The Rt. Hon. R G Casey - new personal documents on his UAP interests

Hi all,

For the last six months I have been pursuing one particular UAP file held by the National Archives of Australia (NAA). One which has not been available before. Today, a digital copy became available to me.

The Rt. Hon. R G Casey:

File series M1148, control symbol Unidentified Flying Objects, barcode 31415782, is titled "Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) including correspondence and a report, the report is 'Department of Air unusual aerial sightings: summary 3, January 1970-December 1971, correspondence including Lieutenant Colonel E H B Neill."  Quite a mouthful for an NAA file title.

The MT1148 series holds correspondence folders owned by The Right Honourable Richard Gardiner Casey. Casey was an Australian politician, who at one stage, inter alia, was the Minister for the Department of External Affairs 1951-1960. For details on Casey, click here.

M1148 Flying Saucers:

I am aware of a previous M1148 file series file, control symbol Flying Saucers 1954 to 1955, barcode 3215027, held by the NAA in digital format. This file provides details of Casey's early interest in the subject of flying saucers. What hasn't been available until now is knowledge of his interest in his later years. He passed away in 1976.

M1148 Unidentified Flying Objects:

This new digital file is 60 pages long with a date range of 1970-1972. The first 40 pages are copies of the Department of Air's summaries of unusual aerial sightings, prepared by the RAAF. Pages 15 and 16 are a statement of RAAF policy on unusual aerial sightings.

Page 14 is a newspaper clipping from "The Age" newspaper, Melbourne, Australia dated 7 October 1972 titled "Guess what? UFO men have been talking with our leaders" by journalist/writer John Pinkney.

Page 13 is a typed letter addressed to D A Casey, of Mt Macedon, Victoria from R G Casey. The text reads: "What's all this about? I've asked Ted Neill if it's a leg-pull or what. Does it ring any sort of bell with you?" It has a blue stamp "CASEY" instead of a signature, and is dated 9 October 1972. Below it is typed "Guess what? UFO men have been talking to our leaders." (John Pinkney. The Age Saturday October 7, 1972.)

Is it a leg pull?

Page 12 is a letter dated 9 October 1972 (Personal) "I attach photocopy of an article in the Age of Saturday, October 7th, which intrigued me. If you could let me know whether it's a leg pull or what, I'd be interested. Who is the writer? Is he one of your regular correspondents? Is he a scientist? If these are improper questions for me to ask - don't bother. I hope we may have an opportunity to meet again before long." Stamped "CASEY." It is addressed to Lieutenant Colonel E H B Neill, Chairman of Directors, The Age newspaper.

Page 11 is a typed letter to Casey from Dennis (the DA Casey of page 13) dated 12 October 1972. It starts off "I really have no idea at all as to why The Age publishes such silly rubbish as the cutting that you sent to me." It also includes "There has been a quite stupid book published recently...called The Chariots of the Gods..."

Meeting Mr Pinkney:

Pages 9 and 10 are a letter to Casey dated 12 October 1972 from Lieutenant Colonel E H B Neill (the Ted Neill of page 12.) Neill advises Casey who Pinkney is. Interestingly, the letter has a hand written note "Lord Casey - you are meeting Mr Pinkney at 5pm - Melb Club - Tues 24 October."

Page 8 is a letter to D A Casey. "I send you the attached letter from Ted Neill without comment which no doubt you can provide for yourself." 17 October 1972.

Page 7 is a letter to Sir Keith Waller, Secretary, Department of External Affairs. Sending a copy of a letter from Ted Neill. "...No doubt you will consider enlisting Pinkney as an adviser in your Department."

Page 6 is another letter from Casey to D A Casey, refers to letter from D A Casey of 12 October 1972 and includes: "Thanks for your letter of the 12th October - although I am afraid I don't agree with you about the Pinkney article in The Age of 7th October...I suppose you might use the word 'supernatural' for this fifth sense, although I don't think either Hoyle or Harlow Shapley used it. When you get Hoyle and Harlow Shapley saying practically the same thing, you can't laugh it off..."

Pages 4- 5 are a response to page 6. "But this is all a very long way from Pinkney's statement that extra terrestrial beings have been operating on Earth and that they have been in communication with men. The problem is, is this a statement of a fact, or is it merely a probability or just a possibility?...I myself cannot believe that if it were a fact such a stupendous happening could possibly be kept secret except for a very short time.."

