SMU Journal Review of the New Frontiers Symposium

From The Journal, the university paper at St. Mary's, where the New Frontiers Symposium was held:

Stanton T. Friedman Lectures at SMU:
"A Cosmic Watergate?"
by James O'Brien

On October 14th, Redstar Productions hosted a UFO symposium at SMU. Redstar produces UFO documentary films. The symposium presented many lecturers on UFO phenomena, including Mr. Friedman whose lecture focused on the physics of interstellar travel and the probability of flying saucers. His thesis concerned the probability of many different forms of space travel and how these technologies are currently being developed. They ranged from nuclear fission propulsion, using the gravitational pull of other planets (a method used in the Moon "landings") as well as a brief astronomy lesson about where deep space travel could take us - to nearby stars and constellations "in our own backyard", referring to the Milky Way.

His lecture contrasted with the others, as his was more technical and mathematical versus the conjecture and use of memorandum and testimonies of UFO sightings. Friedman's lecture had little to do with UFO sightings and the existence of UFOs and more to do with space travel and physics theory. The lecture was a straighforward presentation that would not seem out of place in an introduction course on astrophysics. It was interesting to note that one of the big names in the UFO conspiracy community gave a lecture at a UFO symposium that mentioned extraterrestrial life in passing.

Make no mistake, Friedman does believe in extraterrestrials, positing that the intergalactic community has us quarantined - asking if it would be reasonable to let a race with our destructive history loose on the cosmos?

After his lecture, Friedman discussed alien abduction - a topic he didn't cover during his speech. His take on alien abductions is the same as his on UFO sightings, that there are those that are mistaken for "natural" phenomena, hoaxes and then those which are unexplainable. "It is simply case by case analysis."

What does he believe regarding the theory that alien abduction being symptomatic of sleep paralysis?

"While sleep paralysis is real and there are situations which alien abduction can be explained by this," he noted alien abduction cases which cannot be explained by sleep paralysis. Referring to the Betty and Barney Hill case, where both shared the same experience and Mr. Hill was driving at the time, he asked, "how would this be a case of sleep paralysis?"

Is there any correlation between alien abductions and the MK Ultra tests - a nationwide US experiment in the 50's and 60's where private citizens were abducted by military personnel and forced injections of hallucinogens? Friedman observed that both cases demonstrate the vulnerability of the human mind to external control. Citing Betty and Barney Hill again, Friedman explained that as Mr. Hill was driving, he was compelled to drive into an open field so that the saucer could land. He cited this as an alarming example of mind control and said he "could see how any government would love to get their hands on this sort of mind control."

When asked about Gary McKinnon, the British hacker charged with infiltrating NASA, CIA and FBI files in search of UFO evidence, Friedman replied, "I think that is merely just the US government panicking. I've read how he hacked into government and Pentagon computers," referring to the lack of security on said computers. "They were caught with their pants down and now they have to save face and make an example out of him." Friedman showed disdain for the Bush administration, charging them with violating human rights and the Geneva Convention for economic agendas.

"You know that I am a dual citizen (Canadian and US) and the only time that I was ever embarrassed to be an American, and I have always been proud to be an American, was when George Bush said that he was going to set up a model democracy in Iraq."

I asked him if he has ever received any hostility from authorities for his research and lectures. "No. Definitely not."

Always nice to get free publicity, even if it was after the Symposium as opposed to before!

Paul Kimball

Aliant.net Review of the New Frontiers Symposium

Here's another review of the New Frontiers Symposium, by Halifax writer / critic Ron Foley MacDonald:

UFO Conference Explores the Unknown
Ron Foley Macdonald

Halifax hosted an early Halloween party on October 14th when Redstar Films presented the first New Frontiers Symposium at St. Mary's University. Covering subjects such as Extraterrestial Life, Space Exploration and The Future, and examinations of various strange creatures such as the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot and Chupacabras from Puerto Rico, the conference was a weird and wonderful confluence of what constitutes the borders of known knowledge.

Redstar President Paul Kimball delivered one of the sessions himself in the day-long seminar. His subject was four of the top-ten UFO incidents. Not surprisingly, it is the subject of his latest documentary film for the Space Channel. Kimball's latest non-fiction film, Fields Of Fear--on the subject of possible mutilation of livestock by alien interference--made its debut on the Space Channel in mid-September of this year. Check your local listings because the hour-long film will be returning to the small screen in various re-broadcasts through the fall and winter.

