Notices by J. B. Crawford (jbcrawford@hachyderm.io)

I decided to read the paper this morning because links to it came to my by way of several UFO mailing lists and communities. I thought it might contain something new or interesting.

It does not. It's actually really boring. If you have a general interest in UFOs, the paranormal, and Fortea in general, nothing in the paper will be unfamiliar.

I think that's actually the single largest problem with this paper, the reason I would have shot it down if I were a referee: there's just nothing to it.

Okay, let me try this paper review thing again. I have longer, more line-by-line notes at https://computer.rip/2024-06-14%20cryptoterrestrials.txt, but I'm going to post here with some higher-level takeaways about "The cryptoterrestrial hypothesis," a paper in "Philosophy and Cosmology" by two Harvard Human Flourishing authors and one Montana Tech author.

The majority of the paper is sort of a "greatest hits" of Fortea, presenting a whirlwind tour from Reptilians to Lemurians under Mt. Shasta to the fae. The paper scrupulously notes that many of these stories lack credibility, but always gives a tantalizing caveat on the lines of "...has nevertheless
been taken seriously by some observers." Well, that's basically definitional to fringe theories, isn't it?

While it presents itself as an argument that researchers should seriously consider the possibility of ancient, pre-human civilizations that still live among us today as an origin of UAP, it spends very little time actually making that argument. The strongest thing it has to say in support of its thesis is that some radical future discovery might lend it support. But you can say that about anything, it's just not really a conclusion or contribution to the art and science or anything at all really

What most surprises me about the paper, given its Harvard authorship, is its poor quality. Quibbles like misspelling names of cited authors are sadly routine in academic writing today. But the citations... there are almost ten pages of references, but if they're not to other papers by the same authors, they're "first google result" quality. Mostly to paranormal blogs, but the highlight is when the paper cites British tabloids summarizing History Channel shows. Which it does more than once!

@GossiTheDog name one thing Oracle Cloud has done wrong

Major update on the Cooler Screens situation.

Yes, they have printed the shelf plans on a plotter and taped them over the broken screens. The punchline: the printouts are hot as hell. Underneath them, the screens are still on.