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[Music]

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[Applause]

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thanks everyone this this talk is called

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and can you hear me okay oh no I'm in

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I'm miked here this this talk is called

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conceptualizing non-human intelligence

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anthropomorphism and ontology now this

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is going to be a very traditional kind

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of humanities talk and that I'm going to

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read it it's um it's probably for an

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academic talk not that heavy but I think

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for this context it'll be a little

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heavier so you know it requires some

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attentive listening but also uh just let

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your imagination go when it if you know

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you get lost in some of the twists

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um I'm just going to jump into this uh

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the the publication this summer of the

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draft version of the Schumer disclosure

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amendment has brought UAP Vehicles

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further into respectable public

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discourse than ever before

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even if the legislation should fail to

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pass this winter it is given the

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terminology of UAP non-human

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intelligence and Technology of Unknown

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Origin the impr premature of the

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majority leader of the US Senate and

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it's made them a matter of significance

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not only to Congress but the Office of

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the President and most importantly the

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people on whose behalf the legislative

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and executive branches govern such an

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astonishing and still to most people un

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anticipated a development is

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perplexing not only for its confirmation

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of things that are supposed to belong

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only to fiction but because it raises an

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ontological problem a problem concerning

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a radically unfamiliar kind of existent

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or being and the bearing of that

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existent on our understanding of all

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other beings and that disturbs our

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categories of thought now it's

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compulsive questioning that tells us

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when we Face a genuine such problem and

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provides us with an initial means of

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defining it and the questions of people

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unsure of whether UAP or not of human

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Providence are raised repeatedly despite

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the embarrassment they cause who or what

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is it that makes and operates them where

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might they come from why do they have a

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terrestrial presence what do they want

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and are they threatening or perhaps

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beneficial in some way to human and

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other living beings as absurd as such

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questions may sound and I acknowledge

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that entirely no one today should feel

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shamed to pursue them if the majority

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leader of the Senate has sponsored

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legislation concerning

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nhi yet anyone looking for insightful

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let alone accurate answers is going to

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be disappointed it's not just that we

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presently lack professional researchers

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in established academic subfields who

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can methodically answer these questions

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nor is it that the publicly available

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data often comes from witnesses to UAP

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events and thus in a form the Natural

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Sciences are often ill equipped to

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handle there is another more daunting

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obstacle to arriving at answers which is

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so great that it amounts not only to a

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scientific or intellectual issue but

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also to a genuine philosophical problem

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and by philosophical problem I would

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mean it's a it's kind of problem that

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forces us not just to ask or find the

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right questions but to ask the best way

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to ask questions at

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all that problem is that most of us

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concerned with UAP are attempting to

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anticipate through our own concepts of

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ourselves and our world beings whose

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intelligently non-human and radically

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other character should cause us to

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bracket or forget for a bit those

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Concepts and the notion of reality they

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give us in other words we inquire into

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so-called nhi in an anthropomorphic Way

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by presuming that some of our

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fundamental categories such as

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technology n and life and the analogies

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we draw on their basis are adequate for

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anticipating whatever or whomever nhi

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might be now if that doesn't strike you

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as a problem then I would ask you to

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remember how useless many of the ideas

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you have of other people and the

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analogies you draw between them uh

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between yourself and them prove to be

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and that's to say nothing of the failure

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of those you draw to make sense of

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groups and collectives that confound you

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if other people still don't make sense

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to you when you try to understand them

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in the terms by which you understand

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yourself imagine what goes for people

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who could only be people in a sense

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presently unfathomable to us now that

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quandry might seem to Doom us in our

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efforts to know who or what may lie at

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the origin of genuine

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UAP yet I'll argue today that the

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difficult we face in imagining

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anticipating and perhaps eventually

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understanding such non-human beings also

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can be the condition that enables us to

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begin to do all those things and perhaps

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more provided that we proceed

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reflectively and also very cunningly

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this is to say that recognizing that the

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starting point of our efforts to

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conceive these others is in some way the

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wrong one at least allows us to examine

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and contemplate that starting point to

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ask what it is about our own concepts of

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ourselves in the universe that prevents

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us from Gaining insight into what

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so-call nhi might be like what I'll

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offer for your consideration today is

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that it's not just anthropomorphism m in

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general that is the problem but a very

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specific

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anthropomorphism that of modernity the

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modern era the now planetary historical

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era in corresponding cosmology and

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ontology that arose in the 17th century

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and we can begin to see this by

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considering other human

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anthropomorphisms those of people who

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are not entirely absorbed into modern

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patterns of thought in other words we

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can better conceive of non-human beings

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by first attending to them not by

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attending to them but to attending to

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human beings and the divergences in

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their

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thinking so to show this I want to show

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you first how the modern character of

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our thought determines our thinking

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about UAP and

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nhi and second I want to show you the

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advantage of another kind of

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anthropomorphism for thinking about

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these

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things now despite the lack of social

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consensus we have about whether UAP or

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vehicles of non anthrop genic Providence

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I'll presume today for reasons of time

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that most of us here agree that they

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indeed are on the basis of certain uu

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UAP data such as the Blue Book

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cases uh the materials gathered by

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classic researchers such as the lorenzin

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and jacqu valet and the publicly

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available reports among those analyzed

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by the UAP task force rather than

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enlightening us however this data leads

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us right to the quandry I've identified

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any confidence that we gain from

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accepting the data comes with a price

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which is it gives us the illusion that

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the nature of UAP vehicles and so-called

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nhi could somehow be

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self-evident the trouble is as the first

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part of this talk I'm going into now

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shows we're conceiving both nhi and UAP

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through certain human very human

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categories that seem to be fundamental

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to us in the Modern Age and this leads