Meeting with the RAAF:

Page 3 is a reply to page 4. A letter from Casey dated 25 October 1972. Casey mentions meeting Pinkney at the Melbourne Club. "His main interest is clearly in U.F.O. on which he is intent to concentrate. On this I'll ask the Defence Department if I can meet (in Melbourne) one of the R.A.A.F. committee on investigation of U.F.O. and hear what he has to say."

Page 2 is a note. "Lord Casey. Squadron Leader Roddy telephoned. He said he has been contacted by his superior in Canberra asking him to arrange to talk toy you about U. F. Os. He suggested he come to see you at 10.30am on Tuesday, 31st October. Is this alright?" The note carries on. "Squadron Leader R R Roddy, Command Intelligence Officer for HQ Support Command...Dealing with counter intelligence and security."

Page 1 is a note Casey sent to Roddy after their meeting dated 6 November 1972. "I write rather belatedly to send you my thanks for your being good enough to come to see me to talk about U.F.Os. and for your frankness in telling me about them. It is (as you will know better than I do) a matter of quite considerable public interest, as is reflected in the prominence given to it in the press by 'so called' sightings. However you personally leave one in no doubt that you can find no reason to indulge in fanciful (non material) explanations. With my thanks..."

Comment:

This file adds to our previous knowledge of R G Casey's interest in UAP.

Woomera UAP file - Previously unknown Australian Department of Defence Woomera UAP file turns up

Hi all,

Woomera UAP files:

Until now, I knew of four UAP files held by the former Australian government Department of Supply, which contained UAP reports from Woomera. These were:

1. File series D174, control symbol SA 5281. "Unusual Occurrences Flying Saucers at Woomera." Date range 1952-1955, barcode 1012736.

2. File series D250, control symbol 1956/483. "Report on unidentified aircraft strange occurrences etc." Date range 1952-1958, barcode 975473.

3. File series D250, control symbol 56/3568 Part 1. "Woomera, S.T.A.R.S."  Date range 1966-1968, barcode 978675.

All the above files are currently available through the National Archives of Australia as digitised files.

4. D174, control symbol SA5644/2/1. "Sightings of Unidentified Flying Objects." Date range 1966-1974, barcode 10663583. I have seen this file in hard copy, but am currently waiting for it to be digitised.

New file:

The other day, Melbourne researcher, Paul Dean, drew my attention to a Department of Defence "On the Record" Media room statement, dated 8 June 2011.

The "On the Record" item is headed "Response to Sydney Morning Herald article about unusual aerial sightings." A journalist had asked for "...records held by the Department of Defence which related...to UFOs..."

The DOD located a file titled "Report on UFOs/Strange Occurrences and Phenomena in Woomera." The statement also included four PDF files of documents from this file. I hadn't come across this file or these documents before. It turns out that this file is a previously unknown one, and certainly not one of the four previously known.

What's on this 40 page file?

PDF 1:

1. A Department of Supply minute dated 27 March 1972, stating that a letter has been removed and sent to the Deputy Director/Trials.

2. A memo dated 10 March 972 from Security Officer/Operations to Security Officer/Admin. It concerns the finding of an object at Rutland Plain area, Carpentaria.

3. A hand written note to say that the above letter is about part of a "...Black Arrow R2 vehicle which went astray."

4-5 Letter from Buenos Aries dated 11 December 1972 re three objects observed crossing the sky there.

6-9. Letter of inquiry dated 23 September 1973 re sighting of an object in the sky. Suggest vapour trail and referred to the Department of Civil Aviation. Department of Supply reference A12/3/3.

10-12. Letter dated 12 May 1974 from someone enclosing snaps of objects "taken in the sky," and asking if the "Rocket Research station, Woomera" can identify them. The reply was that the cause seemed to be film damage.

13-14. A teletype dated 31 July 1974 from Arundel UFO Research Station, Alice Springs asking about UFO sighting 26 July 1974 and was it a rocket launch?

Comment:

These old documents are all Department of Supply (DOS) documents. I checked my summaries of the four known DOS files, and folios 13-14 on the DOD file under discussion were also on DOS file SA5644/2/1. The Disclosure Australia Project never located DOS file reference A12/3/3.

Why these old DOS file papers should be on the DOD file is unknown.

PDF 2:

1-2. An undated newspaper clipping titled "Ever increasing circles" about crop circles.

