BILL DIAMOND’S RESIGNATION? SEE BELOW*
We now have the opportunity to boldly go wherever the facts may lead for the good of all humankind
I recently published An “Open Letter to SETI Director Bill Diamond”*. Bill was courteous enough to respond and to effectively change this to an open, and hopefully ongoing, conversation. I’m posting Bill’s response above my original open letter.
I’ll then post my response and follow with Bill’s next one, etc. Of course the Comments section is where you can pose your thoughts, questions, etc., as well, and which may possibly contribute to the conversation.
Again, my thanks to Bill for engaging in this discussion. As he said, “we’re on the same team. We have the same objectives.” Let’s see if we can meet them together and boldly go wherever the facts may lead for the good of all humankind.
March 24, 2021
Bill Diamond’s Credibility Gap
I hadn’t planned on making any further comments about the discussion with our friend Bill Diamond, until he responded, but then I found this nice presentation of his at Oxford University.
Bill clearly states that SETI’s “singular purpose, is the search for extraterrestrial life, from the molecular level on up” to the level of “technological civilizations”. How then has SETI given absolutely no thought to the possibility that a “technological civilization” might have developed…space travel?
I also learned that SETI is publicly (taxpayer) funded so, as members of the taxpaying public, aren’t we entitled to have SETI actually look through the proverbial telescope, to look at the evidence?
While SETI is still enamored with the Drake equation, the evidence that they refuse to consider relegates it to simply a step in the theoretical consideration of extraterrestrial life, a theory that is superseded by the…evidence.
Bill took great offense to our holding his feet to the fire. His message to us translates to: “Under no circumstances am I going to be forced to examine the evidence that SETI claims to be searching for, even though you, the public, is paying us to do so…and scientific integrity demands it.”
Unfortunately, the big takeaway for me from this presentation is Bill Diamond’s hypocrisy, revealing that his prejudice towards being presented with unimpeachable evidence of contact with extraterrestrial life – ongoing for almost 80 years with a reclusive Swiss man – is beneath his consideration. He may as well have just said, “Those damn extraterrestrials will contact us the way we want, using the methods we’ve decided they will use, nothing more and nothing less.”
So, once again, the “experts” snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and, once again, humankind is the loser.
BTW, here’s a press release about my having sent SETI information and evidence about the Meier contacts…6 years ago:
Bill, you and SETI are ther rankest of hypocrites and profiteers. You’re certainly not reputable scientists.
Michael Horn
March 23, 2021
Hi Bill,
To be clear, you were asked to respond to specific evidence – already independently authenticated by renowned scientific and aerospace experts, including a US astronaut and a former USAF OSI/Dept. of Defense Investigator. Three-quarters of my open letter introduced you to, and provided you with, their analyses and conclusions supporting this historically unprecedented discovery.
Addressing that was your assignment.
Instead you gave us a nice, but unasked for, history of SETI. That you should be surprised and/or offended that intelligent people, who already know far more than any SETI personnel about the well-documented, still ongoing contacts of Billy Meier, don’t respect being sloughed off, doesn’t speak well for your own knowledge and integrity.
Quite honestly, apart from administrative abilities, do you have any actual experience in analyzing evidence and claims which, “extraordinary” or not, simply require the application of the scientific method?
Even now you, again, glaringly ignore and disregard the only thing that was really asked of you. Is it because, as you already admitted, that your organization, which for 37 years is trying to live up to its name, doesn’t have even the most basic equipment, protocols and personnel to examine actual…evidence of what you claim to be searching for?
Those who’ve expressed their cynicism about this are also mindful of the fact that SETI’s been funded to the tune of millions of dollars, apparently to successfully not succeed in finding what it claims to be searching for. If those of us who already have found what SETI’s searching for, were interested in prioritizing things of less lasting importance and significance, we too might have sought profit over…discovery.
It seems you failed to communicate, genuinely and satisfactorily, to some of your very terrestrial brethren. Is this how you presume an extraterrestrial race would want to be “contacted”? Do you intend to tell them the “SETI story” as well?