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us into an anthropomorphic Loop now in

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saying this I'm not referring to the

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well-known problem that certain UAP

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events are so bizarre and even absurd

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that they seem to belong more to the

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realm of visionary religious

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experience than any kind of tangible

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reality and for that bring us for that

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reason bring us to the edge of our

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Concepts that's certainly an essential

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aspect of the Enigma of UAP and it thus

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has to be dealt with but there's another

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more immediate dimension of the problem

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that has to be considered first this is

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the issue of whether we even have the

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right Concepts in the first place by

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which to make sense of a

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non-anthropogenic vehicle

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and by means of it

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nhi it might seem perplexing to hear

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that UAP might not be intelligible to us

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so I would ask you for your patience as

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I explain what I mean the problem is not

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as some of you will no doubt object that

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Witnesses are not often observing

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objects that are somehow technological

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that's evident enough for several

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reasons nor is it however that the

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objects are somehow so far beyond our

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categories of thought that they cannot

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be technological iCal the problem

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instead is that the very concept of

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technology May prevent us from

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understanding UAP vehicles and their

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significance this is most obvious of the

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longstanding and recently repop poiz

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view that UAP effectively are largely or

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only

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technological according to different

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versions of that claim unidentified

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objects could be nothing else but

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fabricated machines in a familiar sense

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that is they could not be also partly

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biological or quasa biological or even

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noetic entities entities of thought um

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and it's also said that they could only

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be profitly um they could only be

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investigated as machines due supposedly

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to lack of sufficient evidence by which

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to substantiate and investigate their

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other possible

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Dimensions either way UAP vehicles are

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then studied and conceptualized only in

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nuts and bolts terms is though the

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psychological noetic and potentially

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political aspects of them evident in so

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many Close Encounters are either

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fantasies of witnesses whom we otherwise

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believe or somehow facts too

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embarrassing to be

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mentioned yet even if we try to

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compensate by expanding the range of

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acceptable aspects of the so-called

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phenomena to include not only technology

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but these other terms or facets the fact

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we started with technology without

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asking ourselves what technology is

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prevents us from contemplating how those

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other Concepts might be usefully applied

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it becomes too easy to speak for example

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of UAP technology as though a machine

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could comprise a single technology as

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being tens or hundreds of thousands of

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years ahead of contemporary technology

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if technology has neither been defined

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nor understood to be developed along

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discontinuous trajectories to not fall

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into partially Inc commensurate kinds

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and to not combine aspects of

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instruments and devices for multiple

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periods one once we've thought about

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technology that way nothing noetic

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nothing biological and nothing political

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reported in encounters or reasonably

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inferred from them can be taken even

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partially for granted we assume for we

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assume for instance that any cognition

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evident must be AI or the potential life

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must be artifice and that leaves us

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applying these categories to humans in

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the most uncritical matter we go for

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instance from being a species to a

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species among others in Zoo our

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cognitive and intellectual life is

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imagined to be utterly primitive and our

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politics is deemed meaningless in

