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RL Poole is a high-functioning autistic researcher, lecturer, and best selling author who has recently taken the world by storm with his insightful discoveries, and approaches to problem solving in research, garnering results which are unique to his type of intellect.
A Life Member of American Mensa, RL has what is considered an “Untestable” IQ. He exceeds the limits of IQ tests in certain areas which makes him an unknown quantity. This has manifested itself in making numerous discoveries in the field of megalithic research, and is widely considered the worlds foremost expert on the Coral Castle, even by other researchers.
Recognized by Graham Hancock as his Author of the Month twice, his discoveries have gotten him noticed by not only other researchers, but also by nation-wide shows like Coast to Coast AM with George Noory, where he has been a featured guest three times, and was hand-picked by Prometheus Entertainment to be their featured expert on the History Channel’s hit show, UnXplained: with William Shatner in Season 1 Episode 2, and again in Season 5 Episode 9.
His latest book, Beneath the Haunted Sky: The Evidence for Alien Abduction, chronicles his personal experiences with the phenomenon in a stark and honest way, while producing matter-of-fact evidence which pushes back against the denial of skepticism in a way which is powerful and profound.
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It’s very important to go beyond an earth-centric Bible and an earth-centric god/logos to a more multi-galactic consciousness. It’s not enough to have Earth and an afterlife heaven. Let religion tell us about existence and salvation of aliens who are older and more advanced than Homo sapiens sapiens.
Fringe / Cutting Edge are worth contemplation and credentials.
R. L. Poole — Concise, Defensible Biography
R. L. Poole is an independent researcher, lecturer, and author working at the intersection of anomalous phenomena, epistemology, and scientific culture. He is the author of Cosmic Blindspot: Why Neil deGrasse Tyson Is Wrong about UFOs and The Haunted Sky: The Evidence for Alien Abduction, two works that critique mainstream dismissals of UFO/UAP and abduction-related data.
Poole is a Life Member of American Mensa, indicating performance at or above the 98th percentile on an accepted intelligence measure. He publicly identifies as autistic and emphasizes pattern recognition, systems analysis, and anomaly detection as central features of his research approach.
His work focuses less on proving specific extraterrestrial hypotheses and more on examining how institutional science defines evidence, manages uncertainty, and responds to persistent anomalies that do not fit prevailing explanatory models.
Positioning Poole Among Vallée, Mack, and Hynek (Without Overreach)
Poole is best situated within a lineage of critical insiders and outsiders who challenged how anomalous data are handled—rather than among those who claimed definitive answers.
Jacques Vallée (closest parallel)
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Like Vallée, Poole:
- Rejects simplistic “nuts-and-bolts ET” explanations
- Emphasizes patterns, historical continuity, and symbolic consistency
- Argues that UFOs represent a phenomenon interacting with human perception and culture
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Unlike Vallée:
- Poole does not have institutional scientific credentials in astronomy or computer science
- His work is more polemical and cultural than technical
John Mack (methodological parallel)
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Like Mack, Poole:
- Treats experiential testimony (abductees, witnesses) as data
- Separates the reality of experience from claims about literal physical causation
- Challenges the reflexive pathologizing of anomalous reports
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Unlike Mack:
- Poole does not operate within clinical psychiatry or academic medicine
- His conclusions are philosophical and epistemological rather than therapeutic
J. Allen Hynek (late-career resonance)
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Like Hynek (post–Project Blue Book), Poole:
- Argues that early dismissal of UFO reports was premature
- Highlights how institutional pressures distort scientific judgment
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Unlike Hynek:
- Poole is not conducting primary field classification or statistical analysis
- His role is interpretive rather than programmatic
In short:
Poole occupies a space as a secondary theorist and critic of scientific culture, not a primary data-collecting scientist. His contribution lies in questioning frameworks, not settling ontologies.
What R. L. Poole Gets Right in
Cosmic Blindspot: Why Neil deGrasse Tyson Is Wrong about UFOs
Poole’s strongest contributions in Cosmic Blindspot are not claims about aliens—but critiques of how science communicates uncertainty and anomaly.
1. He correctly identifies a category error in popular science communication
Poole is right that figures like Tyson often:
- Conflate lack of explanation with lack of phenomenon
- Treat unresolved data as if it were already resolved in the negative
This is not how frontier science actually works. Historically, persistent anomalies often precede paradigm shifts.
2. He highlights institutional bias, not just individual skepticism
Poole correctly frames the issue as cultural and institutional, not personal:
- Funding incentives
- Reputational risk
- Media simplification of scientific caution into ridicule
This aligns with well-documented sociology of science (Kuhn, Feyerabend, Lakatos).
