Article by J-P Mauro August 28, 2020 (aleteia.org)
• In a study paper published in the International Journal of Astrobiology, co-author Father Jose Funes, a Catholic priest and an expert in galaxies and extragalactic astronomy who holds the chair in Science, Religion and Education at the Catholic University of Cordoba, Argentina, theorizes that in a long-enough timeline, Earth could intercept messages from intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations.
• The researchers created a simulation to study “casually connected nodes,” ‘nodes’ being the term for unknown intergalactic civilizations. They then ran these thousands of nodes through the simulation to conclude that communication with an ET civilization is directly related to how many sophisticated civilizations exist in the Milky Way.
• As a result, the study suggests that the probability of Earth receiving intergalactic messages is low, overall. But the likelihood of such a discovery is greatly increased if the galaxy is “densely populated with long-standing civilizations.” The longer a civilization exists, the greater the chance that it will develop technology that could be used for intergalactic messaging.
• “[T]hough the odds are not very high, there is a chance to communicate with ET,” says Father Funes. “All this effort in studying probabilities and communicating with alien civilizations helps to understand better who we are. It is important to step out from our anthropomorphic and anthropocentric way of thinking to deal with a very profound diversity, the cosmic otherness.”
• The study team notes that we can increase our chances of interacting with extraterrestrial civilizations by enacting our own interstellar exploration, colonization, and settlement. They also suggested probes that could self-replicate as a means of exploring the furthest reaches of space.
• [Editor’s Note] Is the Catholic church getting people used to the notion that the galaxy could be “densely populated with long-standing civilizations”? Is this part of the long, drawn-out, drip drip drip of disclosure?
A Catholic priest has co-authored a study on intergalactic communications, which theorizes that, on a long enough timeline, it is possible that Earth could intercept messages from extraterrestrial civilizations.
Father Jose Funes
The paper, published in the International Journal of Astrobiology, suggests that communication with an intelligent civilization is directly related to how many sophisticated civilizations exist in the Milky Way. The study came to this conclusion by creating a simulation that studied “casually connected nodes,” nodes being a term for unknown intergalactic civilizations.
The researchers ran these thousands of nodes through the simulation, which led them to suggest that the probability of Earth receiving intergalactic messages is overall low. They do note, however, that the likelihood of such a discovery is greatly increased if the galaxy is “densely populated with long-standing civilizations.” They suggest that the longer a civilization exists, the greater the chance that it will develop technology that could be used for intergalactic messaging.
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• Jesuit philosopher and astronomer, Father Jose Funes, has been appointed to the advisory council of METI International. Father Funes will join over 80 experts that make up the advisory council. METI’s president and founder, Douglas Vakoch, said, “It’s natural for METI to be in dialogue with Jesuit astronomers because they understand the science behind our search, giving us common ground, while also having expertise in theology, providing a new perspective for our scientists.”
• METI, or “Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence”, is an offshoot of SETI, “Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence” which began its search for ET in 1959 by scanning the sky for unusual radio and laser signals from sources that may indicate signs of alien technology. METI looks at what and how to communicate in a vast and mysterious universe.
• The Vatican has also been active in discussions about extraterrestrial life, the ethics of space exploration and the religious significance of a universe that could be teeming with life. Father Funes is the former director of the Vatican Observatory and an expert in galaxies and extragalactic astronomy.
• Father Funes, who holds the chair in science, religion and education at the Catholic University of Cordoba, Argentina, and also chairs a think tank initiative called “OTHER”, says that these Catholic organizations help us to understand alien life “in order to understand better who human beings are”. This is instrumental in educating the general public, teachers and students about the dialogue between science and religion.
• Vakoch is an astrobiologist and psychologist who spent 16 years at the SETI Institute, where he was director of Interstellar Message Composition. Vakoch says that if METI/SETI does find life out there someday, “many people will look to their religious leaders to help understand what it means to all of us down here on planet Earth.” “One of the great misconceptions of the general public is that discovering life beyond Earth will threaten people’s religious beliefs,” Vakoch says. “But time and again, across the centuries, we have seen that religions adapt to scientific discoveries. The same will be true if someday we discover we’re not alone in the universe.”