280
00:11:41,590 --> 00:11:39,160
comparison with other beings supposedly

281
00:11:44,190 --> 00:11:41,600
greater than ourselves in short it's not

282
00:11:46,509 --> 00:11:44,200
just that widely reported aspects of UAP

283
00:11:48,590 --> 00:11:46,519
events and potential aspects of nhi

284
00:11:51,590 --> 00:11:48,600
become eclipsed if we assume that it's

285
00:11:55,230 --> 00:11:51,600
obvious what technology is it's also

286
00:11:57,150 --> 00:11:55,240
that UAP and nhi become symbols of

287
00:11:59,829 --> 00:11:57,160
things we assume about

288
00:12:02,829 --> 00:11:59,839
ourselves this is to say that we draw

289
00:12:04,949 --> 00:12:02,839
unwarranted analogies and comparisons

290
00:12:06,870 --> 00:12:04,959
between ourselves and the unknown beings

291
00:12:09,350 --> 00:12:06,880
to whom we attribute

292
00:12:11,150 --> 00:12:09,360
UAP and then we believe we've achieved

293
00:12:13,310 --> 00:12:11,160
some kind of understanding of both

294
00:12:15,389 --> 00:12:13,320
ourselves and them even though it's

295
00:12:17,670 --> 00:12:15,399
clear that we lack even the first idea

296
00:12:19,670 --> 00:12:17,680
of the similarities and differences

297
00:12:22,710 --> 00:12:19,680
between us and them by which to draw

298
00:12:24,910 --> 00:12:22,720
those analogies and to make those

299
00:12:26,590 --> 00:12:24,920
comparisons in the absence of the right

300
00:12:29,470 --> 00:12:26,600
concept by which to conceive of the

301
00:12:30,590 --> 00:12:29,480
vehicles we project outward a poor

302
00:12:32,910 --> 00:12:30,600
picture of

303
00:12:36,629 --> 00:12:32,920
ourselves and then we take it for a rich

304
00:12:38,389 --> 00:12:36,639
image of nhi and then

305
00:12:40,069 --> 00:12:38,399
ourselves now as much as our

306
00:12:42,430 --> 00:12:40,079
misapplication of the concept of

307
00:12:43,389 --> 00:12:42,440
technology causes us to fall into this

308
00:12:45,430 --> 00:12:43,399
sort of

309
00:12:48,750 --> 00:12:45,440
anthropomorphism it is not the only

310
00:12:50,230 --> 00:12:48,760
concept of ours to blame most if not all

311
00:12:52,509 --> 00:12:50,240
of the concepts that we believe to

312
00:12:55,069 --> 00:12:52,519
correspond to a fundamental aspect or

313
00:12:57,670 --> 00:12:55,079
mode of being lead us to the same place

314
00:13:01,110 --> 00:12:57,680
if used to master the phenomena whether

315
00:13:03,870 --> 00:13:01,120
physical nature life Consciousness

316
00:13:07,110 --> 00:13:03,880
history in society Politics the

317
00:13:09,230 --> 00:13:07,120
supernatural or fiction each one of

318
00:13:10,949 --> 00:13:09,240
these Concepts in the versions deployed

319
00:13:13,910 --> 00:13:10,959
in public and even intellectual

320
00:13:16,150 --> 00:13:13,920
discourse on UAP is also usually too IL

321
00:13:19,030 --> 00:13:16,160
defined to illumin the data from witness

322
00:13:21,030 --> 00:13:19,040
reports and too ill conceived to enable

323
00:13:24,230 --> 00:13:21,040
us to draw insights from the other

324
00:13:26,550 --> 00:13:24,240
Concepts and make anticipatory

325
00:13:28,509 --> 00:13:26,560
comparisons this is most evident with

326
00:13:30,430 --> 00:13:28,519
the concepts often favored by proponents

327
00:13:33,870 --> 00:13:30,440
of the view that technology is merely an

328
00:13:34,990 --> 00:13:33,880
aspect of a broader UFO UAP phenomenon

329
00:13:36,350 --> 00:13:35,000
which are the concepts of the

330
00:13:38,629 --> 00:13:36,360
supernatural

331
00:13:41,230 --> 00:13:38,639
unconsciousness almost the antithesis of

332
00:13:43,269 --> 00:13:41,240
the technological view this perspective

333
00:13:45,189 --> 00:13:43,279
is that the sorts of psychical and even

334
00:13:47,350 --> 00:13:45,199
noetic phenomena that are often part of

335
00:13:49,949 --> 00:13:47,360
UAP events indicate that the vehicles

336
00:13:52,990 --> 00:13:49,959
emerg from an understanding or order of

337
00:13:55,230 --> 00:13:53,000
reality so beyond that of physics as it

338
00:13:57,269 --> 00:13:55,240
is normally interpreted is to be

339
00:14:00,550 --> 00:13:57,279
Supernatural or intangible

340
00:14:02,790 --> 00:14:00,560
manifestations of consciousness

341
00:14:05,629 --> 00:14:02,800
that may seem justified enough in the

342
00:14:08,069 --> 00:14:05,639
case of some particularly anomalous UAP

343
00:14:10,230 --> 00:14:08,079
events but then vehicles that so much

344
00:14:13,389 --> 00:14:10,240
evidence indicates to be physical are

345
00:14:15,230 --> 00:14:13,399
often conflated with Gods with angels

346
00:14:17,990 --> 00:14:15,240
demons and other ostensively

347
00:14:19,150 --> 00:14:18,000
supernatural beings and sometimes even

348
00:14:22,550 --> 00:14:19,160
imagined to be

349
00:14:24,550 --> 00:14:22,560
elcer human beings are then conceived of

350
00:14:27,030 --> 00:14:24,560
as little more than subordinates of

351
00:14:29,189 --> 00:14:27,040
these higher consciousnesses impotent

352
00:14:31,430 --> 00:14:29,199
beings unable to do much more that

353
00:14:33,470 --> 00:14:31,440
Wonder at what the gods might be up to

354
00:14:34,749 --> 00:14:33,480
or hope to be blessed by the just among

355
00:14:36,470 --> 00:14:34,759
them with

356
00:14:37,829 --> 00:14:36,480
Enlightenment it should go without

357
