Over the weekend of November 17 a landmark UFO conference, titled The Sol Foundation Initiative for UAP Research and Policy, was held at Stanford University and attended almost exclusively by some of the most prominent members of the UFO research community. Organized by Dr. Garry Nolan and Dr. Peter Skafish, the invitation-only conference featured speakers that represented the broad spectrum of disciplines involved in tackling the UAP enigma—a veritable who’s who in UFO circles—ranging from scientists to policy makers to religious scholars. But despite the numerous UFO experiencers in attendance at the conference, none were slated to speak at the event, an oversight that famed UFO researcher Dr. Jacques Vallee publicly said was a mistake, and a glaring omission addressed by Whitley Strieber in a new article in The Debrief that outlines the importance of the input of the community of experiencers, those directly involved in contact with non-human intelligences.
Organized by The Sol Foundation’s founders, Dr. Garry Nolan and Dr. Peter Skafish, the two-day, invitation-only Sol Foundation Initiative for UAP Research and Policy featured prestigious speakers from a wide variety of fields: scientists such as theoretical physicist Dr. Eric Davis and Harvard astronomy professor Avi Loeb; former government officials such as former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Christopher Mellon and former Inspector General of the Intelligence Community Charles McCullough III; investigative journalist Leslie Kean; and UAPTF liaison for the US Army, Colonel Karl E. Nell, just to name a few.
However, it was noticed that, out of all of the highly-qualified presenters that took the podium, none of them represented the experiencer community itself, an oversight that Dr. Jacques Vallee, who also spoke at the conference, said that he felt was a mistake, a mistake certainly felt by one of the most prominent members of the experiencer community, author Whitley Strieber.
“While there were many close encounter witnesses at the conference, and we were treated with courtesy and respect, we had no voice on the podium,” Whitley wrote in an article in The Debrief, titled, “The Sol Foundation Conference: A Great Success and a Greater Issue to Face”, addressing the lack of experiencer representation at the conference and the importance of the input of the experiencer community as part of the UAP disclosure process.
Although he initially considered asking Dr. Nolan about the omission, the author of 1987’s Communion realized that, aside from not holding formal credentials on the subject (despite having authored nine books on the subject), Whitley discovered through discussion with some of the conference’s speakers that the facet of the UFO phenomenon that he represents—personal contact with non-human intelligences—would have made some of the other presenters and attendees uncomfortable if he had been included as one of the speakers, and might have declined to attend.
“I do think that I, and the whole experiencer cohort, should be part of the contact dialog,” Whitley stated. “In addition to my own, there is a wealth of thoughtful writing and thinking in the close encounter community, and we deserve a place in any colloquy about contact,” a discourse that was the entire point of the Sol Foundation Conference, “a discussion about how to respond to, and think about, the phenomenon.”
Whitley stresses the importance of the Sol Foundation event, “quite probably the most important UFO conference ever held,” but the next conference needs to address the close encounter phenomenon, “not only from the point of view of researchers, but also from that of the witnesses themselves.”
“The experiencer community and the broader culture need to have voices,” Whitley continued. “What is happening here is contact with another intelligence presence, and the human side of the experience needs to be addressed as well as issues relating to science and technology and cultural issues.
“There is no point in trying to reserve control of the narrative to just one or two elements, not if we expect to genuinely advance understanding.”
The Sol Foundation, founded by Dr. Nolan and Dr. Skafish, is set to “establish itself as and remain the foremost think tank on UAP,” according to the Foundation’s website, making it “the source of the most informed and insightful [UAP] policy recommendations available.” The goal is to “help fund and set a clear direction for the initial 25 years of public research related to UAP, nonhuman intelligences, and the implications of their existence,” as well as offering “insight and guidance to the public on the cosmological and political implications of UAP.”
While numerous broadcasters, such as The Good Trouble Show’s Matt Ford were in attendance, attendees were asked not to record the presentations or post any content regarding them until after the conference had concluded. Dr. Nolan has stated that official videos of the speakers are in the process of being edited for release, and will be posted online in the near future.