Now, lest anyone jump to the conclusion that SETI is running a scam – with the same kind of disrespect and contempt for the public that Seth Shostak continues to insult people with – how’s about just…manning up here, Bill?
For a moment, please forget your sensitive feelings, your perceived hurts when people don’t buy being snowed with non-responsive double-speak. We know that for you, its a gig, an income, a nice position, etc. We don’t care, except for how you use that position in service of the truth.
That elephant in the room isn’t going away, it’s actually getting bigger. So, if you’d like some respect you don’t think you’ve gotten, try showing some. Right now you’re coming off as another “CEO” who can’t, or won’t, address the tough questions. A little push-back and you’re taking your marbles and going home.
In case it wasn’t clear: We don’t need SETI. We’re not holding our breath and waiting for some profound revelations. We already know what you obviously don’t. We already know what Seth Shostak is vainly and arrogantly trying to prevent others from knowing.
This outreach was intended to help SETI do its job, to help bring awareness to the people you reach that a far more advanced race has been in contact with one man on earth for almost 80 years. That the…reason for the contacts – detailed in thousands of pages of information – is to help us assure our own very threatened future survival.
I suggest you reflect on the unique position you are in, historically, and carefully consider if you wish to squander the opportunity, and diminish to insignificance your own legacy, because you’re a bit thin-skinned.
I hope you’ll tear up your resignation from this team and show some of the fortitude and backbone that you obviously must possess, in order to have become the Director of SETI.
Sincerely,
Authorized American Media Representative
The Billy Meier Contacts
*March 23, 2021
Hi Michael,
I tried to respond to your open letter in a matter-of-fact, unemotional manner, and to also do so with respect to the viewpoints of you and your cohorts. What I’ve seen in response, unfortunately, is a continuation of people hurling insults and responding with emotion and vitriol rather than intellect and rationale.
I’m always open to constructive conversation with rational, respectful and open-minded individuals, even if we hold very different viewpoints. I’m not open to conversations that devolve into exchanges of insults and I won’t lower myself or my Institution to that level. What I see is not constructive debate or conversation, but rather simple and close-minded childishness. So unfortunately, our conversation stops here.
Thanks and regards,
Bill
W H Diamond
President & CEO
Explore, Discover, Inspire
March 20, 2021
Dear Bill,
Below I’ve copied a few comments about our conversation. There are of course others, mainly supportive of our interaction, that have been sent to me through email that I don’t have permission to share.
Of course there are people who have harsher views but I don’t need to send you those comments. The purpose here is to let you know that there is a lot of interest and, of course, many people very familiar with the abundant, non-anecdotal evidence. I didn’t send you this list of 91 eyewitnesses, which also includes four other photographers, since it’s not of primary importance.
I myself am one of probably 30 more eyewitnesses, since the posting of this information. Of my own seven sightings, the one I had in Brazil was within 20’ of one of the small monitoring craft. Two other sightings I suspect were also of the Plejaren craft, the four others most probably of secret military craft. I find the UFO aspect interesting but certainly not as important as all of the impeccably prophetically accurate scientific information.
I hope that you will consider the interest, and points of view, of these people in your response:
(I included comments from readers here)
………
Sincerely,
MH
March 18, 2021
Dear Bill,
Thank you for responding, however, I think you misunderstood what was presented to, and what was requested of, you in my open letter.
While you gave a nice overview of SETI’s history, etc., you neglected to address the colossal elephant in the room:
The vast, unprecedented body of non-anecdotal, physical and informational evidence for the existence of, and ongoing contact with, an extraterrestrial race, independently analyzed and authenticated by world-renowned scientific experts.
I provided links to the evidence, which dates back to 1964, and to the various experts, whose diligent research and investigation spans more than 40 years. You responded with the Carl Sagan neologism, a nice-sounding but unscientific, prejudicial claim about “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence”.
Is the claim that the earth revolves around the sun “extraordinary”, or did it just seem that way to those burdened by the beliefs and limitations of the time? The only thing necessary – for any claims and evidence – is to examine them using standard scientific methodologies and protocols. The facts will then be revealed.