00:14:40,949 --> 00:14:37,839
saying that such effectively

358
00:14:44,230 --> 00:14:40,959
supernaturalist conceptions of UAP and

359
00:14:47,310 --> 00:14:44,240
nhi are no more helpful and sometimes

360
00:14:50,069 --> 00:14:47,320
less scientific than their technologist

361
00:14:53,910 --> 00:14:50,079
Rivals you might say that I'm dealing

362
00:14:56,150 --> 00:14:53,920
only in extremes but many Notions of UAP

363
00:15:02,990 --> 00:14:56,160
and nhi that may seem to be more

364
00:15:07,790 --> 00:15:05,189
anthropomorphic the less technological

365
00:15:10,189 --> 00:15:07,800
but still physicalist conception of UAP

366
00:15:13,150 --> 00:15:10,199
and nhi put forward by proponents of the

367
00:15:15,350 --> 00:15:13,160
Extraterrestrial hypothesis tend to rely

368
00:15:17,189 --> 00:15:15,360
on everyday intuitions about biology

369
00:15:19,150 --> 00:15:17,199
that either render nhi more

370
00:15:21,590 --> 00:15:19,160
morphologically commensurate with us

371
00:15:23,350 --> 00:15:21,600
than they are likely to be including by

372
00:15:25,470 --> 00:15:23,360
locating them ahead of us on an

373
00:15:28,350 --> 00:15:25,480
evolutionary timeline imagined from our

374
00:15:31,910 --> 00:15:28,360
point of view or by making them utterly

375
00:15:34,069 --> 00:15:31,920
and unthinkably alien the same goes at a

376
00:15:36,870 --> 00:15:34,079
social level for political and economic

377
00:15:38,949 --> 00:15:36,880
Notions of nhi which presume that nhi

378
00:15:41,829 --> 00:15:38,959
would be organized into into a sort of

379
00:15:42,910 --> 00:15:41,839
Galactic United Nations and even worse

380
00:15:44,470 --> 00:15:42,920
that their intentions are so

381
00:15:46,430 --> 00:15:44,480
commensurate with those of contemporary

382
00:15:49,749 --> 00:15:46,440
National governments as to concern

383
00:15:52,269 --> 00:15:49,759
resources territory and power as we

384
00:15:55,030 --> 00:15:52,279
understand these things as for the new

385
00:15:56,509 --> 00:15:55,040
conception of UAP as legal entities it

386
00:15:59,230 --> 00:15:56,519
avoids these issues by giving us

387
00:16:01,710 --> 00:15:59,240
something more concrete to think about

388
00:16:03,509 --> 00:16:01,720
and even a clear route toward proof but

389
00:16:05,790 --> 00:16:03,519
it also thereby largely restricts

390
00:16:08,150 --> 00:16:05,800
engagement not just to the commensurate

391
00:16:11,350 --> 00:16:08,160
but an entirely human aspect of the

392
00:16:13,670 --> 00:16:11,360
objects their status is a historical and

393
00:16:16,189 --> 00:16:13,680
political matter on which there's a

394
00:16:18,870 --> 00:16:16,199
history of secret US Government

395
00:16:21,629 --> 00:16:18,880
interaction that is the legal notion

396
00:16:24,629 --> 00:16:21,639
conflates inquiry into UAP with

397
00:16:27,350 --> 00:16:24,639
investigation of the US government then

398
00:16:29,389 --> 00:16:27,360
there are fictional concepts of UA UAP

399
00:16:31,949 --> 00:16:29,399
and nhi which confine them to being

400
00:16:34,389 --> 00:16:31,959
entities of the imagination and thus

401
00:16:37,030 --> 00:16:34,399
often put us in a remove from the data

402
00:16:38,670 --> 00:16:37,040
itself now I could go on including by

403
00:16:40,710 --> 00:16:38,680
outlining the way our conceptions of

404
00:16:43,269 --> 00:16:40,720
subject and object determine these prior

405
00:16:45,790 --> 00:16:43,279
choices and lead us to some very crude

406
00:16:48,790 --> 00:16:45,800
thinking I'll confine myself however to

407
00:16:52,910 --> 00:16:48,800
saying that the that the use here of

408
00:16:55,069 --> 00:16:52,920
these Concepts that we as moderns

409
00:16:58,030 --> 00:16:55,079
children of the Modern Age take to be

410
00:17:00,829 --> 00:16:58,040
fundamental almost invariably result in

411
00:17:04,429 --> 00:17:00,839
anthrop morphism in several of the cases

412
00:17:06,630 --> 00:17:04,439
I've sketched UAP Andor nhi are

413
00:17:08,909 --> 00:17:06,640
conceived in terms of one or some of

414
00:17:12,309 --> 00:17:08,919
these Concepts then used as a point of

415
00:17:14,630 --> 00:17:12,319
reference to Define human beings and

416
00:17:18,909 --> 00:17:14,640
humans are after that used to draw

417
00:17:22,110 --> 00:17:18,919
anticipatory analogies with nhi and make

418
00:17:24,350 --> 00:17:22,120
comparisons this quiet and unconscious

419
00:17:28,990 --> 00:17:24,360
anthropomorph

420
00:17:31,990 --> 00:17:29,000
most of us have barely begun to imagine

421
00:17:34,669 --> 00:17:32,000
what a socalled non-human intelligence

422
00:17:36,830 --> 00:17:34,679
might be now the point of this broad

423
00:17:38,909 --> 00:17:36,840
criticism is not to play spoil Sport

424
00:17:40,909 --> 00:17:38,919
with our intellectual reflexes but

425
00:17:43,470 --> 00:17:40,919
instead to offer a proposal for how they

426
00:17:45,230 --> 00:17:43,480
might be deployed differently it might

427
00:17:47,470 --> 00:17:45,240
seem that the easiest way to do this

428
00:17:50,270 --> 00:17:47,480
would be to take a holistic approach to

429
00:17:51,990 --> 00:17:50,280
anticipating the character of nhi by say

430
00:17:53,710 --> 00:17:52,000
using all the prior Concepts I've

431
00:17:55,789 --> 00:17:53,720
discussed to make sense of the encounter