3-4. An article from "The Advertiser" newspaper dated 6 June 1992 titled "Alien Invasion."

PDF 3:

1. An undated magazine article by John Pinkney "Flying Balls Baffle Boffins." It carries Timothy Good's account of a mystery sphere found at Woomera.

2. A Defence Centre - Adelaide fax dated 16 April 1995 to a John Byard, Woomera - subject "More objects from outer space may be found." It provides details of an extract from the "Sunday Mail" newspaper dated 4 May 1963 page 23.

3-9. Letter to Woomera Heritage Museum, around 1 July 1993 with clippings from the "Barrier Daily Truth" newspaper, and a response from J C Draper, of the Department of Supply, file reference A12/3/3 about the finding of mystery spheres in Australia. Draper identifies himself as the "Range Facilities Manager."

PDF 4:

1-2. Newspaper clipping from the "Adelaide Advertiser" newspaper dated 16 July 2005 about "The W files - something really may be out there." It presents some of the findings of the Disclosure Australia Project and features a photograph of AURA member, Dominic McNamara.

3-13. A copy of a Disclosure Australia Project write-up about the Department of Supply and UFOs 1953-1972. There are hand written notes on the cover of the top folio "UFO file" "Y2/3/3," "DSCW/IN/2010/1.

Comment:

How fascinating to find that someone filed a copy of Disclosure Australia material on the DOS on this DOD file. The "On the Record" statement does not give the file reference for this latest DOD file. Could it be Y2/3/3, and who is DSCW?  Can any reader enlighten me?

The Adelaide Advertiser clip of 2005 and the Disclosure Australia material from around 2005, indicate that someone in the DOD was still collecting UFO material, despite the fact that the DOD itself, always informs you that they have not been receiving UAS reports from the public since 1996.

Thanks again to Paul Dean for spotting this DOD "On the Record" item. If you'd like to read the statement or indeed view the four part PDF file go to (click here.)

In conclusion, one wonders how many other DOD files there are, which we do not know about?

A close encounter with a mystery light

Hi all,

I appreciate feedback from blog readers, so was delighted to hear from one reader who took great interest in a previous post about a mysterious object seen near Kimba, South Australia (click here to read this post.) I made contact with the reader, and had a telephone conversation with him about his fascinating account. The following is his story as told to me over the phone.

Steve's story:

In July 1996 "Steve" was travelling alone in his HR Holden between Perth and Sydney. By about 3am he was some 5-10 minutes away from Kimba, in South Australia. He pulled the vehicle off the road, behind a mound of gravel, near the entrance to a farm, to answer the call of nature.

While outside the vehicle, a light, the size of a torch appeared. It was at a height of about 4 metres above a gate, and was swaying from side to side. He went around the back of his car to get back in the drivers side and then saw, the same or a similar light above the gravel mound. He jumped into his car and took off from the area. His immediate thought had been that the light was a farmer with a torch looking at him and the other light was a torch from a truck driver who’s truck was parked there.

He noticed that a light, like a motor cycle headlight was following him very closely. He got to Iron Knob, and the light disappeared. His thinking was still along the lines that a shift worker on a motor bike had been following him. He travelled on to Port Augusta and got some petrol. By this time he had become scared, with the thought that he was "being watched."

 

The light reappears:

On the way out of Port Augusta the light reappeared again on his tail and was very close, almost tailgating. He then reached the turn off to Peterborough. He turned left and pulled up to confront whatever was "tailgating" him. He got out of the car and there was a white orb, hovering, moving left to right, about the size of a tennis ball (perhaps slightly smaller") at a distance of "2 feet" off the boot of the car and at the same height off the ground as he was. He recalled that he had two disposable cameras in the car, got one and went back to the rear of the car, found the ball was still there, but realised that there were no shots left on that camera. He went back to the car for the second camera, retrieved it, and at that point as he went back to the rear of the vehicle and put the camera up to his eye to take a photo, the ball retreated in to a nearby paddock at speed. He took 2 photographs of it in that position, while he was outside the car.

The ball of light when seen at close range, appeared spherical, but had a white cone shape below it in which the light "tapered off." He then re entered the car and drove off trying to chase the light which had now went back towards the turn off, where it disappeared. At this point he said he was terrified so turned back towards Port Augusta.

