One area where software development lags far behind other technical design disciplines like electronic and mechanical engineering is in standards of evidence.
To illustrate what I mean, I want to talk about the July 2023 congressional hearings on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (“UAPs”).
Former military and intelligence personnel gave testimony under oath about encounters with UAP, and some sensational claims were made by David Grusch – who had worked with the UAP Task Force at the Department of Defence – about captured “non-human” aircraft, materials and “biologics” being held by private defence contractors.
Some UFO researchers hold the testimonies of the very credible witnesses as proof that we are being visited by at least one civilisation that’s far in advance technologically of ours.
The scientists working in the DoD’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), and in NASA’s UAP working group disagree with that interpretation.
Witness testimony – even given under oath – is merely evidence that somebody said something. And maybe they really believe what they say. But that doesn’t make it real.
Since that congressional hearing more than 2 years ago, no hard evidence has entered the public or scientific domain that supports Grusch’s claims.
The NASA working group complained that the military were less than forthcoming with good data that it’s believed they may be holding (they admit as much on the record). But, again, that’s not in itself evidence of “non-human” visitation and alien vehicle reverse-engineering projects. It’s evidence that the military and their contractors are keeping secrets. Who knew, right?
And, yes, there are videos – confirmed by the military to be genuine – showing anomalous objects recorded by Airforce and Navy personnel during routine operations off the coast of the United States and in combat zones around the world.
But those videos, taken by themselves, show nothing particularly sensational. Accounts of “instant acceleration” and other impossible manoeuvres accompany these videos, but are not captured in them.
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