432
00:17:58,390 --> 00:17:55,799
data and seeing which of them yields the

433
00:18:00,190 --> 00:17:58,400
most fruit that might seem reasonable on

434
00:18:01,710 --> 00:18:00,200
on the surface but it most likely will

435
00:18:03,630 --> 00:18:01,720
serve to confine us to the

436
00:18:05,830 --> 00:18:03,640
anthropomorphic Loop in which we already

437
00:18:08,990 --> 00:18:05,840
find ourselves rather than reach beyond

438
00:18:10,549 --> 00:18:09,000
that reach Beyond it to reach Beyond it

439
00:18:13,110 --> 00:18:10,559
we need to take distance from our

440
00:18:16,190 --> 00:18:13,120
Concepts thinking from another human

441
00:18:17,950 --> 00:18:16,200
position and another human perspective

442
00:18:20,270 --> 00:18:17,960
let me now in the second part of this

443
00:18:22,149 --> 00:18:20,280
talk demonstrate how we might think

444
00:18:24,909 --> 00:18:22,159
differently through an ontology

445
00:18:27,630 --> 00:18:24,919
different from that of modernity that of

446
00:18:28,990 --> 00:18:27,640
the animism of certain indigenous and

447
00:18:31,830 --> 00:18:29,000
other human

448
00:18:33,789 --> 00:18:31,840
collectives now if I want us to take

449
00:18:36,950 --> 00:18:33,799
this turn it's because sociocultural

450
00:18:39,270 --> 00:18:36,960
anthropology and I'm an anthropologist

451
00:18:41,990 --> 00:18:39,280
thoroughly demonstrates the historical

452
00:18:44,549 --> 00:18:42,000
and social peculiarity of so many of our

453
00:18:46,510 --> 00:18:44,559
Concepts and on that basis the

454
00:18:48,870 --> 00:18:46,520
misunderstandings of other peoples and

455
00:18:51,390 --> 00:18:48,880
other times that those ideas

456
00:18:53,909 --> 00:18:51,400
engender that's a common place within

457
00:18:57,390 --> 00:18:53,919
the field I come from but that doesn't

458
00:18:58,830 --> 00:18:57,400
diminish its power to Enlighten us here

459
00:19:01,149 --> 00:18:58,840
since at least the German social

460
00:19:04,190 --> 00:19:01,159
theorists MOX vber anthropology and

461
00:19:06,110 --> 00:19:04,200
other fields in the social sciences have

462
00:19:08,430 --> 00:19:06,120
been aware that the historical epic that

463
00:19:10,669 --> 00:19:08,440
we still arguably live in and the begins

464
00:19:12,830 --> 00:19:10,679
in the 17th century which we call

465
00:19:15,149 --> 00:19:12,840
modernity is almost uniquely

466
00:19:17,270 --> 00:19:15,159
characterized by its differentiation of

467
00:19:20,990 --> 00:19:17,280
human life into effectively distinct

468
00:19:24,870 --> 00:19:21,000
domains from nature to politics to

469
00:19:26,669 --> 00:19:24,880
economy to religion to Art domains that

470
00:19:29,029 --> 00:19:26,679
were neither entirely recognized nor

471
00:19:32,149 --> 00:19:29,039
implicitly present in Prior historical

472
00:19:35,789 --> 00:19:32,159
eras or until recently other areas of

473
00:19:38,110 --> 00:19:35,799
the world such as china such cases show

474
00:19:39,950 --> 00:19:38,120
that it is neither necessary nor

475
00:19:42,029 --> 00:19:39,960
inevitable for human beings to

476
00:19:43,990 --> 00:19:42,039
distinguish not only between government

477
00:19:45,909 --> 00:19:44,000
and the political on the one hand and

478
00:19:48,549 --> 00:19:45,919
religion and the Supernatural on the

479
00:19:51,310 --> 00:19:48,559
other but between those spheres and

480
00:19:53,590 --> 00:19:51,320
economy art science and

481
00:19:56,110 --> 00:19:53,600
technology in coming to understand the

482
00:19:58,789 --> 00:19:56,120
way that modernity organizes human life

483
00:20:00,789 --> 00:19:58,799
and thereby defines the basic mode of

484
00:20:02,870 --> 00:20:00,799
being or existence that's what we mean

485
00:20:05,430 --> 00:20:02,880
when we talk about ontology the

486
00:20:08,110 --> 00:20:05,440
humanistic social sciences long ago also

487
00:20:10,669 --> 00:20:08,120
arrived at the inside that Society is

488
00:20:13,149 --> 00:20:10,679
not in essence the same everywhere but

489
00:20:14,470 --> 00:20:13,159
radically diverges in its composition

490
00:20:16,990 --> 00:20:14,480
from culture to

491
00:20:19,190 --> 00:20:17,000
culture having that Insight LED

492
00:20:21,430 --> 00:20:19,200
anthropologists to realize as well that

493
00:20:24,190 --> 00:20:21,440
the very ideas used to make sense of

494
00:20:27,590 --> 00:20:24,200
those other organizations of society and

495
00:20:30,470 --> 00:20:27,600
thought cause us to misunderstand them

496
00:20:32,630 --> 00:20:30,480
they saw that less because inquiry into

497
00:20:35,310 --> 00:20:32,640
for example religion in Rome in the

498
00:20:36,870 --> 00:20:35,320
first uh Century before the Common Era

499
00:20:39,590 --> 00:20:36,880
shows it to be Inseparable and

500
00:20:41,230 --> 00:20:39,600
intermixed with politics and much more

501
00:20:44,029 --> 00:20:41,240
because of the intellect because of the

502
00:20:46,270 --> 00:20:44,039
trouble caused for ideas uh caused by

503
00:20:49,310 --> 00:20:46,280
our ideas by much more peculiar

504
00:20:52,510 --> 00:20:49,320
intermixtures of Institutions and ideas

505
00:20:54,590 --> 00:20:52,520
that we consider distinct the most

506
00:20:57,549 --> 00:20:54,600
difficult and challenging such feat of

507
00:21:00,230 --> 00:20:57,559