You basically told us that while SETI has received enormous sums of money, over the 37 years since it was founded, it hasn’t lived up to its acronymic name and, in fact, conducts itself as if there’s no real expectation to ever to find what it claims to be…searching for. And you told us this without acknowledging the voluminous evidence.
You did tell us that you didn’t have – among your more than 140 scientists – any personnel who had the qualifications of the original investigative team, nor of any of the other experts. You told us that, despite having received many millions of dollars over the past several decades, you don’t have even the equipment used in the original investigation, as detailed here. I suppose you also don’t have the equipment used more recently, by Francisco Villate and Chris Lock in their 74-page analysis.
Lest you, or the readers, think that it’s impossible to discover or examine actual UFO evidence without these technologies, these examples show that anyone with a computer and Photoshop can do what SETI admittedly has failed to do..
As I’ve reminded Prof. Jason Wright and Prof. Avi Loeb, we need only look through the proverbial telescope, or now at our computer screens, to find with what is hidden plain sight.
In January 2019, among aerospace engineer and physicist Kelvin F. Long’s criticisms of SETI’s assumptions were:
“1) that interstellar flight is not possible”
“(3) that the Fermi Paradox and the Drake equation are the starting point (axioms) of all reasoning”
Proceeding from those arbitrary, antiquated assumptions, thoroughly and credibly contradicted and refuted by the already authenticated evidence, has proved to be a self-fulfilling prophecy for SETI. We are reminded of the popular quote about “doing the same thing, over and over, and expecting different results…”
Mr. Long echoed what I’ve been saying to, and about, SETI for at least 10 years. What he only criticized, I substantiated in the evidence I’ve been sending SETI for that long.
So far, it appears that the most “extraordinary claim” belongs to…SETI. Many people, worldwide found what SETI claims to be looking for, years before SETI was founded.
You’ve been kind enough to acknowledge that “we are on the same team. We have the same objectives”. So, you can rely on us to speak plainly and directly. As one of your co-team members – with senior experience to almost, or perhaps, all personnel involved in what SETI literally stands for – I am glad to provide the evidence that your part of the team can now thoroughly research, examine, analyze, etc.
Of course, this evidence was first gathered, researched, analyzed and authenticated by those who came before me, or any of the members of our current, expanded SETI/They Fly team. All of us, and humankind itself, owe them a debt of gratitude for bringing forward the most profound discovery in all of science and human history, i.e. the evidence, information and experiences of one “Billy” Eduard Albert Meier, whose ongoing contacts with the Plejaren extraterrestrials spans almost 80 years.
Let’s also, again, include what astronaut Gordon Cooper states, as fact, beginning at 0:09 in the video:
“A man in Switzerland who was contacted by extraterrestrials…Meier.”
He goes on to say:
“I saw the pictures the day after the investigative team went to Switzerland. I know the investigative team very well. They came to my home to show me all their pictures. Very fine, very fine they were absolutely authentic. And yet the whole world is trying their best to make them out to be fake.”
Once SETI feels that all criteria to substantiate the above have been satisfied, then we can move on as a team to discuss the most important and always unasked question:
“If this is authentic, what is the…the reason for the contacts?
We are prepared to show the evidence that reveals and substantiates:
The reason is to help us on earth assure our very threatened future survival…something vastly more important than the UFOs themselves.
We look forward to hearing from you how SETI wants to proceed and we stand ready to provide any assistance, additional information, evidence, etc., you may require.
Sincerely,
Authorized American Media Representative
The Billy Meier Contacts
March 17, 2021
Dear Michael,
Thanks again for your email and for your open letter.
First let me acknowledge that to the extent your interest and that of many others, in unidentified flying objects (UFOs) is predicated on the underlying implication that if some UFO’s are indeed extraterrestrial in nature, then we clearly share the same interest! Our shared interest in this question certainly means that we have the same ultimate objective and as such, there should be no reason for any ‘bickering’ or disagreement between us. There are, however, several reasons why the investigation of UFO phenomena fall outside our purview and expertise, even though the end objective is the same.