3. He defends eyewitness and pilot testimony as conditional evidence
Poole does not claim testimony is conclusive proof—but he is correct that:
- Trained observers (pilots, radar operators) are not equivalent to casual witnesses
- Consistent testimony across decades warrants structured investigation, not dismissal
This position is now partially validated by recent UAP reviews acknowledging data gaps rather than outright debunking.
4. He exposes rhetorical overreach by scientific skeptics
Poole accurately observes that some skeptics:
- Speak outside their domain expertise
- Use ridicule rather than methodological critique
- Apply evidentiary standards inconsistently (extraordinary claims only when inconvenient)
This critique is fair, even if one disagrees with Poole’s broader implications.
= = = = =
R. L. Poole is an independent author and Mensa-level thinker who contributes to the UFO discourse by critiquing scientific dismissal of unresolved anomalies. His work aligns most closely with the epistemological challenges raised by Jacques Vallée and the experiential openness of John Mack, while remaining outside mainstream academic research. His primary contribution lies in questioning how science decides what it is allowed to study.
To people who have wanted to present deGrasse Tyson as some expert who mistakenly can argue against Aliens and UFOs,
R. L. Poole’s insistence that the USS Nimitz (2004) Tic Tac incident be raised in any public debate with Neil deGrasse Tyson is strategic and substantive, not rhetorical. The Nimitz case directly undermines the style of dismissal Tyson typically uses when discussing UFOs/UAP.
Here’s why Poole is right to foreground it.
Why the USS Nimitz Is a Debate-Killer for Blanket Skepticism
1. It is multi-sensor, multi-platform evidence
Tyson often argues that UFO claims rely on:
- Poor-quality visuals
- Single witnesses
- Anecdotes without instrumentation
The Nimitz case contradicts that narrative. It includes:
- AN/SPY-1 radar data
- FLIR (infrared) imagery
- Visual confirmation by multiple trained pilots
- Corroboration across different ships and aircraft
This removes the “it’s just a blurry video” dismissal entirely.
2. The witnesses are elite, trained observers
Poole emphasizes the Nimitz pilots because Tyson frequently downplays eyewitness reliability.
In this case:
- Cmdr. David Fravor and Lt. Cmdr. Jim Slaight were U.S. Navy fighter pilots
- They were trained specifically to identify aircraft, drones, balloons, and atmospheric effects
- Multiple pilots independently reported the same object behavior
Poole’s point:
You cannot dismiss this testimony using the same standards applied to casual civilian sightings.
3. The observed performance exceeds known technology
The Tic Tac object reportedly demonstrated:
- Instantaneous acceleration
- No visible propulsion
- Hypersonic speed without heat signatures
- Controlled descent from ~80,000 feet to sea level
Tyson often responds to such claims by saying:
“Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”
Poole’s counter is sharper:
This is extraordinary evidence of an anomaly — regardless of the explanation.
One does not need to assert aliens to admit:
- The observed capabilities do not match known U.S., Russian, or Chinese systems (as of 2004)
- The data cannot be dismissed as sensor error without special pleading
4. The U.S. government now treats it as unidentified, not debunked
A key reason Poole insists on the Nimitz case is that it is officially unresolved.
- The Pentagon released the footage
- AATIP and later UAPTF acknowledged the incident
- No authoritative prosaic explanation has been confirmed
This puts Tyson in a difficult position:
- Either he knows something classified officials do not
- Or he is overstating scientific certainty for public consumption
Poole’s critique is about epistemic honesty, not belief.
5. It exposes a rhetorical weakness in Tyson’s public stance
Tyson’s public commentary often:
- Emphasizes probability and cosmic scale
- Shifts discussion away from specific cases
- Frames UFO interest as a misunderstanding of science
Poole insists on Nimitz because it forces specificity:
- A date
- A location
- Named witnesses
- Instrumented data
Once specificity is required, generalized skepticism loses traction.
Why Poole Thinks Tyson Avoids This Case
Poole’s implied argument is not that Tyson is dishonest, but that:
- Tyson is optimized for science education and public reassurance
- UFOs threaten public misunderstanding of science
- Therefore anomalous cases are rhetorically minimized rather than carefully bracketed
The Nimitz incident resists minimization.
The Deeper Point Poole Is Making
Poole is not saying:
“The Nimitz proves aliens.”
He is saying:
“The Nimitz proves that the scientific community does not yet understand everything occurring in controlled military airspace — and pretending otherwise is unscientific.”