discernment it caused an ontological

508
00:21:03,110 --> 00:21:00,240
shock to anthropologists initiated our

509
00:21:05,190 --> 00:21:03,120
ontological turn as it's known arose

510
00:21:07,909 --> 00:21:05,200
from the study of human collectives

511
00:21:11,029 --> 00:21:07,919
often called animist and their

512
00:21:14,070 --> 00:21:11,039
ontology among certain Amazonian

513
00:21:16,870 --> 00:21:14,080
Siberian Arctic and other North American

514
00:21:21,149 --> 00:21:16,880
indigenous peoples it is still common to

515
00:21:23,110 --> 00:21:21,159
ascribe culture and politics to animals

516
00:21:25,710 --> 00:21:23,120
plants and even minerals and

517
00:21:28,470 --> 00:21:25,720
technological objects and to conceive of

518
00:21:31,590 --> 00:21:28,480
them is entirely self-conscious and even

519
00:21:34,110 --> 00:21:31,600
human beings yes as part of humanity

520
00:21:36,710 --> 00:21:34,120
whatever their external corporeal

521
00:21:38,990 --> 00:21:36,720
appearance this entails that it is

522
00:21:42,990 --> 00:21:39,000
foreign to such collectives to believe

523
00:21:45,029 --> 00:21:43,000
that there is nature per se in our sense

524
00:21:47,390 --> 00:21:45,039
of a physical Universe in which human

525
00:21:49,909 --> 00:21:47,400
beings would be exceptional for being

526
00:21:52,510 --> 00:21:49,919
self-conscious intelligent and

527
00:21:54,549 --> 00:21:52,520
technological these collectives believe

528
00:21:58,190 --> 00:21:54,559
those characteristics to to be the

529
00:22:00,070 --> 00:21:58,200
primary attributes of all beings now

530
00:22:01,590 --> 00:22:00,080
that may sound to us like a cultural

531
00:22:03,669 --> 00:22:01,600
understanding of nature but it goes much

532
00:22:05,510 --> 00:22:03,679
further conditioning the practices of

533
00:22:08,350 --> 00:22:05,520
such people so that anything we might

534
00:22:11,350 --> 00:22:08,360
call politics religion and art

535
00:22:14,510 --> 00:22:11,360
incorporates animals and plants and thus

536
00:22:16,430 --> 00:22:14,520
does not involve a a sphere of nature

537
00:22:18,950 --> 00:22:16,440
external to

538
00:22:21,590 --> 00:22:18,960
society anthropologists such as Philipe

539
00:22:23,710 --> 00:22:21,600
desola and Eduardo viveros decastro

540
00:22:27,350 --> 00:22:23,720
argue that we therefore are confronted

541
00:22:29,710 --> 00:22:27,360
in in animism with a distinct ontology

542
00:22:31,990 --> 00:22:29,720
in the sense of broad understanding or

543
00:22:34,110 --> 00:22:32,000
implicit conception of everything that

544
00:22:36,390 --> 00:22:34,120
it is a way of conceiving of and

545
00:22:38,549 --> 00:22:36,400
relating to beings according to Concepts

546
00:22:41,190 --> 00:22:38,559
different from those of modernity and

547
00:22:43,470 --> 00:22:41,200
thereby revealing aspects of beings like

548
00:22:45,990 --> 00:22:43,480
the communicative dimension of animal

549
00:22:48,750 --> 00:22:46,000
behavior not usually evident in the

550
00:22:51,590 --> 00:22:48,760
naturalist or physicalist ontology that

551
00:22:53,590 --> 00:22:51,600
prevails in the Modern Age much more

552
00:22:55,149 --> 00:22:53,600
than an adjustment of our terminology

553
00:22:57,750 --> 00:22:55,159
for other ways of

554
00:22:59,909 --> 00:22:57,760
thinking acknowledging these ways of

555
00:23:01,669 --> 00:22:59,919
thinking thinking as ontologies forces

556
00:23:04,590 --> 00:23:01,679
us to consider that they are not

557
00:23:06,630 --> 00:23:04,600
cultures with representations of reality

558
00:23:09,230 --> 00:23:06,640
that are ultimately incorrect because

559
00:23:11,549 --> 00:23:09,240
they don't agree with science but rather

560
00:23:14,549 --> 00:23:11,559
that they're distinct equally insightful

561
00:23:16,990 --> 00:23:14,559
ways of assigning fundamental modalities

562
00:23:20,350 --> 00:23:17,000
to reality and defining

563
00:23:22,830 --> 00:23:20,360
beings the upshot is that this Insight

564
00:23:25,830 --> 00:23:22,840
becomes possible not when we reject our

565
00:23:27,149 --> 00:23:25,840
modern ideas as useless or wrong but

566
00:23:29,630 --> 00:23:27,159
when we recognize some of their

567
00:23:32,350 --> 00:23:29,640
limitations and thus take distance from

568
00:23:34,190 --> 00:23:32,360
them we can see that nature and the same

569
00:23:36,390 --> 00:23:34,200
could go for other Concepts in light of

570
00:23:39,269 --> 00:23:36,400
ontologies other than

571
00:23:41,510 --> 00:23:39,279
animism is not a universal concept for

572
00:23:45,110 --> 00:23:41,520
human beings and begin to ponder the

573
00:23:46,950 --> 00:23:45,120
ways it need not be for us this can

574
00:23:49,149 --> 00:23:46,960
happen for instance by shifting our

575
00:23:52,510 --> 00:23:49,159
perspective and imagining that reality

576
00:23:55,029 --> 00:23:52,520
is not primarily composed of inert

577
00:23:57,870 --> 00:23:55,039
matter but beings as or more conscious

578
00:23:59,669 --> 00:23:57,880
of themselves than we are and as capable

579
00:24:02,390 --> 00:23:59,679
of the sorts of intelligence we imagine

580
00:24:05,149 --> 00:24:02,400
to be exclusive to

581
00:24:07,230 --> 00:24:05,159
ourselves this encounter with an animist

582
00:24:09,350 --> 00:24:07,240
onology that makes thought and

