Documents / Hearing transcript
This is the printed record of a July 29, 1968 symposium on unidentified flying objects held by the Committee on Science and Astronautics of the U.S. House of Representatives, chaired by Rep. J. Edward Roush. The committee heard statements from six scientists: J. Allen Hynek, James E. McDonald, Carl Sagan, Robert L. Hall, James A. Harder and Robert M. L. Baker. It also printed papers from Donald Menzel, Stanton Friedman, Frank Salisbury and others. Hynek argued that puzzling UFO reports from competent witnesses deserve serious scientific study.
“Nevers”43 pages
106 I think we have precisely the same risk of misinterpretation as hos- tile aircraft, with again the same resulting recommendation. I think we have again the same possible great value from under- standing the phenomenon in order to advance our knowledge. The third major hypothesis, explanation, which I cited above, is that even the most solid and plausible cases reported are results of mass hysteria and hysterical contagion.I simply note that if this is the case,I regard it as prima facie evidence that we badly need to improve our understanding of mass hysteria,of the process of belief formation, of the means by which we might control the kinds of anxiety that produce this problem. In this situation there is still the dangerous risk of panic, even if there is no physical phenomenon underlying these reports. There is still the risk of misinterpretation of hos6le aircraft, and I would sub- mit that there is still the great potential benefit from studying it thoroughly and scientifically,in this case the gain being a gain in socio- logical and psychological knowledge, which would be of obvious im- portance if all of this is caused simply by mass hysteria. I have a few conclusions and recommendations which I have written out. I will try to tie these to what others have said as I go along. My first conclusion would be that no matter what explanation you accept, we have here a rare opportunity for gaining some useful knowl- edge by a thorough detached study of UFO reports, and a systematic gathering of new information, hopefully with good instrumentation, and good, well-trained interviewing teams. My second conclusion would be that hysteria and contagion of be- lief can account for some of the reports, but there is strong evidence that there is some physical phenomena underlying a portion of the reports. Third,I would conclude that because of the lack of trustworthy in- formation the systems of conflicting beliefs has been built up to ac- count for a very ambiguous set of circumstances. Each of these posi- tions is sometimes defended beyond the point of rationality. Fourth, I would repeat my earlier statement as a conclusion, that whether or not there is a physical phenomenon underlying a portion of the reports, we clearly have a social psychological problem of sub- duing these irrational systems of belief, defense of beliefs of lowering the anxiety about these reports, and of reducing the ambiguity about their nature. The recommendations that I had written out were two—excuse me, were three, and overlap considerably with the comments of my col- leagues. I would say that the most important matter is to promote the fullest possible free circulation of all the available information about this phenomena. This should help reduce risks of panic and other dangerous irrational actions. It should help to weaken these systems of belief, the irrational elements in them. Here I would say indifference, or disinterest on the part of national leaders can retard our learning about this phenomenon,and open interest and encouragement can help. I believe you are performing a fine service in having this kind of open inquiry. This whole matter badly needs to be treated as something deserving serious study. The second recommendation I have to make concerns some general lines of research that would seem to me called for. One of these seems
Hearing transcript, from the govinfo collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 256 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.