Critical Approaches to the Paranormal: UFOs, AI, High Strangeness, & Bigfoot with Dr. Jacob Glazier

Thank you to Jacob for mentioning the potential (and I believe likely) issue of technologies like neuralink dampening our innate abilities to do these things. It's something I get frustrated about all of the time, but I rarely hear anyone bringing that point forward. Great interview!

I recently listened to a fascinating podcast about the Skinwalker Ranch, and it sparked an intriguing insight that I wanted to share with you. While my thoughts might seem a bit unconventional, I believe they merit some consideration.
It occurred to me that quantum effects might be somehow involved in paranormal cases like those reported at the Skinwalker Ranch. As we know from quantum mechanics, until a quantum particle is measured, its state is 'unfixed' and exists in a superposition of all its possible positions simultaneously (Griffiths, 2018). The act of observing or "witnessing" a particle causes its wave function to collapse, fixing it in a specific state and location in space-time.
Interestingly, paranormal events seem to exhibit a similar pattern. They almost always occur when no one is directly observing them or when they are off-camera. For example, in poltergeist cases, flying objects are never seen at the moment they take off, but only after they have begun their flight (Houran & Lange, 2001). Similarly, cattle mutilations and the bizarre relocation of bulls at the Skinwalker Ranch are never caught on camera but are always discovered after the fact (Kelleher & Knapp, 2005).
This suggests that the act of conscious attention or inattention might play a crucial role in enabling or preventing paranormal occurrences. It's as if the focused observation of reality "fixes" it in a state of normality, preventing the manipulation of the infinite potentialities that seem to be at play in these unexplained events.
Taking this idea further, it might imply that things are not entirely "real" until they are observed, much like the philosophical question of whether a falling tree makes a sound in a forest if no one is there to hear it (Berkeley, 1710). The moment attention is diverted elsewhere, an object might revert to an unfixed, potential state, serving as a mere token of what it is when observed.
This concept might also shed light on the physics of prayer, which could somehow influence the potential of things that are not fixed in reality. If consciousness and attention play a role in collapsing quantum wave functions and defining reality, then perhaps the focused intention of prayer could indeed have an effect on the world around us (Dossey, 2009).
Of course, these are just speculative musings, and much more research is needed to fully understand the nature of paranormal phenomena and their potential connection to quantum mechanics. Nevertheless, I find the idea thought-provoking.

Your content is amazing. It deserves at least 100 times more subscribers.

This is so hilarious. This dude didn't read his book and doesn't have a grasp on science or psychology or the topic of his book. I hope it's like a Banksyesque bit of performance art

I feel the popular discussion about AI is premised on dubious assumptions. The fundamental Q here: Is consciousness (or self-awareness) a prerequisite for intelligence? The evidence clearly points that way, for instance human intuition, a key element of intelligence, likely relies on subtle psi functioning. In that case, supposedly-intelligent machines cannot achieve animal-like intelligence, because we cannot design them to invoke psi functions. They merely mimic existing human data & artwork, and pareidolia befuddles its users on seeing the results.

I recommend you read: UAP: A Psychic Phenomenon. Illuminating.

Re Dr. Glazier's embrace of the extraterrestrial hypothesis -- Ben could you suggest he read Jacques Vallee's Passport to Magonia? In which Vallee makes clear that there are abundant similarities between UFO encounters and fairy lore from centuries past.
Also, given that spacetime and the matter within it are likely to be purely perceptual phenomena, not ontologically real structures, it's not clear that there actually are star systems from which ETs could travel! They're already here because there's no place else for them to be :)

Thank you for another fascinating discussion. Summerville, SC.

Hello B. , good show ol boy

Great questions Ben. Difficult for me to stay engaged though, perhaps because I’ve dug somewhat deeply into many of these subjects and he seemed to be fairly superficial. However, I haven’t read his book and likely I’m being quite unfair.  
FWIW- Re: AI and consciousness, Bernardo Kastrup says no to this and he has Ph.Ds in computer science and philosophy….so I’m going with his opinion. Of course who knows in time if it can be embodied with sensory loops,etc.
He missed David Grusch?

As far as I understand Chat gpt: it doesn’t follow an agenda it only computes which word should come next in a sentence according to it’s training data. Can’t speak about ai or gai in general. But using chat gpt as an example for conscious ai seems wrong to me.

What I would be interested in, after you interviewed so many people and the time you spent on “these topics”: what’s your personal conclusion? I think it would be really interesting if you kept some kind of vlog that records how your views change or what new conclusions you make. It would also be interesting if you kind of comment your interviews in a second video that shows what you were able to take out of the conversation and where you can put some of the new puzzle pieces. Thank you for your work.

Not familiar David G..??.. he’s completely detached from current events..

I’m fairly new to your channel and it is a real gem.
You have such great guests and you are a talented interviewer. I love your cool, relaxed style. 🙌💫