Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Michael Salla cracks me up

        Michael Salla's actual expertise is in international conflict resolution—that's what his doctorate from Melbourne Uni was awarded for. He has no known training in physics or engineering. When he was kicked out of American University in 2001, he had a great idea: Why not cash in on the public appetite for stories about UFOs and extraterrestrial intelligence by inventing a whole lot of stories about SECRET dealings between the US Government and alien civilizations, and about SECRET advanced technologies that are in use today but undisclosed. The key to this idea, of course, is that when people ask for documentary evidence of any claims Salla makes, he can say "Sorry, I can't reveal my sources. Didn't I say these are SECRETS????" I don't think anyone has ever asked him "If these are such deep secrets, how come you know about them?"

        So he founded something called the Exopolitics Institute and offered "Galactic Diplomacy Certificates" to punters who came up with $1500 by way of a fee for the study course. The Institute teaches gobbledegook like this:
"There is extensive evidence of government agencies in the United States and elsewhere having held meetings and having reached agreements with some extraterrestrial races. Those official diplomatic meetings have been highly classified and suggest that ‘galactic diplomacy’ at an official level has been secretly underway for at least 50 years without the knowledge of most citizens and elected representatives."note 1
        He self-published a whole slew of books—eight to date—with titles like Secret Space Programs & Extraterrestrial Alliances. His actual sources include 1] his own imagination, 2] William Cooper, 3] Bob Lazar, and in one case, in his most recent book, 4] an anonymous post in 4chan.

Submarines in outer space
         Salla has guested on Coast to Coast AM 37 times since 2003, most recently a wek ago, 18th September. The producers just adore his evidence-free speculations (Timothy Lavin wrote in The Listener that the show "lets clearly delusional or pseudoscientific assertions slide by without challenge.") Last week's "clearly delusional assertions" by Salla included a claim that the US Navy has retro-fitted submarines with anti-gravity technology and used them as large spaceships.note 2 He also said that the Navy has a patent on advanced electro-magnetic propulsion technology using a quantum vacuum generated by microwave cavities. If this technology were declassified and licensed to the commerical aerospace industry, he said, it could fly a jet plane from New York to Honolulu "in a few minutes."

         I freely admit that I don't understand quantum physics, but I don't think that's quite how the quantum vacuum works. Proponents of QVT propulsion have somewhat shot themselves in the foot by proclaiming the EM Drive a "proof of concept" demonstration (the EM Drive has now been pretty conclusively debunked)note 3. Besides, I know of no theory that QVT promises super-fast travel—the standard laws of physics would still apply no matter how exotic the engineering.

        It seems to me that the key to understanding Salla is very simple: He just gives himself permission to make up any rubbish story he feels like. Cracks me up.

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[1] From a paper by Salla titled The Emergence of ‘Track Two’ Galactic Diplomacy with Extraterrestrial Races – The Role of Private Citizens & Groups in Establishing Communications & Agreements with Extraterrestrial Races. Published in Galactic Diplomacy (link to web page now 404).

[2] This is really hilarious. Anti-gravity technology, by definition, provides lift in a vertical direction as opposed to thrust, or propulsion, which has to be horizontal if it's to be at all useful. For propulsion, a converted submarine would presumably be stuck with using its propellors. Not very effective in space, one might think. I have written previously about the inherent limitations of anti-gravity technology.

[3] 'Impossible' EmDrive Space Thruster May Really Be Impossible. Mike Wall, Space.com 23 May 2018. See also my own write-up on this.

4 comments:

Graham said...

Not just hilarious, the 'Submarine as space ship' concept is a pretty old one. Harry Harrisons 'The Daleth Effect' (aka 'In Our Hands, The Stars') which came out in 1970 is the first one that popped into my mind when I read the post, but there's plenty of others.

David Evans said...

You don't understand. The submarines were driven by the Dean Drive, a mechanical monstrosity which produced thrust in any desired direction. It was tested and proved to work on bathroom scales. All this was in Astounding Science Fiction in the 1950's.

expat said...

Well bless my soul! I suppose I should have guessed it wasn't an original idea.

Anonymous said...

"Michael Salla's actual expertise is in international conflict resolution—that's what his doctorate from Melbourne Uni was awarded for."

What does that mean... He read "The Art of War" by, Sun Tzu??? Do you download the doctorate with the e-book? Sounds like someone claiming to be a custodial engineer at NASA.

Anthony