The actual conference was open to the public, allowing attendees the rare chance to question some of the world's UFO and para-normal experts directly. A final Q&A session ended the conference Saturday night, giving the speakers the opportunity to discuss and debate amongst themselves.

Hearing Stanton K. Friedman--the leading civilian investigator of UFO phenomena in the United Stages and Canada--debate Greg Bishop about the current status of 'the Contactee Movement' was worth the price of admission alone. Using the infamous Betty and Barney Hill case from the early 1960s as a starting point, the duo covered all sorts of fascinating ground concerning why the whole 'Alien Abduction' story seems to linger on despite various authority groups' stringent attempts to discredit it.

On a practical note, one sessioneer--the IT specialist William Wise--delivered a nuts-and-bolts talk on how a raft of dedicated volunteers are putting the voluminous information from the now-unclassified 'Project Blue Book' on the web for better public access. Project Blue Book contains the American Defense department's records of unexplained encounters, from strange balls of light all the way to UFOs.

Begun in the immediate post-war period during the depths of the Cold War, the archival material contains so much information that it will take years to get it all posted on the web.

Another fascinating session, by the British writer (now living in Florida) Nick Redfern, revolved around the issue of 'Crypto-Biology'. Redfern detailed strange and mythical creatures from around the world, from the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland (which he personally researched for almost 20 years) to the more recently discussed appearances of Chupacabras in Puerto Rico. Cupacabras are kind of a cross between vampires and gargoyles, and have haunted that Caribbean Island for centuries. Their story has only emerged to the wider world over the last decade or so.

Redfern's main argument was simple and elegant. There are, he says, apparently, many life forms on this planet that defy easy explanation. Like much of the rest of the conference, Redfern's presentation keyed in on the whole process of keeping an open mind, and encouraging communication and ongoing research.

The Conference's keynote speaker was American Historian Robert Zimmerman, who delivered an engrossing talk on little-known incidents from the American, Soviet and Russian Space programs. His expert testimony revealed many small but surprisingly enlightening moments in programs that revealed just how far we've progressed in the process of space exploration.

Entertaining, provocative and informative, the New Frontiers Symposium is further proof that Halifax is well on its way to becoming the Roswell of Canada. With several world-class UFO researchers based out of the city, and the Shag Harbour Incident of October, 1967 proving to be this country's equivalent of that famous late 1940's New Mexico incident, the East Coast of Canada is turning into a hotbed of para-normal inquiries.

Attaining coverage from CBC and CKDU Radio, along with featured print articles in The Halifax Daily News, The Chronicle-Heral and the St. Mary's Student Union weekly paper The Journal, the New Frontiers Symposium clearly achieved an impact on the media. Kimball, in a post-conference e-mail, promised that the gathering will be back next year to continue the discourse on the borders of the known and the unknown.

For more info on this years New Frontiers Symposium, check out nfs2006.com.

Roswell of Canada?? I hope not! :-)

As I noted in a yet-to-be-published comment at the Aliant.net site, it's Stanton T. Friedman, and Nick hails from Texas now, not Florida. Otherwise, thanks to RFM for the nice review - glad he enjoyed the day.

Paul Kimball

Greg Bishop's New Frontiers Photo Show

"Spacebrother" Greg Bishop has a nice set of photos from the New Frontiers Symposium and his trip to Halifax up on the Net - you can find them here.

Here's a shot of me laying out the best evidence for the objective reality of the UFO phenomenon.

Hopefully Greg will add more photos in the days to come. Of the current crop, my favourite is the shot of Nick Redfern and Stan Friedman at Freeman's restaurant - "Crash at Corona" and "Body Snatchers in the Desert" trying to figure out what to have for lunch!

Paul Kimball

NFS Reports

Here are a couple of reports from Jezzie, of the blog I Dream a Little Dream, who came to Halifax all the way from Texas to take in the Symposium.

Part 1

Part 2

Good stuff - thanks J.

Paul Kimball

UFOs... Organic Beings, or AI?

There's a debate going on over at UFO Updates right now about whether alien visitors to Earth are organic, flesh and blood beings like us, or some form of artificial intelligence (assuming there are such visitors, an assumption I don't make, but I'll go with it for the sake of argument).