Around this point he realised there were now two lights. One behind him and one off to the right hand side. He returned to Port Augusta and pulled into a service station where the light stopped just before the station and on the edge of darkness and hovered there as if watching what he was doing. Steve then rang his father. His father mentioned the concept of "min min" lights.

 

The second night:

Steve then drove from Port Augusta to Hay, during the daytime. He got to Hay about dusk , had a couple of hours sleep and then travelled on towards West Wyalong after dark. It is flat countryside. He was watching his rear vision mirror for anything unusual or if a car was behind him, which there wasn’t. As soon as it got dark and the sun had set a light appeared in the rear vision mirror. He turned the mirror away. The light then came to the vehicle's side. He pulled up and went back to Hay. At that point the light seemed to be a car which overtook him. He had a torch with him that wouldn't work. He noticed his vehicle's speedometer was erratic. He decided to stay the night in Hay at a motel.

Later he had the film developed. He expected to see a shot of the light in the paddock taken from a position outside his car. Instead the shot showed as if taken from a position through the front windscreen. He cannot account for the difference between his recollection and the actual photograph. However the light can be seen clearly in the 2 photo’s taken.

 

Both "Steve" and I would like to hear from any other blog readers who have come across similar accounts from this part of the world.

Four more National Archives UAP files digitised

Hi all,

Courtesy of the continuing generosity of Melbourne researcher Paul Dean, four additional UAP files held by the National Archives of Australia, have just been digitised for us all to view.

Department of the Army file:

NAA file series MT1131/1 control symbol A31/1/133, barcode 3226483, is a Department of the Army file titled "Unidentified aircraft over Papua and New Guinea" with a date range of 1958 to 1959. It consists of 9 digital pages. Why the Army should be interested in unidentified aircraft in this area is unknown.

The only possible UAP related sighting, is a memo dated 17 June 1959, from the Department of Territories to the Department of Defence re a "Reported sighting of falling object." by the Assistant District Officer at Baniara in the Milne Bay District.

"Apparently unidentified object sighted from Baniara 1900 sunday 24th May in westerly direction appeared high in sky but commenced to descend erratically in SW direction colour was a brilliant blue alternating at long intervals to a reddish glow and ending with a green flash object disappeared at 2015hrs."

The Department of Defence sent copies to the Department of Air and the Department of Civil Aviation, asking "...if in the meantime, you are able to throw any light on the incident, your advice would be appreciated."

Second Department of Army file:

NAA file series MT1131/1, control symbol A31/1/102, barcode 3226475, is another Department of the Army file with a date range of 1957-1959. This is a 10 page digital file, titled "Request for information, flying objects Raoul & Bandish." An individual named Raoul E Baudish of Lane Cove, New South Wales, on 28 October 1957 wrote in and asked for information about UFOs in connection with military exercises. The Minister of the Army responded on 18 November 1957 that "The matter has been investigated and no reports of sightings have been made to my Department."

RAAF file:

NAA file series A11250, control symbol 5/1/Air Part 1, barcode 3474695, is titled "[No 23 Fighter Squadron] - Intelligence - Unusual Sightings." This file is one of the earliest RAAF files available to us with a date range of 1953-1953. Number 23 Fighter Squadron at that stage was based at RAAF Amberley in Queensland. The digital file is 9 pages long.

It consists of a memo dated 21 November 1953 from HQ Home Command, Penrith, NSW to a distribution list of RAAF Bases in south-eastern Australia. The heading is "Attention Intelligence Officers - Unusual Sightings." The memo states that an original 1951 proforma for reporting unusual sightings has been updated and is attached for future use.A note on the inside cover states "Ref 1A. Make this available where it (can be) read by all pilots - CAF and DAF. Please impress on them to treat as confidential."

Also on the file is an unclassified teletype from Deapaircan to commlist alpha, advising of the expected decay and re-entry of Sputnik III in April 1960. The Department of Air called for observations of the re-entry.

Second RAAF file:

NAA file series A11339, control symbol 5/7/1/Air Part 1, barcode 3526846, is titled "[Base Squadron - Williamtown] - Intelligence - Unusual sightings" with a date range of 1953-1958. This file is 66 pages long.

On it there are:

* Copies of the November 1953 memo updating the RAAF's reporting proforma.

