Black-boxing the Black Site: The UFO As Technoscientific Conspiracy

• In Event: Conspiracy Theorists and Techno-Science - I

Abstract

A Cold War classic of conspiracy theories has seen a revival in recent years. In 2017, the New York Times reported the revelations of a secret Pentagon black money program, the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, or AATIP. The alleged object of this shadow program? The elusive unidentified flying object. What has resulted is a conspiracy of glacial proportions: slow-moving but relentless, as historically deep as it is culturally broad.
Discussions both academic and conspiratorial around AATIP have concerned all angles of UFO lore, from secret government technologies to a national or global cover-up of intergalactic travelers. But what is most striking in these narratives is their historical resonance with the UFO conspiracies of the mid-20th century. Congress, the Pentagon and Department of Defense, the private aerospace/aeronautical industry, professional scientists on the payroll of the American military-industrial complex – all these forces are conspiring to keep “the truth” from you, the innocently, profoundly curious American citizen. The actors, objects, and explanations remain strikingly unchanged.
The persistence over time of the UFO as an object of technoscientific conspiracy reveals the complicated nature of the American citizen to the science and technology that too often defines “first world culture.” It cuts to the core of ongoing discussions about the capacity of a democratic body to adequately debate and consult on technoscientific policy and development, and inversely the dangers of the expertise state. This paper will explore how UFO conspiracies of both the past and present reveal ongoing challenges in public understanding of science and science communication, and the role of the “expert” – professional or experiential – in democratic participation and deliberation.

Author

• Kate Dorsch, The University of Pennsylvania