That position is difficult to refute without:
- Ignoring the data
- Or redefining skepticism as dismissal
Bottom Line
R. L. Poole insists on the USS Nimitz because it:
- Forces skeptics into case-by-case analysis
- Exposes the limits of rhetorical skepticism
- Demonstrates that UFOs/UAP are a legitimate unresolved scientific and defense problem
- Undercuts the claim that “there’s nothing there”
In a public debate, Nimitz doesn’t prove Poole right about ontology —
but it does make Tyson wrong about epistemic closure.
The Amazon blurb for Cosmic Blindspot is priceless:
“The debate Neil deGrasse Tyson never wanted… is finally here.
Armed with Tyson’s own words, RL Poole dismantles his dismissals of UFOs in a point-by-point takedown that exposes the blind spots, contradictions, and arrogance of mainstream skepticism. From military encounters to classified science, from abductee trauma to media manipulation—this book delivers the fight Tyson avoided, and proves that ignoring 90% of the evidence is not science, it’s cowardice.”
Steefen said:
Fringe / Cutting Edge are worth contemplation and credentials.
Nice sleight of hand. Only two days ago in ** you do not have permission to see this link ** you were distancing yourself from fringe.
The video comes from COAST TO COAST AM OFFICIAL:
Millions of listeners on more than 600 stations in the U.S. tune in to hear discussions on news and current events, conspiracy theories, paranormal phenomena, time travel, alien abduction, and all things curious and unexplained
It doesn’t hurt my feelings -sniff- too much but this thread would have fit nicely into my already existing ‘Multiple Space Jesuses’ thread. Anyway…
Steefen could you expand on your conception of what you call “a more multi-galactic consciousness”? Is this an acknowledgement that intelligent alien life might exist or a certainty that they do exist? I would consider the former an interesting speculation and the latter simply an act of faith no different than believing in demons and angels. But that’s just me.
As far as Neil deGrasse Tyson, I have been somewhat critical of his approach myself. He is a popularizer and popularization tends to oversimplification. But in most cases he is trying to distill often complicated subjects into a form digestible to a popular audience. A noble task and seldom wholly satisfying to tenured researchers. But it is most telling that True Believers always go after the popularizers and seldom critique the tenured researchers.
As for Mr Poole, I suppose I am forced to simply accept his claim that his is a unique intellect. But having the imprimatur of Graham Hancock is not nearly as impressive as you and others seem to think. And neither is citing the ** you do not have permission to see this link ** as one of your research projects.
But that is mere quibbling. Here for me is the real problem, the actual nub of the biscuit. As a self-proclaimed Argumentation Expert you seem woefully misinformed about the actual nature of argumentation. Namely the so-called “Argument from Authority”, i.e., argumentum ad verecundiam.
The classic Appeal to Authority has both an invalid and a valid form. An example of a valid appeal would be saying that the consensus among NT scholars is that Mark was the earliest of the NT gospels. Markan Priority. This appeal is valid because this is the consensus view of the people who know the material best. Another example would be the issue of human caused Climate Change. It is the consensus view of the specialists who know the subject best that we are experiencing human caused climate change. (And the few scientists who dissent all seem to work for the fossil-fuel industry, but that’s probably a coincidence.)
Sooo…an Appeal to Authority is not invalid if the person you are appealing to is an actual authority. (And of course what makes them an authority is that they understand the actual arguments, can describe their methodological approach and delineate how they reached their conclusions.)
But when Mr Poole’s book blurb cites his lifetime membership in MENSA, don’t you see that this is a classic invalid Appeal To Authority? The fact that he tests in the upper 2nd percentile of an accepted intelligence measure in no way validates his opinion on any specific subject whatsoever. Smart people believe in lots of goofy ideas. They’re just better at rationalizing the goofiness. (I’m not that smart but I do understand goofiness.) Any claim they make is still subject to verification or falsification. And I’ve never heard of any authority on UFOs that wasn’t self-appointed. (The only qualification it seems is to simply call yourself an expert.)
Now, “examining how institutional science defines evidence, manages uncertainty, and responds to persistent anomalies that do not fit prevailing explanatory models” is a wonderful, worthwhile task. To the extent that Mr Poole performs this task I salute him. But is he qualified enough in the field to say anything useful? Sorry to ask but if you think just any Tomika, Dickla or Harriet can come off the street and provide a serious critique of scientific method then you’re fooling yourself.
However, since the UFO field is not a particular area of expertise we can ask Believers how they define evidence, manage uncertainty, and respond to persistent anomalies that do not fit their prevailing explanatory models. Their track record does not withstand scrutiny in my not so humble opinion.
Let’s use the infamous USS Nimitz “incident” as an example.