The "organic, flesh and blood" types seem to be having trouble wrapping their minds around the concept of AI - indeed, the probability that, if aliens are here, they would be some form of AI (they have clearly not read Kurzweil lately, or seen an episode of Battlestar Galactica). The adherence of some folks to the idea that alien visitors would be flesh and blood, organic beings is almost... quaint. In many respects, it reminds me of how some evangelical Christians have for years portrayed Jesus as a blond-haired, blue-eyed northern European, or how for centuries people tried to fit "God" into their own conception of what "God" should be, and look like, i.e. them, only much more powerful.

When talking about potential alien explorers, it's time to jettison that comfortable conceit - or at the very least expand your horizons to include the possibility (or, as I would say, probability) that they would be some form of AI, because that is precisely what aliens who encounter us in space in 100 years are likely going to run into.

Things are changing fast in the world of "computers" (a word that just doesn't cover it), and that includes AI. Think about where we are now, and how far we've come in such a relatively short span of time.

I can think of no-one better to illustrate that point than Captain James T. Kirk himself, William Shatner.



That was 1982, folks, when Gorf was the "wonder arcade game".

Again, take a moment to think of how far we've come in such a short time, and then tell me there's nothing to AI as a theory for what alien explorers might look like.

The folks at Updates who "get" AI and the implications and possibilities it presents are playing an interactive game on the X-Box 360; everyone else is still playing Gorf on the Vic-20.

Paul Kimball

New Frontiers Symposium Report - Vol. II

Here's my take on the Symposium:

About 50 people showed up at McNally Auditorium at St. Mary’s University, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, for the 2006 New Frontiers Symposium. They were treated to a tour de force by some of the best "new frontier" researchers around today, as well as a presentation by yours truly.

First up in the morning session was Virginian Will Wise, a software engineer who is the driving force behind the Project Blue Book Archive, which is, for my money, the best on-line research resource for anyone even remotely interested in the serious study of the UFO phenomenon. Will gave a brief history of Project Blue Book, and its predecessors, and then talked about the Archive. I spoke with the other speakers, and all agreed that Will is to be commended for his work on this important project, which slowly but surely is making all of the Blue Book files available to anyone, free of charge. Will also snags the award for best-dressed speaker, with a very stylish ensemble that eclipsed even Stan Friedman.

Next up was the always entertaining Nick Redfern, the Joey Ramone of the paranormal. Moving away from his usual topics of body snatchers in the desert and saucer spies, Nick spoke about cryptozoology, i.e. those strange creatures like bigfoot and the chupacabras that allegedly wander about the countryside, usually just out of reach of investigators (i.e. they’ve never seen one, much less caught one). His talk was given in the spirit of what, in my opinion, is Nick’s best book, Three Men Seeking Monsters, which is to say a mixture of the sublime and the ridiculous. Along the way, he also made the very good point that science occasionally discovers animals that were previously unknown to us, so it’s unwise to dimiss cryptozoology, although the Loch Ness Monster might be a bit of a stretch.

The final speaker of the morning was author and essayist Mac Tonnies. A native of Independence, Missouri, Mac tells it like it is, much like another (more) famous Independence native, Harry S. Truman (of MJ-12 fame, and apparently also a former President - who knew??). Mac spoke on the subject of Transhumanism, i.e. what the near future holds for the development of humanity. His lecture, however, was more than a simple recitation of Kurzweil-ian predictions - if there is a philosopher amongst those who research and write about the paranormal, it is Tonnies. He makes people think, and challenges their perceptions and beliefs. His presentation was as much a fireside chat as a lecture, a thoughtful and at times cryptic appeal to those in the audience to take the future seriously, and to make a difference before it's too late.

Lunch was had by the speakers and a few others who tagged along at one of Halifax’s better eating establishments, Freeman’s of New York. Bill Cosby once said it was the best pizza in town, although Bob Zimmerman was adamant that any restaurant where you couldn’t get a slice of cheese pizza was not an actual pizza restaurant. It’s a New York thing, apparently.