Although SETI as an acronym stands for “The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence” the underlying premise goes back to a paper published in 1959 by two Cornell astronomers who surmised that if there were other technological civilizations broadcasting signals in the radio region of the electromagnetic spectrum, it might be possible to detect their signals with radio telescopes. Needless to say, a radio signal confirmed to be technological in its origins and confirmed to be from beyond our solar system, would be definitive proof of the existence of other intelligent and technological civilizations. And to your point, such a discovery would be among the most profound in all of human history.
That early paper and the subsequent request by NASA to astronomers Frank Drake, Carl Sagan and others, to look into the scientific merits of SETI investigations, led to the formation of the Drake equation, which has since served not only as a reference for SETI endeavors, but also as a roadmap for the broader field of astrobiology, or the study of life in the Universe.
The SETI Institute was founded on the premise of looking for signs of technology in the form of radio signals using radio telescopes as a proxy for life and intelligence beyond Earth. Since its founding in 1984, the Institute’s science has expanded beyond radio astronomy to include a wide range of other research disciplines, including climate and geoscience, planetary exploration, exoplanets, astrobiology and heliophysics. Our research team is comprised of over 140 PhD scientists and affiliates coming from a wide range of disciplines all of whom contribute to their fields by conducting research based on laboratory experiments, field expeditions, ground and space based observations, radio astronomy, and instrument and technology development. The output of their work is the publication of findings in peer-reviewed journals, such as Science, Nature and others. Most of the research at the Institute is funded by NASA, with additional funding from NSF, USGS, NIH and private foundations, among others. Pure SETI programs using both radio and optical instruments are solely funded by philanthropic resources, as for the time being, neither NASA nor NSF fund such efforts.
Given our history and our origins, we have limited our research endeavors to the types of investigations that can be undertaken by qualified research scientists working within the investigative domains of mostly federally-funded agencies, and SETI programs where private individuals have sufficient interest and resources to provide funding. While radio astronomers doing SETI observations have a fundamental and profound interest in the search for intelligent life beyond Earth, they are not otherwise trained or skilled in the types of technologies that might be required to investigate UFO phenomena.
UFOs do represent the tantalizing prospect that there are indeed other technological civilizations in our Universe and they are present in our skies. But, this is a field that represents significant challenges for investigation using traditional scientific methods and approaches. Most evidence to date is anecdotal in nature and based on eye-witness accounts together with intriguing, but not definitive photographic and video images. The hypothesis that some UFOs may be evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence cannot be tested through the traditional approach of experimentation and observation. We do not at all deny the existence of these intriguing phenomenon, but we do not have the expertise nor the resources at the Institute to investigate them, nor do we have the funding to acquire such expertise. Special skills are needed to do such things as verify eye-witness accounts, or scientifically analyze photographic or video evidence, and these skillsets are not present at the Institute.
When considering the prospect of alien technology present on Earth or in our skies, however, some thought experiments are at least worth considering. The evidence seems clear that there is no other technological intelligence in our own solar system, so we have to look to other planetary systems to find evidence of technology beyond Earth. Our nearest neighbor star is Alpha Centauri at 4.2 lightyears distant. If we sent the New Horizons space craft to this system at its present speed, it would take 17,000 years just to get there. That’s a very long time, so it means that even our nearest neighbor is beyond the capabilities of any technology we can yet imagine for visiting or investigating with spacecraft. We also know that sending biology (as we know it) into space is fraught with difficulties, not least the potentially lethal levels of radiation that can be experienced during long-term space flight. It stands to reason, then, that any civilization with the technology to send living beings to Earth, or even autonomous machines, has technology far beyond anything we can yet conceive. It further stands to reason that such technology would be so advanced that the prospect of a crash-landing on one of Earth’s deserts is simply non-existent. Equally, if beings with such advanced technology want to help us (which would be a wonderful thing) they could certainly make their presence and intentions known in more obvious ways than to dart about our skies only to be seen in the most remote parts of our planet. And if they didn’t want to be observed, they would surely be able to outwit any technology or capability we have to try and do so.