- Conflate lack of explanation with lack of phenomenon
- Treat unresolved data as if it were already resolved in the negative
Ok, all formal examinations of the UFO phenomena have come to similar conclusions. The vast majority of sightings are natural objects poorly observed. A small minority of sightings are hoaxes outright. But there is a substantial minority of sightings that cannot be explained because of a lack of evidence one way or another. In other words, for this latter category, we don’t have enough data to make a determination.
This latter category includes the USS Nimitz incident. Part of the problem of a lack of data here is institutional and procedural. The Defense (or War now I guess) Department simply will not discuss classified material. Yea or nay. And the cameras that took those intriguing videos are classified. The DOD will not discuss the technical aspects of the imaging. However several civilian experts who are familiar with the technical possibilities have provided explanations for the images that do not require a belief in alien spaceships defying the laws of physics. But… the real answer is that we don’t have enough data to make a determination. We don’t know.
So why is this one of the prime go-to examples provided by UFO believers? If Tyson is wrong to claim that this ambiguity proves that there are no UFOs then he is overstating the case. The most he can claim is there are other more reasonable simpler explanations to account for what we see. But my experience is that most of the UFO “field” sits squarely within these areas of ambiguity. We don’t know what happened so it must have been an alien spacecraft. I can’t think of a single famous UFO incident that doesn’t fall within this category!
Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.
Just because an explanation is possible doesn’t mean it’s probable, or likely. Don’t wag your finger at Tyson when the entire UFO phenomenon relies on just this ambiguity of evidence. Don’t conflate a lack of explanation with presence of a phenomenon. Don’t treat unresolved data as if it were already resolved in the positive.
If you had any actual evidence you would present it posthaste. Oh, wait, I forgot, this is where the dark conspiracies crank up. It’s there but the Powers that Be are hiding it! Sure. Please.
Steefen I expect you to blow me off. But if you want to have an actual conversation I’m ready. But I would rather you blow me off that simply come back with another paste from a chatbot. I want to talk to you.
Stephen’s thread is the opposite of “Aliens are a fact.”
Stephen’s position is more about “Aliens are not a fact.”
Earth is in the Orion Arm, more precisely called the Orion Spur (or Local Arm).
The Milky Way’s two dominant spiral arms are: Perseus Arm and Scutum–Centaurus Arm
Earth is not in one of those major arms. Instead, we are located in: Orion Spur (Orion–Cygnus Arm / Local Arm) A minor spiral arm / spur positioned between the Perseus Arm (outer) and the Sagittarius–Carina Arm (inner), roughly 26,000 light-years from the galactic center
In modern terms, the Sun lies in the solar neighborhood of the Milky Way, but ancient cosmology (and Space Jesuses) collapsed the entire celestial firmament, never extending into the true spatial scale of even the nearest stars. I doubt first century cosmology had a diameter of even 1 light year from underworld to Highest Heaven.
This thread does not belong in the Space Jesuses thread.
As far as I can tell, R.L. Poole has no credentials whatsoever, scientific or otherwise. Yet “he brilliantly takes on ** you do not have permission to see this link **.”
We also read in his Amazon blurb for Beneath the Haunted Sky:
“The implications of this hard-hitting scientifically presented evidence are staggering when juxtaposed against the pseudo-science of UFO denial.”
Orwell would be proud.
If the above doesn’t give one pause, ** you do not have permission to see this link ** should, where we learn among other things that he has been “abducted by the Greys numerous times over the last 40 years.” Because of their physical issues the Greys “eventually sought to combine their genetics with humans to create a new species.” He estimates that “some 100,000 people are being abducted at any one time. According to Poole, there are separate groups of aliens visiting us who have different agendas– he categorized them as ranchers, wranglers, and rustlers. The Greys, he compared to ranchers, as they take him, sometimes heal him from injuries, and then put him back– similar to how livestock are treated.”
If curious, one could peruse some of his ** you do not have permission to see this link **
He “DESTROYS Einstein in 90 SECONDS,” and has a ‘SCATHING TAKEDOWN OF PHYSICISTS MK AND NDT.”
Am I alone in thinking of the WWE?
Steefen just to clarify since you’re obviously not paying attention. The point of the Multiple Space Jesuses thread was to discuss the influence that the discovery of alien life might have on religion in general and Christianity in particular. Some thinkers, including religious ones, have given the matter some thought. That influence could be interpreted as broadly as possible. I am pleased that the thread still generates conversation.