583
00:24:11,669 --> 00:24:09,360
Consciousness Primary in the universe

584
00:24:14,390 --> 00:24:11,679
makes it possible for us to see that our

585
00:24:16,590 --> 00:24:14,400
inverted way of conceiving it leaves

586
00:24:19,590 --> 00:24:16,600
little room for a wide gamut of

587
00:24:22,230 --> 00:24:19,600
possibilities and actualities that are

588
00:24:24,750 --> 00:24:22,240
not in question for other human

589
00:24:27,990 --> 00:24:24,760
beings now I'm not making despite

590
00:24:30,029 --> 00:24:28,000
appearances an overly abstract point a

591
00:24:31,710 --> 00:24:30,039
brief encounter with animist ontology

592
00:24:34,789 --> 00:24:31,720
gives us a starting point for

593
00:24:37,029 --> 00:24:34,799
anticipating non-human intelligence let

594
00:24:39,789 --> 00:24:37,039
me show how in the third and last part

595
00:24:42,870 --> 00:24:39,799
of this talk with a thought experiment

596
00:24:45,750 --> 00:24:42,880
an exercise in conceiving UAP as they

597
00:24:48,350 --> 00:24:45,760
might be and conceiving nhi as they

598
00:24:52,070 --> 00:24:48,360
might be in animous

599
00:24:54,830 --> 00:24:52,080
terms imagine like some animous peoples

600
00:24:57,870 --> 00:24:54,840
have a universe in which senscience is

601
00:24:59,789 --> 00:24:57,880
nowhere near as rare as we assume and

602
00:25:02,470 --> 00:24:59,799
add to it more Consciousness than most

603
00:25:04,549 --> 00:25:02,480
of us would dare to and then go so far

604
00:25:07,350 --> 00:25:04,559
as to conceive of those instances of

605
00:25:10,310 --> 00:25:07,360
Consciousness as being as and often more

606
00:25:13,149 --> 00:25:10,320
developed and sophisticated than us that

607
00:25:15,230 --> 00:25:13,159
may that may not give us any clarity

608
00:25:18,149 --> 00:25:15,240
about the sort of existence and the kind

609
00:25:20,190 --> 00:25:18,159
of cognition that nhi may have but it at

610
00:25:23,669 --> 00:25:20,200
least allows us to better entertain that

611
00:25:27,149 --> 00:25:23,679
they can and perhaps do

612
00:25:30,669 --> 00:25:27,159
exist move move next to the formats or

613
00:25:32,950 --> 00:25:30,679
modes by which nhi could be

614
00:25:35,510 --> 00:25:32,960
embodied even if we were not ready to

615
00:25:37,350 --> 00:25:35,520
accept that UAP could be manned they

616
00:25:39,590 --> 00:25:37,360
nonetheless are vehicles and thus

617
00:25:42,029 --> 00:25:39,600
designed by beings that need devices

618
00:25:43,950 --> 00:25:42,039
capable of movement and possibly

619
00:25:47,190 --> 00:25:43,960
transportation and their immediate

620
00:25:50,510 --> 00:25:47,200
reality and way of individuating and

621
00:25:52,430 --> 00:25:50,520
incorporating in it I'm speaking of nhi

622
00:25:55,350 --> 00:25:52,440
therefore must be similar enough to be

623
00:25:58,310 --> 00:25:55,360
commensurate with our own yet some of us

624
00:26:00,149 --> 00:25:58,320
are afraid to imagine that reality it

625
00:26:02,389 --> 00:26:00,159
that reality is being physical in any

626
00:26:05,230 --> 00:26:02,399
way deeming it more respectable to say

627
00:26:08,950 --> 00:26:05,240
that is peculiar to another dimension

628
00:26:11,029 --> 00:26:08,960
whatever that is or we reactively insist

629
00:26:14,110 --> 00:26:11,039
that it must be entirely the same as

630
00:26:16,669 --> 00:26:14,120
ours an animist ontology might allow us

631
00:26:19,549 --> 00:26:16,679
to better flesh out so to speak our

632
00:26:21,830 --> 00:26:19,559
images of the reality of nhi by

633
00:26:24,789 --> 00:26:21,840
imagining that the physicality of a

634
00:26:28,230 --> 00:26:24,799
conscious being need not need not be

635
00:26:31,950 --> 00:26:28,240
organic or even a discreet Unified body

636
00:26:34,510 --> 00:26:31,960
as we understand it as animous peoples

637
00:26:37,710 --> 00:26:34,520
promiscuously ascribe Consciousness even

638
00:26:41,350 --> 00:26:37,720
to fabricated objects or such fuzzily

639
00:26:44,510 --> 00:26:41,360
individuated beings as minerals and

640
00:26:47,630 --> 00:26:44,520
Hills the physicality of nhi could be

641
00:26:49,789 --> 00:26:47,640
easily imaginable as an organism or some

642
00:26:53,230 --> 00:26:49,799
other kind of biological form or a

643
00:26:56,269 --> 00:26:53,240
machine or a self-replicating machine a

644
00:26:58,230 --> 00:26:56,279
biotechnological hybrid or a body as yet

645
00:27:00,669 --> 00:26:58,240
unimaginable to the science Sciences

646
00:27:03,669 --> 00:27:00,679
including a collective body and of

647
00:27:05,630 --> 00:27:03,679
course it could be all those options all

648
00:27:08,310 --> 00:27:05,640
of those possibilities would be

649
00:27:10,549 --> 00:27:08,320
conceivable and seem compatible to us

650
00:27:13,430 --> 00:27:10,559
where we to hold the animist assumption

651
00:27:15,990 --> 00:27:13,440
that the common denominator of beings is

652
00:27:18,549 --> 00:27:16,000
intelligently self-aware Consciousness

653
00:27:19,909 --> 00:27:18,559
and that physicality and embodiment

654
00:27:21,990 --> 00:27:19,919
differentiate

655
00:27:24,830 --> 00:27:22,000
them now if it seems that this

656
00:27:26,830 --> 00:27:24,840
experiment has only speculative value

657
00:27:29,830 --> 00:27:26,840
let's see what happens as we turn to a