* Numerous reports from the New Lambton area of a 21 January 1954 sighting at about 0745hrs of an elliptical, soft, luminous blue object travelling from the west at 35-40 degrees elevation.
Headquarters Home Command asked Williamtown to interview witnesses. One witness, Mr Mark Howarth of the Grange Mount Observatory who collected observations, was even invited to lunch by RAAF Wing Commander N T Quinn of the Land/Air Warfare, Williamtown to discuss the sightings!

*A newspaper clipping headed "Blazing meteor zips past jet" and told how "A blazing meteor went within 200 feet of a Sabre jet plane flying at 15,000 feet north of Williamtown RAAF base last night."

* Observations by  Flight Sgts C H Peck and H A Collits; and Pilot Officer J I Thomson on 11 October 1956 for 3 seconds at 2015hrs of a blue-green light low down in the sky, moving at a rapid pace across the sky.

"Alien End Game?" - Jenny Randles and UAP

Hi all,

In an article titled "Alien End Game?", English researcher Jenny Randles, takes a look at the question "Do we need the concept of aliens in the modern UFO pantheon or are these beings just a space age equivalent of the dragons and the fairies - a once culturally relevant motif, that suited a particular time and place from which we have since moved on?" (Fortean Times  No. 297, March 2013 p.29.)

CE3s "have fallen off a cliff."

Jenny points out that "Another oddity is that reports of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" have fallen off a cliff. Between the 1940s and 1970s, reports of aliens alongside or inside UFOs formed most alien contact. A dramatic rise in claims of abductions followed. By the 1990's, these were the majority of reported alien contacts and CE3s were vanishing. Today, abductions are far fewer and CE3s are all but gone."

"Real aliens likely are out there, but I believe that astronomers will find them, not ufologists. Instead, there is real potential to make discoveries in areas such as the nature of consciousness and rare atmospheric energy sources to tame and use as a future resource. But we will only find these if we look in the right places - and we will only look if we lay aside our frustrating quest for beings that, in the end, appear to be illusionary. We should instead call an end game to that quest and search for the true cause of puzzling UFOs."

This line of thinking was explored in one of Jenny's previous articles in Fortean Times No. 295, January 2013 p29.) Two cases are presented where independent witnesses saw something different to the primary witness.

Sweden:

In Lindholmen, Sweden, a man was walking across a road when there was a blinding light. In hospital, his body showed signs of static electricity. Via hypnosis, he recalled alien contact. "A second person passing by on an adjacent road had seen what happened. They did indeed observe the unusual ball of light fall from the sky...but they did not see any aliens or the witness being floated in the air."

On 8 October 1972, in the UK, a security guard heard a humming noise, then saw a disc shaped object hovering nearby. It left at speed. A second security guard just metres away from the first, saw nothing unusual at all.

Jenny postulates "Does this variation in  the 'depth' of a UFO experience relate to a witness' proximity to a UFO imply that our perceptions change the closer we are to an associated energy field?"

"My data suggests that as we enter such a 'Sphere of Influence' the way we "experience" a "UFO" is indeed altered. The UAP or glowing energy ball described by more distant observers is perhaps an indication that they were experiencing the phenomenon through lower levels of distortion, and that these escalate as they approach the sphere and their exposure to its energy increases. They may even detect this rising energy as a buzzing sound, a tingling in the brain, before consciousness is progressively affected, triggering perception of a fantastic close encounter."

Vehicle interference cases:

Likewise, in the February 2013 issues of Fortean Times page 29 Randles examines the reduction in numbers of vehicle interference cases, concluding "...the apparent fall in car stop cases could be hard evidence that these UFOs are not extraterrestrial in origin, but an unidentified atmospheric phenomenon."

Australian examples:

Jenny's articles struck a chord with me, and two striking Australian cases came to mind.

On the 16th September 1974 at St Helens in Tasmania, a woman and her two children were travelling by car at 2115hrs. Light rain was falling. They heard static on the car radio, then the car lost power, then stopped. The vehicle's headlights, radio, heater and dashboard lights all went out. A deafening vibrating noise enveloped the car for a minute. Quite painful electrical shocks were felt by all three passengers. The car was then filled with a chocking smell. The occupants fled the vehicle. When they returned all was normal. Mrs Richards suffered a numb right side of her face and a five cent sized mark above her right eyebrow. The day after the event, her arms and fingers were badly swollen and she had difficulty walking. (TUFOIC files.)