• Father Funes has introduced “something new or at least original” for SETI research to consider: the search for spiritual signs or signatures in the universe. Is spirituality a part of our evolutionary process? Vakoch said that “Hollywood portrayals of marauding aliens, coming to Earth to annihilate us” serve to generate fear or negative reactions to potential alien life. But there are “hopeful depictions of first contact,” says Vakoch, such as Steven Spielberg’s ‘E.T. the Extraterrestrial’ where a visitor comes to Earth, transforming lives and overcoming death through love. The same for ‘Starman,’ starring Jeff Bridges in the title role that was a thinly veiled reference to Christ.”
• Father Funes said the Catholic Church is optimistic in its faith because “we trust in God” when it comes to space exploration and messaging potential intelligent life. Vakoch says, “Some worry that learning about the existence of extraterrestrials will make humanity less unique. I suspect just the opposite will happen.” “[T]here will never be a duplicate of Homo Sapiens. There may be beings out there who are more wise or powerful than we are, but they will never be more human.”
• [Editor’s Note] It is no surprise that METI/SETI would team up with the Vatican in trying to dominate the limited soft disclosure dialog of the massive extraterrestrial presence, and the government’s long standing cover-up. They are both dedicated to doing the Deep State’s bidding. They see that the public’s revelation about the true existence of extraterrestrials is imminent, so who better than the combination of scientific and religious “experts” to guide the public through this transition. But the primary agenda of these institutions is to maintain control over the populace once the extraterrestrial presence is finally revealed. They want to position the Catholic religion as the savior of the people, thereby assuring its continuance after the extraterrestrial disclosure. While at the same time, METI/SETI will continue to deny any extraterrestrial presence until the very last minute.
More than 2 million people RSVP’d to a recent social media invitation to “storm” Area 51 in Nevada, in the hope of discovering whether alien life or spacecraft may be secretly stored at this U.S. Air Force base.
Though the proposed raid was a spoof, it has morphed into a real, more peaceful encounter. Now dubbed, “Alienstock,” the Sept. 20-22 festival aims to be a place “where believers gather” to discuss and celebrate confidence in the existence of alien life and the wonders of the unknown, according to its website, alienstockfestival.com.
Father Jose Funes
But another brand of believers — a “Men in Black” of a spiritual kind — are the pope’s own Jesuit astronomers; they have long been active in discussions about extraterrestrial life, the ethics of space exploration and the religious significance of a universe that could be teeming with life.
The huge amount of interest the general public has shown in life existing elsewhere in the universe is part of the age-old question, “Are we alone?” said Jesuit Father Jose Funes, former director of the Vatican Observatory and an expert in galaxies and extragalactic astronomy.
The fascination with seeking extraterrestrial life or intelligence “reflects very deep human issues that are important for us” and makes people think about “who we are,” he told Catholic News Service in late August.
Douglas Vakoch
“We have to become alien somehow” and step outside oneself “in order to understand better who human beings are,” said the priest, who holds the chair in science, religion and education at the Catholic University of Cordoba, Argentina. The chair and the think tank initiative, “OTHER,” he directs are instrumental for educating the general public, teachers and students about the dialogue between science and religion, he said.
Father Funes’ multidisciplinary expertise in astronomy, philosophy and theology has now earned him a unique place in ET research — serving on the advisory council of METI International.
METI, or Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence, takes the next step in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, or SETI.
The SETI project, which started in 1959, represents a major coordinated effort in scanning the sky for unusual radio and laser signals from sources that may indicate signs of alien technology. METI looks at what and how to communicate in a vast mysterious universe.
Part of the METI mission, according to its website, METI.org, is to conduct high-level scientific and multidisciplinary research, discuss the importance of searching for life beyond Earth and study the impact searching for, detecting or messaging ETI would have on the world.
More than 80 experts from a huge array of fields — including ethics, linguistics and theology — make up METI’s advisory council, and it was just last year that the group’s president and founder, Douglas Vakoch, asked Father Funes to join the team.
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Article by Michael Moran July 7, 2019 (dailystar.co.uk)
• June 1947 was the height of the UFO craze. Kenneth Arnold had reported seeing nine unusual saucer-shaped objects near Mount Rainier, Washington and news of his sighting was reported around the world. It was with that news fresh in mind that New Mexico rancher, W.W. “Mac” Brazel, told local Sheriff George Wilcox that he’d found the wreckage of “a flying disc” on his property some 80 miles northwest of Roswell.