The Symposium reconvened at 1:30 with Greg Bishop, who took his usual two hour long lecture on the contactee movement and whizzed through it in just under an hour. However, because Greg knows his material inside-out, nothing was lost in the abridged version. Perhaps no one other than Jerry Clark is as knowledgeable about the contactees as Greg. His presentation had strong echoes of the classic documentary, "Farewell Good Brothers", which is to say that while Greg acknowledges that most of the contactees were bogus, he leaves the door open for the possibility that some of them may have had experiences with an intelligence from beyond, and he has a great deal of affection for them. Greg is definitely one of the more intellectually adventurous guys in paranormal research these days, and he’s not afraid to challenge widely-held beliefs about any aspect of the parnormal.

Greg was followed by yours truly, talking about some of the "best evidence" cases that prove the UFO phenomenon is an objective reality. McMinnville, the Valentich case, Tehran 1976, the 1953 sighting by Kelly Johnson and some of his top test pilots, and the 1957 Vins-sur-Caramy case from France were all referenced, as was a hitherto unknown case from Prince Edward Island in the 1960s to which I’ve been made privy. I think I also mentioned RB-47s somewhere along the way, and I may have been the first person to ever use the "F" word in a UFO lecture. As to the quality of my presentation, I’ll let someone else speak to that. Let’s just say that it was probably the most "theatrical".

Closing out the afternoon session was Stan Friedman, who went back to his roots as a nuclear physicist with a compelling presentation about flying saucers and physics. Yes, there was the obligatory mention of the dreaded "Cosmic Watergate", etc., but for the most part Stan stayed away from the conspiracy end of things and focused on how "they" could get from there to here,
and where "they" might be coming from. As always, Stan was entertaining, tossing off one-liners and bon mots with aplomb. However, he was also very convincing, if not of the" fact" that aliens are here, then at least of the possibility that, should they exist nearby, and be just slightly more advanced than us, then they could get here. I’ve seen Stan over a dozen times over the years, and I thought that this was the best presentation he’s given. He’s still got it.

Dinner followed for the speakers, who all braved the torrential downpour that the Gods had unleashed to make their way to Henry House for an excellent, if slightly rushed, meal.

The evening session kicked off with the keynote speaker of the Symposium, award-winning historian of space exploration Robert Zimmerman. Bob told several great stories of the courage and ingenuity of astronauts and cosmonauts during what can only be referred to as the golden age of space exploration (the current version being, more or less, the "leaden" age), including one amazing story of how desperate Soviet cosmonauts, who had to perform a space walk (for which they were untrained), patched together a space suit that had a hole in it with duct tape, and managed to get the job done! Bob’s lecture was inspiring stuff to all of those who, like myself, believe that "space is the place" - he ended with a ringing call for leadership in the space program, and for us to get back "out there".

After Bob finished, all of the speakers took their seats on the firing line, i.e. the speakers panel, as emcee Veronica Reynolds (who did a super job all day long) managed a Q & A session with the audience (and sometimes with speakers asking other speakers questions) that lasted over an hour, and covered topics as diverse as remote viewing, abductions, and space exploration. Some highlights included Stan getting a dig in at Nick’s book "Body Snatchers in the Desert" (which Nick took in stride, unless he had dozed off, in which case this is the first he’s heard of it), Mac trying to explain his cryptoterrestrial hypothesis in a hundred words or less (he didn’t quite make it), Greg and I politely disagreeing about the effectiveness of remote viewing, and Stan and Bob talking about propulsion systems for space exploration. When the topic of abductions came up, a couple of us were quite critical of modern abductionologists like Budd Hopkins and David Jacobs, while Stan defended them, in principle if not necessarily in practice.

After the Symposium ended, the speakers and some friends (except for Stan, who turned in) went back to the Westin, where everyone was staying, and finished the day with drinks and conversation, most of which had nothing to do with UFOs, the paranormal, or space exploration, although Mac Tonnies did continue to opine about a posthuman future, especially when I pressed him about which actress he would include in his virtual reality if he could download his consciousness (his answer? Natalie Portman).

In the end, a great time was had by all!

Paul Kimball

New Frontiers Symposium Report - Vol. I

The 2006 New Frontiers Symposium is now officially over, and a good time, I think, was had by the 50 people (give or take) who managed to make it out in the rain (and it was raining hard by the afternoon) to see what I thought was a great group of speakers.