The second Australian case happened on 5th February 1979 at Lawitta Tasmania.  A man was driving his catr alone at 2150hrs and noted that his car radio had stopped working. Seconds later, an intense white light enveloped the car and he could not see beyond the bonnet. The car's lights and motor failed. The next thing he remembers is being stopped by police. He was taken to hospital, examined and found to be in a state of shock. His Ford Cortina T71C was found to have a flat battery; and had a low oil level. The cutoff switch in the alternator needed replacing as did wiring, especially of the headlights. The radiator's water level was also low. (TUFOIC files.)

What do blog readers think about these ideas of Jenny's?

Will Project Loon cause UAP reports in New Zealand?

Hi all,

The 22nd June 2013 issue of "New Scientist" magazine (Volume 218 Number 2922 page 5) carries an item titled "Wi-Fi in the sky." In part it reads:

"Cyberspace really is full of hot air. Giant balloons floating 20 kilometres above Earth are set to beam internet access to remote areas. This is Google's Project Loon, an attempt to connect the two thirds of the world's population without web access.

The balloons, currently being trialled in New Zealand, deliver a coverage area of 1250 square kilometres as they pass overhead. Home computers connect to the nearest balloon and the signal is then bounced from balloon to balloon until it joins the internet back on the ground. Solar panels power the balloon's electronics."

Another potential source of UAP sightings. For more about the Project Loon, click here.

SETI and the Fermi paradox

Hi all,

I just came across two different perspectives about SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.)

Infrared light search:

The first was in an article in the June 2013 magazine "Astronomy." The article was titled "How to find ET with infrared light" by Jeff R Kuhn; Svetlana V Berdyugina; David Halliday and Caisey Harlington. Extracts from the article follow:

"Current and emerging earthbound technology makes it possible to obtain a census of ETCs within about 60 light years of us - just by evaluating the heat signatures of nearby stars." (p.30.) (ETC is short for extraterrestrial civilisations.)

"Thus a way to find such an advanced ETC...is to look for stars that are invisible or faint at optical wavelengths but bright in infrared emission." (p.30.)

"From Earth, we can see the radiated ETC heat as a time variation from the rotational and orbital motions of the planet around its host star as alien cities rotate onto the side of the planet facing Earth." (p.33.)

"The three largest infrared-sensitive scopes now in their planning stages (the Giant Magellan Telescope; the Thirty Metre Telescope and the European Extremely Large Telescope) might be capable of detecting 10HZ planets and, if scientists are lucky, perhaps one highly advanced ETC..." (p.35.) HZ is habitable zone.

"A telescope with a primary mirror about 250 feet (77 metres) in diameter, however, could find hundreds of Earth-sized or larger HZ planets, and perhaps dozens of ETCs, using a sensitive coronagraph - and the technology to build such an instrument exists." (p.35.)

Fermi's paradox: (click here)

The same day as I read the above article, I was also reading a book "Turing's Cathedral: The Origin of the Digital Universe," by George Dyson. Pantheon Books. New York. 2012. ISBN 978-0-375-42277-5.

In the year 2000, Dyson, interviewed 91 year old Edward Teller (click here to read about Teller.) Teller had been one of those present at Los Alamos, "...in 1950, when the subject of extraterrestrial beings came up over lunch..." (p291) with Enrico Fermi. Fermi's paradox was therefore 50 years old, and Dyson asked Teller "...how Fermi's question is holding up?" (p.291.)

""Let me ask you," Teller interjected, in his thick Hungarian accent. "Are you uninterested in extraterrestrial intelligence? Obviously, not. If you are interested, what would you look for?"

"There's all sorts of things you can look for." I answered. "But I think the thing not to look for is some intelligible signal...Any civilisation that is doing useful communication, any efficient transmissions of information will be encoded, so it won't be intelligible to us - it will look like noise."

"Where would you look for that?" asked Teller.

"I don't know..."

"I do!"

"Where?"

"Globular clusters!" answered Teller. "We cannot get in touch with anybody else, because they choose to be so far away from us. In globular clusters, it is much easier for people at different places to get together. And if there is interstellar communication at all, it must be in the globular clusters."

"That seems reasonable," I agreed "My own personal theory is that extraterrestrial life could be here already...and how would we necessarily know? If there is life in the universe, the form of life that will prove to be most successful at propagating itself will be digital life, it will adopt a form that is independent of the local chemistry..." (p.290.)

An interesting set of views.