• Brazel and his son had come across something inexplicable that day – in his words, “a large area of bright wreckage made up of rubber strips, tin foil, and rather tough paper, and sticks”. Sheriff Wilcox advised a local Air Force colonel, who told his superiors, who put Intelligence Officer Major Jesse Marcel (pictured above, right) in charge of investigating the crash site and collecting the wreckage. Marcel issued a statement to the press. On July 8, 1947, the Roswell Daily Record’s front-page headline read ‘RAAF Captures Flying Saucer On Ranch in Roswell Region.’
• A month earlier, however, on June 4th, 1947, a huge balloon designated NYU Flight 4 lifted off from Alamogordo Army Airfield to a height of 40,000 feet as part of Project Mogul, a top-secret project run by the US Army Air Force to detect Soviet nuclear tests. This is what crashed on Mac Brazel’s ranch.
• Or was the crash, as some claimed, an experimental Nazi “stealth bomber” that the Soviets had captured, filled with genetically-altered children, and deliberately crashed in America on Stalin’s orders in order to sow fear and panic? Or was it the work of a sinister cabal of Jesuit priests who have anti-gravity aircraft and artificial hybrid humans? Or was it the fallout from a firefight between Grey aliens and the US Delta Force in tunnels under New Mexico? Or the unsuccessful test flight of a captured UFO from the base at Groom Lake known as Area 51?
• No. It was a surveillance balloon. Roger Launius, former curator of space history at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. told Smithsonian Magazine: “Apparently, it was better from the Air Force’s perspective that there was a crashed ‘alien’ spacecraft out there than to tell the truth. A flying saucer was easier to admit than Project Mogul, and with that, we were off to the races.”
• So the Roswell crash wasn’t anything as exciting as an extra-terrestrial craft. The chance that the government could have covered-up an event of this magnitude, lasting 72 years, through multiple presidencies and administrations, seems extraordinarily slim.
• [Editor’s Note] Ah yes. This is the maturing of a long-standing government cover story, brought to you by none other than the Smithsonian Museum, a notorious Deep State bastion of secrecy and disinformation. The Deep State is getting worried that so many people are beginning to see through their ruse. They need to reaffirm the cover story to maintain their base of skeptics who are conditioned to automatically deny UFOs and extraterrestrials. Here, they employ all of the standard devices. They note the hysteria brought on by Kenneth Arnold’s claimed sighting just weeks earlier. They make the eye witness Mac Brazel seem like an unreliable idiot. They bring up the communist Soviet menace that America was defending itself against. They trot out several other notions just as ridiculous as a ‘flying saucer from Mars’. Then they turn to a historical expert – a curator for the Smithsonian – to confirm that the cover story is indeed the most plausible. ‘We didn’t want the Soviets to know about our secret eavesdropping balloon’. Anyone who chooses to buy this nonsense is predisposed to believing anything the government tells them. But more and more folks are waking up to the fact that the elite Deep State government is in it for themselves, and not the people.
On July 8, 1947 the Roswell Daily Record’s front-page headline read ‘RAAF Captures Flying Saucer On Ranch in Roswell Region.’
The story began a few weeks earlier when rancher W.W. “Mac” Brazel was driving across his property some 80 miles northwest of Roswell with his son.
The pair came across something bizarre and inexplicable that day. It was, in Brazel’s words, “a large area of bright wreckage made up of rubber strips, tin foil, and rather tough paper, and sticks”.
Brazel noted the unusual wreckage but left it alone, not returning to the site until July 4.
Roger Launius
It was the height of the UFO craze. In June 1947 Kenneth Arnold had reported seeing nine unusual saucer-shaped objects near Mount Rainier, Washington and news of his sighting was reported around the world.
It was with that news fresh in his mind that Brazel confided to local Sheriff George Wilcox that he might have found the wreckage of “a flying disc”.
Wilcox advised a colonel at the local air force base, and the news worked its way up the chain of command.
Intelligence officer Major Jesse Marcel was put in charge of investigating the crash site and collecting the wreckage.
When this was done, Marcel issued a statement to the press. On July 8, Marcel’s statement was on the front page of the Roswell Daily Record, underneath that famous headline.
The story contained this earth-shattering sentence from Marcel’s release: “The intelligence office of the 509th Bombardment Group at Roswell Army Air Field announced at noon today, that the field has come into the possession of a Flying Saucer.”
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