Ep 24: UFOs & High Strangeness: The 6-Layer Model by Vallée & Davis

Today’s episode is an important one, because it’s going to lay the groundwork for a lot of the things that we’re going to be discussing moving forward. In the weeks and months to come, this is an episode that I’ll likely be referring back to often.

And that’s because today we’re diving into an article written by two heavyweights of ufology that serves not only as an essential framework to support our understanding of the complexities and nuances of the UFO phenomenon, but that also—in a very real way—helped to lay the foundation for the recent push for UFO disclosure. In short, it’s not only important that we take the time to really understand the ideas presented in this article—but to understand where it fits into the history of modern ufology.

The paper to which I’m referring is Incommensurability, Orthodoxy, and the Physics of High Strangeness: A 6-Layer Model for Anomalous Phenomena written by Jacques Vallée and Eric Davis. Most people will already be very familiar with those names, but just in case they are new to you, you can find links to their bios and other work in the episode brief.

What is so significant about this paper is that it seeks to create a framework by which we can begin to analyze and integrate the parts of UFO encounters that rarely make it into sci-fi media, and even more rarely make it into serious discussions about the phenomenon itself—which is the undeniable and pervasive occurrence of events and effects that are traditionally relegated to the realms of high strangeness and the paranormal.

If there’s nothing else that you take away from this episode it should be this—encounters with UFOs and non-human intelligence are much, much weirder than you've probably been led to believe.

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EPISODE BRIEF

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MUSIC Theme: Cabinet of Curiosities by Shaun Frearson Featured Song: Jacques Vallée by _ship

TIMESTAMPS

00:00:32 Introduction 00:06:53 Problems with the SETI and UAP Paradigms 00:07:25 —SETI & The Assumption of Mediocrity 00:12:19 —Anthropocentric Bias in SETI 00:14:54 —Anthropocentric Bias in Ufology 00:16:27 The Need For A Unified Approach To UAP Studies 00:20:01 The Six Layers of UAP Analysis 00:20:30 —Layer I: Physical 00:21:45 —Layer II: Anti-Physical 00:23:00 —Layer III: Psychological 00:29:53 —Layer IV: Physiological 00:32:19 —Layer V: Psychic 00:34:19 —Layer VI: Cultural 00:37:10 Possible Nature of UAP Technology 00:39:48 The Incommensurability Problem 00:45:42 Semiotics 00:51:35 High Strangeness & The Abduction Problem 00:54:12 Conclusions 00:56:23 Garry Nolan and Talking To Ants 01:00:26 Whitley Strieber and “The Visitors In the Trees” 01:12:42 Jacques Vallée by _ship

MUSIC Theme: Cabinet of Curiosities by Shaun Frearson Featured Song: Jacques Vallée by _ship

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Release date

Lydbog: 31. august 2023