Diana Pasulka: a religious study of UFOs and nonhuman intelligences

Today, the Spotlight shines On Diana Pasulka, religious studies professor and the author of two books I have really enjoyed in the last few years: 2019’s American Cosmic: UFOs, Religion, Technology and Encounters: Experiences with Non-Human Intelligences, released in November 2023.

As Diana points out in her work and in our discussion, religious studies is not about the veracity of any particular religion or religious claim, instead, it is about the implications of belief on the believers and the societies they live in. As you will hear, this led to Diana’s interest in other groups of ‘believers’, namely people who claim to have had experiences with UFOs and other non-human intelligences. 

A big part of this work involves talking with and spending time with the so-called ‘experiencers,’ not only of UFOs but of angels, demons, and other types of perceived sentience and consciousness, including AI.

Another strand of Diana’s work, which we only briefly touched on but may be of specific interest to listeners of this podcast, is the role of media in shaping and reinforcing belief - and how context, presentation, and repetition shape perceived ‘truth’ about topics for which there is no objective or agreed upon fact. For example, Diana relays cases of experiencers who report interactions with crafts or beings that do not look like stereotypical flying saucers or little gray aliens. Even in the community of ufologists, those cases get criticized or dismissed because the reports are not what UFOs or aliens are supposed to look like. 

In our hour together, we covered a fraction of the ground I would have liked to cover, so we are linking to Diana’s website, books, and other resources in the show notes. 

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Dig Deeper

Visit Diana Pasulka at dwpasulka.comFollow Diana Pasulka on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter (X)Purchase Encounters: Experiences with Nonhuman Intelligences from Macmillan, Bookshop, or AmazonBe sure to peruse this episode's exhaustive show notes at spotlightonpodcast.com

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