Thinking through the technical and practical realities of what an alien presence in our skies implies, certainly makes the UFO hypothesis challenging. But, I like to remain open-minded enough to at least say ‘but not impossible.’
So again, Michael, we are on the same team. We have the same objectives, and if the first irrefutable evidence of intelligent life beyond Earth comes as a result of investigations into UFOs, we’ll be among the first to send our congratulations. In our own fields of research, however, the mandate is clear; extraordinary claims will require extraordinary evidence. Before we can stand up and declare a positive discovery, we know that our findings will have to be independently verified and will be subjected to intense scrutiny. Only upon the successful conclusion of such efforts will we be willing to definitively say “We are not alone!”
We wish you and your colleagues investigating UFO phenomena the very best in your endeavors and hope you wish us the same. With our respective, if independent efforts, at least the chances of discovery are greater.
With kind regards,
Bill
W H Diamond
President & CEO
Explore, Discover, Inspire
March 10, 2021
*An Open Letter to SETI Director Bill Diamond
The reason for the contacts is to help us on Earth assure our own, very threatened future survival
Dear Director Diamond,
For a number of years, I and others have reached out to SETI, specifically to Seth Shostak, to inform him of evidence and information which, decades of independent expert analysis and authentication show, deserves the immediate attention of SETI.
We think that this attention on your part will reveal that the evidence and information satisfies the search SETI’s been involved in for the past 37 years.
I am linking to my last article about what has frankly been a frustrating situation for us. I think it’s really unnecessary and foolish for people who have the same goal to be bickering, especially when it merely takes professional scrutiny on SETI’s part to vet the material.
We understand that the combined investigative information, included in A Preliminary Investigation Report, (542 pages) by Lt. Col. Wendelle Stevens, (USAF) and Light Years, (265 pages) by Gary Kinder, at over 800 pages, quite obviously contains many times more than the 5,000 – 6,000 words in standard peer reviews. Therefore, we don’t see any need to include Stevens’ A Supplementary Investigation Report (547 pages) unless requested.
Regarding peer review, Lt. Col. Stevens had the distinction of being tasked by the US Air Force, in 1947, with investigating UFOs, which he continued after leaving the service. His experience as a pilot and investigator is not likely to be equalled by many, if any, scientific experts who usually review astronomical material, etc. Stevens’ team, for the Meier case, included high-level investigators, Lee and Brit Elders, who provided counter-espionage and communication security services to Fortune 500 companies, banks, etc.
There is additional information from other scientific experts at NASA, JPL, USGS, McDonnell Douglas, IBM, etc., here, as well as by NASA aerospace engineer Matthew Wieczkiewicz, USAF OSI/Department of State investigator/supervisor Joe Tysk and in the photo analysis, as originally published in A Preliminary Investigation Report.
As you also know, in preparation for the rigors of their missions, our US astronauts are trained in photography, as well as briefed on sighting possible anomalous objects, etc. Like the special qualifications of Stevens, they have expertise that only a scientist with similar training would have. As such, these words by astronaut Gordon Cooper, pertaining to the photographic evidence from Mr. Meier, bear serious consideration:
“I saw the pictures the day after the investigative team went to Switzerland. I know the investigative team very well. They came to my home to show me all their pictures. Very fine, very fine they were absolutely authentic. And yet the whole world is trying their best to make them out to be fake.”
You’ll also notice that prior to making the statement above, beginning at 0:09 in the video, astronaut Cooper states, as fact:
“A man in Switzerland who was contacted by extraterrestrials…Meier.”
Included in the evidence I refer to as the “higher standard of proof”, i.e. even higher than the already authenticated UFO evidence, is an abundance of specific, error-free, scientific information that Mr. Meier verifiably published before “official discovery”, as copyrighted, dated documents – including Stevens’ books – confirm.
