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Loebism: Conjectures and Refutaions

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I’m beginning to wonder whether Prof. Loeb is actually aware of the curious details of the history of actual science—as opposed to the hagiographical stories we like to congratulate science with as we daydream about what science must or ought to be like. Whenever scientists wax reflexive or “philosophical”, we really should start to get the jitters—especially in today’s post-1960s world of Feynmanian “shut up and calculate”, where (from my personal experience) most scientists, even the savants, have a very unsubtle (and idealistic) grasp of real history of science, let alone the philosophy that both guides and underwrites it. So I want to talk about “Loebism”. I am not sure that I can provide a general account of Loebism yet, but I can begin to discern the outlines of it. And it’s not particularly promising. Not for UAP study, and not for science, either. (But maybe that’s just me being cranky yet again…) Let’s begin with the latest outpourings from his ever-active “Medium” blo
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the day (or three weeks) after the party: post-event reflections, and my future odyssey into the world of ufological academia

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W ell, as I sit in my darkened living room, following the Great California Deluge (at least so far  for the Year 2023; the gods only know what's in store for us in the weeks, months and years hence), listening to the style galant of J.S. Bach’s son J.C., I reflect that it’s been just about exactly three (very long) weeks since the conclusion of the three-day Symposium I organized (with some great help from some great folks), an event which I hosted virtually from my alma mater out in Amish Country rural Pennsylvania. ( Post-event access is still available through 16 March, if you’re interested to catch the recordings of our 15 or so presentations—just follow the previous link.) I will leave it to others to review the sessions or the Symposium as a whole, as my role here is as plain reporter not critical evaluator. My esteemed interlocutor, Bryan Sentes (an invitee and participant of the event, who organized a fantastic cross-disciplinary panel at the conclusion of the very in
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On the use of 'UAP' ... and speaking of which: the first-in-a-while academic conference on the subject of UAP Studies

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T he notion that ‘UAP’ as a term is of relatively recent provenance is, as many of you likely know, mistaken. In fact, the term goes back to what we like to think of as the very origins of the modern fascination with and interest in the phenomenon of unidentified aerospace anomalies (there’s another acronym to add to our soup bowl…). We can find it used as early as 1949. A day or so ago, I was digging around for more information on the “Oak Ridge” UFO case, very surprisingly cursorily sketched in Hynek’s own excepts from the rich Project Blue Book files. As I get some of my thoughts in order for my interview on Coast-To-Coast AM with George Knapp tonight at 10pm PST (you may be surprised or annoyed at that—and I’ll explain to you dear readers, annoyed and delighted, just why I’ve been invited by Mr. Knapp to do the interview), I’ve been going over some of the more classic UFO cases, sometimes reconsidering them entirely, or reviewing what I had thought I knew about them. Even befo
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Part II of my conceptual review of "Anomaly - A Scientific Exploration of the UFO Phenomenon" by Daniel Coumbe

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  Part Two of Anomaly: A Scientific Exploration of the UFO Phenomenon asks three “bigger picture” questions: Where Are All the UFOs ? When Are All the UFOs ? And finally: What Does It All Mean?  The main sections of Part II are concerned with ferreting out important correlations, or at least seeing if those that are frequently claimed or discussed in ufology actually pan out. Are UFOs significantly correlated with miliary bases, bodies of water, earthquakes, the time of the year, or the release of UFO- or alien-themed movies? This would give us a sense of the where and the when. What are they and what do they want? This would give us a sense of what it all means. But what’s most valuable in this section, besides the actual analysis itself, is the primer he gives to the reader who mightn’t be familiar with the basics of prob and stat (as we said above). Let us dive in a bit more. There’re all sorts of things we think are associated with one another, and in the UFO community there’re
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