I realize you prefer doing a solo but I was trying to be inclusive. You will remember a while back we had some discussion about repetitive and duplicate threads being created. Robert has continued to try to streamline the discussions quite properly as part of his duties as moderator. (At one point we had three “Annunaki” threads going simultaneously.) I had no intention of trying to marginalize you. On the contrary I was inviting you in to join the rest of us. Never mind. Have it your way. I responded to your post. Having made my point and shown due diligence I withdraw.
Comment 12 from BJH
As for as you can tell …
Steefen:
is your Comment #7 – did not go through the points of his position in the interview in the video
Can you ever exhibit reasoning? Can YOU DISCUSS points being made? You want people to have discussions with you. Can you listen to points being made, agree or make a rebuttal?
You do not seem capable of flowing a debate. Can you follow a discussion?
You want to discuss. Well, what did you say about Comments 3, 4, 5, 6?
Comment 13 from Stephen
You have not provided a response to Comment 11.
The cosmological view of the early 1st century was only
The first century cosmological map, simplified is:
Highest Heaven
Middle Heavens
Lower Heaven
Earth
Underworld.
That’s the only Space/Cosmos in “Space Jesues” AND you’re saying you’re not referencing Richard Carrier?
What does Space Jesus (singular or plural) have to do with the two arms of the Milky Way galaxy?
What does Space Jesus have to do with interstellar existence? Your Space Jesus and Logos is out of scope in modern astronomy. Your Space Jesus was crucified in space? Did your Space Jesus ascend out of the Solar System? Probably not.
Do your Book of Genesis say anything about the plural Elohim traveling from outside our Galaxy or down into our galaxy to go past the two major spiral arms of the Milky Way to the Orion arm/spur of our spiral galaxy to “create” earth?
Your thread does not have the scope of this thread.
If you want to say Space Jesus as Logos created material existence, Platonism, Middle Platonism, and Neo-Platonism did not know how many arms were in the Milky Way Galaxy.
The Milky Way is part of the Local Group, a collection of over 50 (with some sources saying over 100 or 130+) galaxies bound by gravity, dominated by the Milky Way, the Andromeda Galaxy, and the Triangulum Galaxy, with most other members being much smaller dwarf galaxies. The exact number varies as new, faint dwarf galaxies are discovered, but it’s a large cluster of hundreds of billions of stars spread across 10 million light-years.
The scope of first century astronomy as shown above has “arms that are too small to box with God.” First century astronomy is not even 1 light year in diameter. You cannot fit 50 galaxies in your little first century scope of astronomy.
Did Genesis tell us the Elohim created 50 galaxies?
Did Genesis tell us the Elohim created 50 stars before creating the star of our solar system?
Did Genesis tell you the Elohim created a planet with an advanced civilization before or after Homo sapiens sapiens were created?
Did Genesis tell you the Elohim did this Creation thing millions of times or billions of times or trillions of times, if not more?
Our Holy Bible’s scope is not big enough to box with modern astronomy.
This thread does not belong in the Space Jesuses thread.
God is supposed to be a great being.
Aliens are supposed to be less than God.
You cannot take Jesus out of the Roman Empire.
You cannot put extraterrestrial beings in client kingdoms inside the Roman Empire.
Gospel of John brought up that nonsense about Jesus being some cosmic Logos speaking the cosmos into existence.
You cannot say Jesus is a cosmic savior where the knee of all creatures of the Milky Way galaxy must kneel to your Space Jesus.
Jesus was a Homo sapiens sapiens member. Some aliens are more advanced than 1st century Homo sapiens sapiens.
God and Jesus/Logos are supposed to be more omniscient and more omnipresent than telepathic aliens. The biblical Jesus was not.
For me Jesus is on his last leg. If the Gnostic Jesus is not saving human souls, then humans need to let Christianity go.
Steefen said:
is your Comment #7 – did not go through the points of his position in the interview in the video
Can you ever exhibit reasoning? Can YOU DISCUSS points being made? You want people to have discussions with you. Can you listen to points being made, agree or make a rebuttal?
You do not seem capable of flowing a debate. Can you follow a discussion?
You want to discuss. Well, what did you say about Comments 3, 4, 5, 6?
Wow! Talk about an overreaction. But you do that often, don’t you?
As for my inability to ever exhibit reasoning or follow a discussion, why not ask other members with whom I’ve actually had a discussion?
I’ve tried repeatedly, especially in the last month or so, to converse with you on various topics but with very little success. However, I’ve not been alone in this, have I? Or other members’ attempts over the last ten years or so? Why do you suppose that is?
Couldn’t you at least give me some credit for Comment 7? Change my F to a D+? I did point out that the source of your video is dubious and clearly violates the ** you do not have permission to see this link ** agreed upon.
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