658
00:27:32,110 --> 00:27:29,840
question that occupy some of us today

659
00:27:33,830 --> 00:27:32,120
about whether reported UAP events are

660
00:27:35,430 --> 00:27:33,840
intelligible enough to tell us something

661
00:27:39,190 --> 00:27:35,440
about non-human

662
00:27:42,549 --> 00:27:39,200
intent in an animist ontology politics

663
00:27:44,909 --> 00:27:42,559
is as I mentioned not exclusively the

664
00:27:46,750 --> 00:27:44,919
domain of human beings and thus requires

665
00:27:49,310 --> 00:27:46,760
treating animals and beings we would

666
00:27:51,549 --> 00:27:49,320
deem Supernatural as partners to be

667
00:27:54,950 --> 00:27:51,559
negotiated with in practices such as

668
00:27:56,950 --> 00:27:54,960
hunting and even kinship were we too to

669
00:27:58,310 --> 00:27:56,960
extend politics so liberally to

670
00:28:00,509 --> 00:27:58,320
non-human beings and I mean the

671
00:28:02,389 --> 00:28:00,519
non-human beings of our world we would

672
00:28:04,509 --> 00:28:02,399
have less problem in Imagining the

673
00:28:07,070 --> 00:28:04,519
beings with capabilities we lack could

674
00:28:09,350 --> 00:28:07,080
view us as having agency and thus even

675
00:28:11,470 --> 00:28:09,360
some power and we might begin to

676
00:28:14,029 --> 00:28:11,480
interpret encounters with them as

677
00:28:16,590 --> 00:28:14,039
asymmetrical rather than entirely

678
00:28:18,430 --> 00:28:16,600
one-sided and if we have asymmetry I

679
00:28:21,509 --> 00:28:18,440
would argue we have

680
00:28:23,909 --> 00:28:21,519
politics last our experiment also allows

681
00:28:26,950 --> 00:28:23,919
us to see more clearly the error we make

682
00:28:28,630 --> 00:28:26,960
when conceptualizing nhi in modern

683
00:28:31,870 --> 00:28:28,640
religious

684
00:28:34,310 --> 00:28:31,880
terms animism treats not only animals

685
00:28:37,389 --> 00:28:34,320
but higher ostensively supernatural

686
00:28:40,310 --> 00:28:37,399
beings as part of politics in a cosmos

687
00:28:42,470 --> 00:28:40,320
not vertically conceived and they thus

688
00:28:44,029 --> 00:28:42,480
engage them diplomatically and

689
00:28:45,909 --> 00:28:44,039
transactionally where some of the

690
00:28:48,149 --> 00:28:45,919
religious among us might only

691
00:28:50,990 --> 00:28:48,159
subserviently or through the inter

692
00:28:53,070 --> 00:28:51,000
intermediary of a monotheistic God

693
00:28:54,870 --> 00:28:53,080
should we dare to entertain the idea for

694
00:28:57,070 --> 00:28:54,880
a moment we might decide that even if

695
00:28:59,830 --> 00:28:57,080
the gods are as subject to the contest

696
00:29:02,190 --> 00:28:59,840
in violence of politics then they are

697
00:29:04,430 --> 00:29:02,200
not so far beyond our understanding as

698
00:29:07,190 --> 00:29:04,440
to be the ineffable stuff of mystery and

699
00:29:09,350 --> 00:29:07,200
the and the Beyond or the source of an

700
00:29:12,230 --> 00:29:09,360
influence and even control that we can

701
00:29:14,470 --> 00:29:12,240
scarcely fathom or gateways to higher

702
00:29:16,630 --> 00:29:14,480
Consciousness we might imagine too that

703
00:29:20,029 --> 00:29:16,640
cunning rather than awe would get us

704
00:29:22,269 --> 00:29:20,039
much further in dealing with them to sum

705
00:29:24,669 --> 00:29:22,279
up the results of this thought

706
00:29:27,430 --> 00:29:24,679
experiment beginning from the premise of

707
00:29:29,669 --> 00:29:27,440
a universe rich with self-consciousness

708
00:29:32,070 --> 00:29:29,679
allowed us to conceive of nhi

709
00:29:34,990 --> 00:29:32,080
generically rather rather than in terms

710
00:29:37,950 --> 00:29:35,000
of a single concept and emulating the

711
00:29:40,509 --> 00:29:37,960
animist idea that physicality is not

712
00:29:42,909 --> 00:29:40,519
differentiated by but differentiates

713
00:29:45,430 --> 00:29:42,919
Consciousness enabled us to imagine a

714
00:29:47,950 --> 00:29:45,440
range of bodies or material formats for

715
00:29:52,389 --> 00:29:47,960
that Consciousness rather than just ET

716
00:29:53,789 --> 00:29:52,399
organisms General AI or no bodies at all

717
00:29:56,269 --> 00:29:53,799
in a word we have been able to

718
00:29:59,590 --> 00:29:56,279
contemplate that nhi could be be of

719
00:30:02,269 --> 00:29:59,600
thought as much as of body and to avoid

720
00:30:04,509 --> 00:30:02,279
rushing to judgment about their Origins

721
00:30:06,750 --> 00:30:04,519
imagining them to be too commensurate or

722
00:30:09,190 --> 00:30:06,760
incommensurate with ourselves or

723
00:30:10,310 --> 00:30:09,200
attributing to them too much or too

724
00:30:13,029 --> 00:30:10,320
little

725
00:30:15,350 --> 00:30:13,039
power we found ourselves able to think

726
00:30:17,669 --> 00:30:15,360
all this not by transcending

727
00:30:19,990 --> 00:30:17,679
anthropomorphism but by recognizing that

728
00:30:22,789 --> 00:30:20,000
there are other anthropomorphisms than

729
00:30:25,549 --> 00:30:22,799
our own and seeing how just one of them

730
00:30:28,149 --> 00:30:25,559
enables us to conceptualize nhi

731
00:30:30,909 --> 00:30:28,159
differently in other words we better

732
00:30:33,750 --> 00:30:30,919
anticipated and imagined the non-human

733
00:30:40,389 --> 00:30:33,760
by considering a version of humanity