Whitley’s thoughts on the conference—the importance of the role the experiencer community has to play in the process of disclosure and what science can learn from the richness of those experiences—can be read in “The Sol Foundation Conference: A Great Success and a Greater Issue to Face” on The Debrief.
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I don’t know which is worse, the whole question being left up to military and government(s) to handle, or scientists, academia, and religious scholars intellectualizing it all. Ironically, after all these many years, Jacques Vallee is still one of the few researchers that truly gets it, and the implications of it all, while also admitting that he does not have the answers. He has always listened to every-day people, knowing that their stories are key to what may really going on.
In ‘The UFO of God’, Chris Bledsoe had a very well-known researcher ask for exclusivity to his and his family’s story. Fortunately, he said no and also had the wisdom to tell his own story. Years ago, I was lucky enough to find out about Bledsoe via Grant Cameron and his ‘rabbit hole’ events. The humility and sincerity in Bledsoe’s story might have been lost if told by an ‘expert’, and I feel that much understanding might have been lost if told by someone else. Like Whitley’s experiences, first-person stories resonate with others and encourage ‘deep dive’ discussions. ( I know from my own experience that if the topic is brought up, and you have earned trust, people want to tell you their stories.)
We need the science and academia, and I’m glad they are FINALLY looking at it seriously…But I’m not sure that they will be able to provide the answers. As they say, “It takes a village.”
If there was ever a facet of the human experience that epitomized the expression “it’s the journey, not the destination,” the contact phenomenon is it: searching for answers is in our nature, but they’re not real answers unless they lead to more questions.
That’s why I’m looking forward to see what the, if you’ll pardon the expression, noobies to the phenomenon, such as the members of the successor to NASA’s UAP Independent Study Team, wind up finding: apparently being largely unaware of the history of the UFO phenomenon, they’ll undoubtedly find solid evidence that something truly anomalous is going on (and not the 100% misidentification rate that they seem to be expecting), but also simultaneously be faced with data that can only described as “what the fu–!”
On the flip-side of that we have individual researchers like Dr Nolan, being intellectually honest and not expecting to outright solve the mystery, but rather digging as deep as possible into it to see what insights they can tease out of the phenomenon, such as finding out that the basal ganglia of experiencers have a higher number of connections, and the implications for human cognition that that implies.
But yes, the human element is, by far, the most important factor in all of this–Whit outright states this in Solving the Communion Enigma. As far as I’m concerned every UFO report form should include a section asking about impressions and emotions included with those regarding the technical details, since a lot can be gleaned from the human experience that a mechanical or electronic recorder can’t provide.
Dr Nolan was recently interviewed by Ross Coulthart:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR0JtbuLhPo
And Cosmic, thanks for telling me about Chris Bledsoe in last week’s video chat, I found an excellent interview where he lays out his story:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmVQFX2Pp60
Thanks , I must look at what you have shared about Chris Bledsoe Cosmic.
I feel sure ordinary everyday folks that have been pulled into the mystery of the visitors are the ones who understand some of it the best .
Matthew, thanks for the link to the video of Bledsoe so that others may see it! I encourage everyone to see it or read the book. He and his family have compelling information on a par with Whitley’s experiences. Truly, I would love to see a project that involves real people just telling their stories and being recorded, even if it means protecting their privacy by hiding their faces…and I mean an ongoing project, with excellent record-keeping for posterity. ( I would even love to be a part of it, by starting the conversations and helping put them at ease to tell their stories.) A ‘think tank’ could also be a part of it, but just as observers of the conversations/stories, to help put together the threads and clues in the stories.
I understand about ‘noobies’. Back in 2017 when the story came out in the NY Times the number of people that became, overnight, UFO ‘experts’ was nuts (and Twitter led the way). By the way, it was also somewhat of a boys club too…and they knew nothing about about the history, except what they saw on ‘The History Channel’—or heard from Lu Elizondo.
As most of us know, this is all beyond ‘UFOs’ and strange objects in the sky, and includes a wide range of experiences. People’s thoughts, feelings, and even where and what they were doing immediately, before, during, and after the experience are important too. Also, were they changed in some way, as to thoughts, deeds, and actions?