Yes, I wish the numbers had been higher, and yes, I'm going to take a "not insubstantial financial loss" on the Symposium this year. But that's only part of the story.

From a corporate point of view, my company got a lot of good coverage in the run-up to the Symposium - more than it's gotten in the previous seven years combined. That's a good thing, and a positive for us.

From a "do we do it again" point of view, I view the attendance as a beginning, not an end. The folks who showed up are something we can build on. And we will. We'll take what we did right, and use that as a foundation, and we'll learn from those things that we could have done better.

I view the 2006 Symposium as a trial-run for things to come. Will Wise and I were bouncing some very interesting ideas around after the Symposium about how we can move forward by using the Internet, and concepts such as live streaming of symposium video, which would allow people from all around the world to "attend", and, hopefully, even interact with the speakers. More on all of this in the days and weeks to come.

Most important (for me at least), is the sense of satisfaction in a job well done - a risk taken, and rewards gained, although perhaps not in the standard ways that people might think of. What do I mean? Well, it's worth noting that in my first production, way back in 1999, both my company and I lost money (as I said above about the Symposium, a "not insignificant amount"). But we demonstrated to the network that we could bring a good project in, on time and on budget (and it was a very small budget). As a result, bigger projects followed. We took the initial hit because we knew you have to start somewhere if you're going to build something. To use a cliche, Rome wasn't built in a day.

So too with the New Frontiers Symposium, which will have a 2007 edition, most likely in the late Spring. Some of the speakers are already being lined up; others will follow.

For now, let me just say THANKS to everyone who came to this year's Symposium, everyone who helped behind the scenes. Let me single out just a few:

- Redstar's Christine Boss, who manned the front door all day long;

- my brother Jim, who was also there pretty much all day long, working away;

- my parents, who attended for the whole day;

- my old pals Peter Black and Carrie Smith, who were also there pretty much all day long;

- our host, Veronica Reynolds;

- Will Wise, who designed and maintained the Symposium website;

- my friend Katie Martin, who flew in all the way from Texas to see the Symposium, and was great to hang out with;

- lastly, but by no means least (!!), my "better half" Linda Wood, who caught some of the sessions, but more importantly didn't smack me over the head with a frying pan or teddy bear when I (a) showed her the financial report from this year (which puts the kibosh on our winter vacation, except perhaps for Bedford - hahahahahaha...), and (b) didn't shoot me when I said we were going to do it again. Without her, there would have been no Symposium, nor would there be another.

Of course, thanks as well to all the folks like Rob McConnell at the X-Zone, the gang at the Book of Thoth, the Anomalist, Errol Bruce-Knapp at Strange Days.. Indeed, Tim Binnall at Binnall of America, my friend and fellow traveller Stuart Miller at UFO Review, and on and on and on down the line, who helped us get the word out this year. Much obliged, one and all.

Most important, thanks to the speakers / friends - Will Wise, Nick Redfern, Mac Tonnies, Stan Friedman, Greg Bishop, and Bob Zimmerman - who made it all truly worthwhile for me, and the audience. Great work, guys. A pleasure sharing a stage with you, and drinks afterwards! Hope you enjoyed yourselves as much as I did.

More later, including my take on the lectures, and photos etc. For now, however, you can check out an early review / report at The Halifax Daily News and Mysteries.ca (which includes some pics).

Paul Kimball

Are We Alone?

To anyone who thinks we're alone in the universe - that we are the jewel of creation, that we are "it" - you really need to take a prolonged wander through the website of the Hubble Telescope, and just look at the photos.

Try one of the other galaxies. Try to imagine the vastness of the universe.

And then tell me, with a straight face, that it's all there for us - including galaxies that we will probably never see, much less visit.

Is there intelligent life out there?

D'uh. It's the one thing that SETI and ufologists can agree on.

Is it coming here?

Who knows? But it's at least within the realm of possibility, if not now or in the past, then someday. It's definitely worthy of something more than just a smirk.

It's time for us to grow up, and accept the overwhelming odds that we are not alone - and then we need to start considering what that means for us, not necessarily in practical terms (we may never actually meet this ETI), but in terms of our understanding of ourselves, and how we interact with each other, and how we should go about resolving our differences.

