Symposium on unidentified flying objects: hearings before the Committee on Science and Astronautics, U.S. House of Representatives, Ninetieth Congress, second session, July 29, 1968.

91
So,
to
conclude
what
I
understand
is
the
main
reason
why
this
committee
has
asked
me
to
testify,
it
is
not
beyond
any
question
of
doubt
that
we
can be
visited.
There
are great
difficulties
from
our
present
point
of
view.
They
are
not
insuperable.
And
if
Dr. McDonald,
for
example, were
to
present
me
with
extremely
convincing
evidence
of
an
advanced
technology
in
a
UFO,
I
could
not say
to
him
that
is
impossible,
because
I
know
you
can't
get
from
there to
here,
or
I
can't
say
to
him
that
is
impossible because
I
know
there
aren't
any
other
guys
up
there.
On
the
other
hand,
I
would
of
course
demand
very
firm evidence
before
I
would
say,
well,
that
seems
to
be
a
very
likely
hypothesis.
So
I
would
like
to
spend
just
a few
minutes
to
come more
closely
to
the
subject
of
this
symposium.
First
of
all,
I
think
it
is
clear
to
the committee,
but
this
point
should
be emphasized
very
strongly,
that
there
are
very
intense,
predispos-
ing,emotional
factors
in
this subject.
There
are
individuals
who
very
strongly
want
to
believe
that
UFO's
are
of
intelligent extraterrestrial
origin.
Essentially
to
my
view,
for
religious
motives; that
is,
things are so
bad
down
here,
maybe
some-
body
from
up
there
will
come and
save
us
from
ourselves.
This
takes
all
sorts
of
subtle
and
not
so
subtle
forms.
There
are
also
predisposing
emotional
factors
in
the
other
direction;
people
who
very
much
want
to
believe
UFO's
are
not of
intelligent extraterrestrial
origins,
be-
cause that
would
be
threatening to
our
conception
of us
as being the
pinnacle
of
creation.
We
would
find
it
very
upsetting to discover
that
we
are not,that
we
are
just
a
sort
of
two-bit
civilization.
It
is
clear
that the
scientific
method
says
you
don't
take
either
of
those views,
and
you
simply keep
an
open
mind
and
pursue whatever
facts
are at
hand
with
as
many
diverse
hypotheses as
possible,
and
try to
eliminate
each
suggested hypothesis,
and
see
if
you
are
lucky
with
any
one.
I
might
mention
that,
on
this
symposium,
there are
no
individuals
who
strongly
disbelieve
in
the
extraterrestrial
origin
of
UFO's
and
therefore there
is
a
certain
view, not
necessarily
one
I
strongly agree
with—but
there
is
a
certain
view
this
committee
is
not
hearing today,
along
those
lines.
Finally,
let
me
say something about
the
question
of
priorities,
which
Congressman Rumsfeld
asked us
for,
and
the
question
of
significance.
Now,
the
possibility
of
discovering
something about
extraterrestrial
life, life
originated
on some
other
planet,
is
of
the very
highest
interest
for
biology
and
in fact
for
all
science.
A
bona
fide
example of
extra-
terrestrial life
even
in
a
very simple
form, would
revolutionize biology.
It
would have both
practical
and
fundamental
scientific
benefits,
which
are very hard
to
assess,
it
would
truly
be immense.
Now,
if
the answer to
this sort
of profound
scientific
question
lies
right at
hand,
it
would be
folly
to ignore
it.
If
we
are being
visited
by
representatives
of
extraterrestrial
life,
just stick
our heads
in the
sand, would be
a
very bad
policy,
I
think.
On
the other
hand,
to
mount a major
effort
to investigate these
things,
I
think requires
some
harder evidence than
is
now
at
hand.
It
is clear that if
such
an
effort
were mounted,some
information
onatmospheric physics
would be forthcoming.
I
think
some
information
on psychology would
certainly
be forthcoming.
I
have the impression