Col. Corso, still perplexed...

a reply to: ZetaRediculian

I am actually on the hunt for one clear example of something UFO related that could be considered "mass hysteria".

What about this Kreskin thing? You can cut to about 18:30, but I am pretty sure you have seen it.

a reply to: Bybyots

What about this Kreskin thing? You can cut to about 18:30, but I am pretty sure you have seen it.

Yeah, I have seen that. I guess it could be considered "guided mass hysteria" but to be fair, I think I would consider that stage hypnosis. Not sure what to make of Kreskin. I read he was caught "cheating" in one of his acts. But then cheating is all part of it anyway because he is leading the audience, not the guys on the stage.

a reply to: ZetaRediculian

Yeah, I agree, we need a good example. I'll be on the lookout too. Hmmm. I have a story from when I was a kid that would probably give you the creeps. Maybe I'll U2U it as it has nothing to do with all this.

a reply to: vance
I'll put one out there. He DID see evidence during his life, somehow, that aliens existed. However, he lied about his evidence. Why? To protect history. Its people. Their children. By lying he's able to create something resembling the truth, but without the worries which would otherwise tag along.

However, it's just as likely he lied about everything. Probably even more likely, since "If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck,..."

Ufology mostly amounts to a lot of stories and no good evidence. If I hadn't myself met people who told me their stories, I'd have no reason to wonder. But because I have, I leave the door (only slightly) ajar.

The problem with assuming government is lying is it makes the whole thing even more implausible. How the hell is government going to lie to us and keep that lie going without it blowing up into million pieces?

There's just a few possibilities for it to remain plausible:
1) Government is aware aliens have visited, but it has only been once or twice and the evidence was easily confiscated. The aliens haven't or do not plan on returning soon. The government(s) sit on it.
2) The aliens themselves are involved in the cover up. Only with their help could it possibly remain a cover up. The problem with this idea is why would hte aliens work so hard to cover their presence up? Why would they even care about a lowly civilization stuck on its home planet warring with itself?

It comes to a point where the more likely answer is aliens HAVEN'T visited.

Some people on ATS claim that since life is likely to exist elsewhere AND because intelligent ET's should have been here by now THEN an ET explanation for UFOs is plausible. The problem with this rationale is it involves lots of loose ends too.

In the end, without solid evidence, we have nothing.

People complain about NASA, but at least its pictures aren't always blurry. Unless you think UFOs are actually blurry and fake looking in RL.

originally posted by: hellobruce

originally posted by: schuyler
But when you actually look at the claims, they make little sense. The basic idea was that he salted alien technology into industry so industry could claim the inventions. What ones exactly? Two of the most famous were the integrated chip and night vision goggles. The problem with these is that they both have a well-documented history of their invention that DOES NOT REQUIRE alien input. The basic design of the integrated circuit, for example, is the fifth generation of the same design that goes back to the 1890's. That's when the basic design was implemented. It then went through an electronic phase, a vacuum tube phase, a transistor phase, and finally the whole idea was ported to integrated circuits. In other words, the invention of the integrated circuit was an incremental evolution that has been well documented and started well before Corso came on the scene. The idea and design did not just suddenly appear. It may seem like that to someone who was not paying attention the the growth of technology, but it simply was not a giant leap forward. It fits right in with Moore's Law, including the timeline.

What is sad is some people could not be bothered to do any research on the development of these devices, they are just happy to think it was "aliens". If they actually did some real research they would find it fascinating how the development of IC's progressed from a few transistors up to the twenty billion today.

There was a guy here once that insisted that all the computers in the world were being manufactured by aliens. The workforce at the plants where all the parts are made - including the chips, the screens - everything - was entirely alien.

And he didn't mean immigrants.

Nobody took him seriously (yes, he appeared to be serious.) Today, I bet there are plenty of people at ATS that would.

Harte

originally posted by: UnderKingsPeak
he's a piece of major UFO history along with Roswell and Rendlesham.

Well, he's definitely a piece of something.

Harte

Corso was a product of the 70's UFO craze, along the same lines as Sitchin et al. Like Sitchin, neither men were capable of imagining truly advanced alien contact. Sitchin pictured aliens arriving (and leaving) the Earth in crude rockets, riding their "Saturn V's" across space because nothing crosses the vast distances of interstellar space like a chemical-based rocket, while Corso pictured them as arriving on Earth and handing us 60's era IC transistors and night vision - which, BTW, we already had, but his alien versions were, you know, better.

All these two could do was extrapolate slightly more advanced technology than what we already had developed. Neither were Futurists along the lines of an Asimov or Clarke.

Corso well knew he could make any sort of claim regarding his military background because the military itself will never publicly confirm or deny it. Perhaps he was just a bitter disgruntled officer who was never going to advance any further then his current position and parlayed that into a book career until he resigned from service (or was asked to resign).

a reply to: Harte

Im sure that you laughed at him back then but guess what we got now. Alienware pc, coincidence. , i think not. He was in the know.

