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I've recently returned from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where I attended and spoke at the 2011 Global Competitiveness Forum. This event - and my presence at it - has generated some rumours in the UFO community and the conspiracy theory community, so I thought I would issue this brief statement on the subject, to explain the situations and, hopefully, to dispel a few misperceptions.
Walt Disney, Reuters, Boeing, Rolls-Royce, Siemens, IBM, Ernst & Young and Rio Tinto. Other speakers at the conference included Bill Clinton
and Tony Blair.
and Stanton Friedman
spoke about UFOs, I discussed space, astrobiology and the SETI
programme. Specifically, I spoke about the search for extraterrestrial life being a new space race where innovative thinking and competitiveness were being demonstrated - the key themes of the conference. I also mentioned some financial implications that would arise from the discovery of extraterrestrial life and suggested that the business community might want to give some thought to this. The final panel members were theoretical physicist Michio Kaku and Zaghloul El Naggar, Professor of Earth Science and Geology, Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs. The panel was moderated by John Quelch, Dean of the China Europe International Business School.
In truth, the panel discussion was about exposing business leaders to an interesting, topical and controversial subject they might not have thought about, but which might have something to teach them about hindrances to innovation. In his keynote speech, Bill Clinton made a remark which caused particular excitement with some people in the UFO community. He mentioned recent scientific discoveries relating to the human genome, sub-atomic particles and astrophysics. On the latter, in relation to discovering planets like Earth, he said, " ... and I don't have to tell you what the implications of that would be, if it turned out to be true". Click here for details about the conference, at the official website. Although I have given over 700 lectures in all 50 states, 9 Canadian Provinces (No. 10, Newfoundland coming up on May 13) and 16 other countries, (Saudi Arabia was number 17), this was one that ranks very high. I have had much larger audiences (about 2000 several times vs under 1000 in Riyadh, though from about 30 countries), but hardly any so well arranged and with such an incredible group of attendees. There were a huge number of top executives from companies such as IBM, Volkswagen, Google, etc kind of a top line of movers and shakers. There were a number of well known politicians including Tony Blair, former PM of the UK, Jean Chretien , Former Prime Minister of Canada, and William J. Clinton former President of the USA. He gave an outstanding presentation including some recent scientific developments such as the earth-like planet discovered recently around a not too distant star.75 minutes is not very long for such a multiple speaker presentation. It is of interest that there were no other sessions at the same time though there were a number of simultaneous presentations at other times. So what was the reception? The panel was at 2PM Sunday. Nick and I were around for the rest of the day and until late on Tuesday so had many discussions with other attendees who approached us at lunch or dinner or coffee times. Nobody said anything unpleasant. Many indicated that they were surprised at the topic, but intrigued by the presentations. It would appear that many anticipate that there will indeed be contact with ETs. I was surprised to find that some had seen us on various TV programs. There were no book signings as originally planned , which would have provided more opportunities for feedback. Here are 2 websites that provide more feedback and information: www.gcf.org.sa and also below (video):
The most common questions I had received arewhy would SAGIA,the Saudi Arabian General Investment Agency have a panel session entitled “ Contact: Learning from Outer Space “ and why would the Kingdom, which is so loaded with oil, worry about Global Competitiveness anyway? Almost nobody including me had heard of the GCF before, though this was the 5th one held in Riyadh. Incidentally, the initial panel title was a more blatant “Innovation and UFOs”
Once I had established that there really was a legitimate SAGIA, I responded enthusiastically to my invitation. It didn’t hurt that non panelists or speakers were being charged at least $4000. to attend, and that the long flights would be business class, and the hotel was a 4 star . I stressed that my mantra had for many years been that technological progress comes from doing things differently and that the future was not an extrapolation of the past. Surely examining the technology of visiting alien spacecraft ought to provide some new ideas about propulsion, aerodynamics,perhaps mental telepathy, etc.
There was an interesting choice of panelists. Dr. Jacques Valleeis not a scientist but had manned the UFO Desk of the Ministry of Defense in the UK and has written many articles and spoken at many UFO conferences. Dr. Michio Kaku
is one of the busiest science communicators having regular TV series and radio programs. He is a professor of Physics and a theoretical astrophysicist at City College of New York. His long suit is string theory. He had courage enough to speak out on the Peter Jennings ABC-TV mockumentary of Feb. 24, 2005, and has appeared on Larry King in his Stephen Hawking show. Dr. Zaghloul El Naggar is a member of the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs and a professor of Earth Sciences. I was the fifth member presumably noted in Google searches.
We each gave a short presentation of 5-12 minutes and there were a few questions from the floor. We each sat on the stage in comfortable living room chairs and only went to the podium if doing a power point presentation. Nick had prepared one, but decided not to use it.
