of the Honeymooners for perspective.

indeed..now a days Alice would have left him

[Pumamama]

Now he knows all about Roddenberry's beliefs.

"Roddenberry resented Tracy Torme.." = Self Importance. Trashing others unable to defend themselves to appear important.

[Bradsmith313]

The Brookings Report only SUGGESTED that government leaders withhold information. No part of it ever demanded NASA to cover things up.