I used to work with a guy like Corso once. Middle manager type who would spin yarns of extraordinary magnitude. Stories which, had the embellishment been more reasonable, could have been mistaken as plausible, but that was not enough. They would become more and more incredible as the telling progressed, to the point of defying rationality and known laws of physics.

"When I was in Air Force training back in the fifties my roommate surprised me coming in the door of our dorm room... so I grabbed my Colt .44 magnum and BLEW HIS ARM OFF!"

"Did you go to jail?"

"No, I had a license to shoot to kill signed by the president himself... of course, I was fined the sum of ONE DOLLAR."

"Colt didn't make a .44magnum in the fifties."

"Well this was an advanced prototype that only I had clearance to carry."



Then there was the time while on the deck of a carrier an FA-18 exploded and blew him... TWO THOUSAND YARDS into the ocean, where he had to tread water for... TWO WEEKS.

Yeah... THAT'S the ticket!

originally posted by: draknoir2
I used to work with a guy like Corso once. .....

They're still around. Imaginative story tellers. Ken Johnston, Clark McClelland, Donna Hare... the list goes on and on. Even Gordon Cooper in his twilight years.

a reply to: draknoir2

Then there was the time while on the deck of a carrier an FA-18 exploded and blew him...

I knew a guy that would tell similar stories.

originally posted by: draknoir2
I used to work with a guy like Corso once. Middle manager type who would spin yarns of extraordinary magnitude. Stories which, had the embellishment been more reasonable, could have been mistaken as plausible, but that was not enough. They would become more and more incredible as the telling progressed, to the point of defying rationality and known laws of physics.

"When I was in Air Force training back in the fifties my roommate surprised me coming in the door of our dorm room... so I grabbed my Colt .44 magnum and BLEW HIS ARM OFF!"

"Did you go to jail?"

"No, I had a license to shoot to kill signed by the president himself... of course, I was fined the sum of ONE DOLLAR."

"Colt didn't make a .44magnum in the fifties."

"Well this was an advanced prototype that only I had clearance to carry."



Then there was the time while on the deck of a carrier an FA-18 exploded and blew him... TWO THOUSAND YARDS into the ocean, where he had to tread water for... TWO WEEKS.

Yeah... THAT'S the ticket!

Rational people such as yourself listen to stories like those your friend told simply for the entertainment value. Irrational people believe them. The most bizarre part of this is that irrational people seem to have a deep-seated need to believe such things: it's a component of their psychological makeup and it goes beyond simple gullibility.

originally posted by: AthlonSavage
a reply to: vance


Corso always came across to me as genuine. Please highlight clearly the piece of evidence that proves hes a liar?

The book did it for me. It's full of crap. Perhaps you have to be an engineer to spot it.

Oh, also the tendency for DoD to get rid of books that reveal things they don't like, even if they're no higher than S class.

originally posted by: Bybyots

What about this Kreskin thing? You can cut to about 18:30, but I am pretty sure you have seen it.

I've been in one of his shows! He did a show when I was in university, picked me out of the audience with about 15 other people.

Tried to hypnotize me, there were two of us that didn't go, he looked at me and said "Engineering, or physics?"

eta: actually got to talk to him backstage, he's a pretty cool guy. I wish he taught his techniques, it would be a fun thing to be able to do.

originally posted by: jonnywhite
a reply to: vance
I'll put one out there. He DID see evidence during his life, somehow, that aliens existed.

Or, it's all us and he did his country one last service on the way out by promulgating the cover story. Saaaalute, Colonel!

a reply to: Bedlam

I wish he taught his techniques, it would be a fun thing to be able to do.

It totally would. I always wanted to be one of those 20's stage mentalists with a jewelled turban.

a reply to: Bybyots

here is something that I came across about stage hypnosis. jamesgunn.com...#/ Its an interesting perspective but it cant be that easy, can it?

originally posted by: ZetaRediculian
a reply to: Bybyots

here is something that I came across about stage hypnosis. jamesgunn.com...#/ Its an interesting perspective but it cant be that easy, can it?

Bandler and/or Grinder used to teach "instant induction", IIRC the class homework involved going through a crowded place like a mall and leaving a trail of hypnotized folk in your wake.

originally posted by: Bedlam

originally posted by: ZetaRediculian
a reply to: Bybyots

here is something that I came across about stage hypnosis. jamesgunn.com...#/ Its an interesting perspective but it cant be that easy, can it?

Bandler and/or Grinder used to teach "instant induction", IIRC the class homework involved going through a crowded place like a mall and leaving a trail of hypnotized folk in your wake.

The question is did it work with people who didn't know they were supposed to be being hypnotised?

originally posted by: Tangerine

The question is did it work with people who didn't know they were supposed to be being hypnotised?

That was sort of the point. You had to practice doing snap inductions on random folk you encountered.

eta: it wasn't the sort of thing where you walked up and said "Hi, I'm taking this NLP class and I'd like to try to hypnotize you", it was more like walking up to someone and giving them the babble or sticking out your hand to shake and then doing a pattern breaker, impromptu and on the spot with a tight time limit.

The story as I originally heard it involved one student being chastised for leaving a trail of still-entranced random people in a subway, one of them had been robbed.