The information from Mr. Meier about Mars, black holes, etc., was both fascinating and perplexing for Ken Herkenhoff, the NASA/USGS scientist and PanCam and Microscopic Imager expert for one of the cameras onboard the Mars rovers, to whom I personally presented the information, on March 4, 2019.
Certainly, Mr. Shostak was mistaken in his assertions that SETI doesn’t have the necessary equipment, protocols, and personnel in place to analyze evidence for extraterrestrial life which, for 37 years, is the core purpose of the organization.
Perhaps Dr. Andrew Siemion, in his capacity as Chair for SETI Research, and with his expressed research interest in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, would be an appropriate person to include in this discussion and to facilitate the requested evidentiary investigation.
One thing we can all agree on is that the confirmed existence of intelligent extraterrestrial beings would be the single most important development in all of science and human history…superseded only by actual contact with such beings.
Then of course, there is the largely unasked question, “If such beings exist and have made contact, what is their…reason for doing so?” I think the evidence we will freely and gladly provide, including that which I’ve documented over my 42 years of research, shows that the reason for the contacts is to help us on Earth assure our own, very threatened future survival.
Assuming for a moment that such beings exist and that this is their underlying reason for contacting us, certainly humankind will appreciate SETI’s contributing their resources and expertise to the exploration of the evidence and the implementation of the advice and recommendations they’ve suggested in order to, indeed, assure our future survival.
Sincerely,
Authorized American Media Representative
The Billy Meier Contacts
Jut saw this
Please move this discussion to the appropriate blog article. Thanks
Really odd response. I am not sure there were calls for a debate. It was a request to review the information with a scientific mind.
To finish with “you are childish” is about as odd as it gets. Its not factual and in our belief system closes any response. Again not logically as most responsible adults will offer an explanation to a child – but often as a caricature of the truth in our society. So maybe it is not odd.
I do think the constant unchallenged slander from ufo groups probably does not help. I actually listened to a few podcasts. They were deeply offensive however clearly framed as comedy. One other podcast was framed as balanced but one side of the argument was Korf – and the closing statement was framed as belief in Billy is not compatible with any other ufo story. Which as you know is not the case. Infact the underlying review of the case from the ufo community is pretty poor.
I am still hopeful. Anyone with a scientific background will find much of the information tantalising. It hangs together even in our rudimentary framework- so even the most outlandish si fi concepts actually track well with the science. The nature of space travel the use of fields and the role of time.
I suppose we must thank Bill, he has at least made it clear there are challenges he is not willing to face.
Thanks Michael.
Salome
eh… He just doesn’t want to screw up his pension. He knows and I’m sure SETI has looked into the meier material too, no matter what dingbat says.
Bill,
We are all adults with, hopefully, the same goal: the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, but it seems that you are more concerned with blowback and strong criticism than actually investigating the scientific evidence. The only reason that SETI wouldn’t want to exhaust all possibilities is because they aren’t interested in finding the truth.
Where does all that research funding go if your scientists are sitting around waiting for radio signals, solar activity or magnetic field anomalies? I know that’s an oversimplification of SETI’s research, but focusing on such limited areas of interest seems to be a catastrophic miscalculation. SETI has restricted itself to such miniscule parameters that it’s not surprising you haven’t found intelligent life. It’ll also be quite embarrassing when it’s discovered that the highly advanced extraterrestrials have been passing through our solar system for many years without so much as a blip on SETI’s radar.
We get it that you have to think about and protect your position at SETI. It’s a nice gig if you’re looking to quietly continue your career without much worry or pressure. And we already know that investigating the Meier case will get you into hot water with the funders, but will it really be worth it in the end?
By refusing to look at the Meier evidence, it’s clear that you are willing to forgo progress for some agenda or the almighty dollar. You not only hold the masses back, but you hold yourself and all your descendants back. Is it really worth it to continue to live in such primitiveness? Even our richest and smartest earth humans live in primitiveness and are of low evolution and intelligence. It’s way past time to be responsible, sincere, and truthful in your research.