Ironically, the realization that we are just a drop in the universal bucket, and a small drop at that, is what we need to open our eyes up to all of the larger possibilities, and to reorientate our way of thinking to the future, as opposed to fighting over the things that we've been fighting over for years, and in many cases decades or even centuries.

By realizing how small we are, we will become bigger in the ways that matter.

If you're an American, you might want to ask your candidates about this in the upcoming election - not the "UFO question", but rather the almost certain reality that we're not alone, and what they think of that.

Paul Kimball

Kimball of America

Tim Binnall knows how to put a promo together. Here is his "commercial" for my Binnall of America Audio appearance tomorrow night.

Perfect music, Tim!

Right back at ya!

Paul Kimball

Greg Bishop Interview at Book of Thoth

Greg Bishop is the latest "New Frontiers Symposium speaker to be interviewed by the good folks at the Book of Thoth. You can check it out here.

An excerpt:

BoT: How’d you come to be involved with the New Frontiers Symposium?

GB: Paul Kimball and Mac Tonnies were on my show a few months ago. The freewheeling conversation drifted to the topic of what was wrong with Ufology and what might be done to change it. Someone suggested a conference with people WE wanted to hear, and to his eternal credit, Paul decided to do it. Since I was “present at the time of creative inspiration” I forced him to put me on the speakers’ slate, or face massive legal retaliation.

Yes, the truth is out - nobody invites Greg on his merits as a speaker; rather, we invite him because he threatens us.

He's the Russian mafia of ufology!

Paul Kimball

Transhumanism vs. UFOs

I'm a bit concerned about the New Frontiers Symposium.

I consider myself a serious person (history degree, law degree, professional filmmaker, Capricorn), and I think Stan Friedman (M.Sc. in physics), Bob Zimmerman (award-winning historian), Nick Redfern and Greg Bishop (published authors), and William Wise (software engineer, archivist) are serious people too.

And they'll be talking about serious subjects - history, physics, space exploration, evidence for the objective reality of the UFO phenomenon.

So what's to worry about?

Well, here's my concern - Mac Tonnies.

You see, I'm not sure we want to be associated with him.

Now, don't get me wrong - Mac is a great guy, very bright, and has some very interesting things to say about UFOs, and Mars, and Veronica likes him and... well, lots of good stuff.

The problem, you ask?

Shh... don't tell anyone, but Mac is a... [gasp] transhumanist.

SHHHHH! I said to keep it quiet!!

[Pause]

Aw, crap, the cat's out of the bag.

As much as I like Mac, and consider him a good friend, I'm not sure the Symposium can afford to be associated with someone from a "movement" (cult?) that can offer no empirical or objective evidence for the things that they predict are going to happen to the human race.

I mean, really - people have been predicting things for years. Back in the 1950s, there were folks who said we would all be flying around in sky-cars by now. I don't know about you, but I don't have my sky-car yet.

But there are these transhumanists (at least the most rabid, evangelical ones, who are so dissatisfied with their own lives that they desperately long for another world where they hope that they'll be the top of the food chain), tossing about predictions like they were... well, fact. Received wisdom from the technological Gods they worship, or whatever.

And talk about intolerant of other people's views? Whew. Some of them are just downright nasty, in a Pat Robertson kind of way.

Hanging out with one of them might give we ufology types a bad name. It might diminish the credibility of the serious study of the UFO phenomenon. After all, we might not know what UFOs are, but we can prove they exist (that whole "unidentified" thing, which even Condon couldn't explain away). The transhumanists? Well, forgive me, but some of them seem like just another bunch of "sky-cars for everyone" people, updated to the 21st century. You know the type - they confuse Blade Runner with a history text book, and list "Jedi Knight" as their religion on census forms.



Alas, I've already bought Mac's tickets, and reserved his hotel room, and put his name in the ads, so I guess we're stuck with him. And as far as transhumanists go, he's one of the reasonable ones (and there is some interesting, thought-provoking stuff about tranhumanism).

He's not one of the crazy, bug-eyed, believer types (see photo, above).

So we serious UFO phenomenon guys (and Bob Zimmerman, who is talking about space exploration, not UFOs) might be okay.

Fingers crossed.

Paul Kimball

Mac Tonnies NFS Poster

And here's the Mac Tonnies poster for the New Frontiers Symposium.

This will definitely help us attract any Borg that might be in Halifax at the time.

Paul Kimball