Dr. el Naggar stressed that the Koran did not prohibit there being life elsewhere than on Earth, but thought it very unlikely that anybody was coming here. Jacques made the point that there is a robust body of relevant data certainly worthy of scholarly investigation. His new 500 page book with Chris Aubeck: “Wonders in The Sky: Unexplained Aerial Objects From Antiquity to Modern Times and Their Impact on Human Culture, History, and Beliefs“ provides data on about 500 reports from all over the world, all preceding 1880, so could not have been earthling airplanes, helicopters, etc. Dr. Kaku focused on looking for civilizations which meet the criteria set down by a Soviet Scientist Dr. Kardashev in 196__As type 1, type 2, or type 3 civilizations. Type 1 would use all the energy of a planet. Type 2 would use all the energy of a solar system, and type 3 all the energy of a galaxy. He noted that we were a type zero. These notions are, of course, a theoretical construct with no evidence available that there are any such civilizations to be found. Nick stressed there are many different approaches to searching for aliens such as SETI, astrobiology, and ufology. The first two groups don’t talk to the third. He attended 2 conferences at the Royal Society in London focusing on the first 2. As anybody who knows me might have expected, I started with a flat statement that the evidence is overwhelming that aliens have been visiting earth, that governments have been covering up, that aliens obviously have developed innovative techniques compared to us for travel in space and in planetary atmospheres. A review of such observations should lead to innovations and may already have. I showed pictures of a nuclear rocket engine developing 4400 megawatts megawatts (twice the output of Grand Coulee dam), of a nuclear aircraft carrier that canoperate for 18 years without refueling, of an H bomb explosion noting that in 1952 it released the energy equivalent of exploding 10 million tons of TNT or a million times more energy than in a 1942 10 ton blockbuster bomb. I showed 2 almost completely blacked out CIA UFO documents which it took me 5 years to get and on which one could read 8 words. I showed a photo of the covers of my books and a cartoon showing me saying that it is always good to receive the approval of my peers.. 2 aliens standing by as I held a statement that I had been elected to the Roswell UFO Hall of Fame in July 2010.
One question related to anecdotal data. I noted MUFON Conference proceedings, 5 large scale scientific studies which fewer than 2% of attendees at my lectures have read. I referred to Ted Phillips more than 4000 physical trace cases from more than 70countries and the outstanding cases including multiple witness radar visual cases reported by Dr. James E, McDonald at the Congressional Hearings in Washington noting that we have long since passed the anecdotal level.
I am buying a DVD of our panel. I had been blasted in advance by an Englishmen for even considering attending such an event. He was out to lunch as far as I am concerned. I should add that we ate our well served and delicious meals at a bunch of round tables getting to meet many different people from many places. Yes, there were metal detectors and soldiers here and there. CNN was present and filming. But I don’t know if there was any coverage in the United States or the UK or Canada.
Before leaving home I had written some comments as to why I thought such a topic would be included in such a conference of international wheelers and dealers. My first thought was that perhaps they knew something about future events. I had a similar thought about the Pope’s comments about the same God who made us could have made our brethren in outer space.. getting Catholics ready for the big disclosure? I had also had the impression from reviewing panel and keynote lecture topics and speakers that the Kingdom was making a real effort to move the Kingdom forward recognizing that jobs and technology and education would be needed in the future. This concern with the future was very evident. 25% of the budget is going for education. Major efforts have been made to attract foreign investment. Surprisingly women are being educated and there were a number of female presenters. The accommodations were first rate. I was flown Business class which certainly helped during the long journey from Fredericton to Montreal, then to London and then to Riyadh with multiple hour waits at both airports.
The significance of what the Saudi’s are trying to do to protect the future of the country and the royal family was clearly brought home with all the demonstrations in Egypt and Jordan and Tunis. Too many people, not nearly enough education or jobs. No investments in the future. There was also a definite recognition that two requirements for successful entrepreneurship are willingness to take risks and willingness to fail. Certainly there were comments to the effect that many of the presenters had done both and still came out on top.
Was anything accomplished besides stimulating people to think about a topic few probably had given much thought to? I think there were many seeds planted in the minds of creative hard driving successful people. Only time will tell. I for one would certainly attend again if invited. As a side comment , the panelists were not paid for their time or efforts and were not selling anything on site… except ideas.
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A couple of days after returning from this week’s Global Competitiveness Forum in Saudi Arabia, veteran UFO researcher Stan Friedman is still a little puzzled by what it meant. The UFO part, anyway. and Nick Pope, speakers steeped in the persistent UFO controversy. Throw in physicist Michio Kaku and an Islamic scholar — plus an allotment of audience Q&A time — and the scheduled 75-minute program didn’t leave much room for individual exposition.
which cites numerous examples of flawed scientific predictions that erroneously extrapolated future advances based on conventional wisdom. Revolutions, he says, “come from doing things differently.”
