As to hallucinations, there have been a number of people since the '60's who function very well in responsible jobs despite having them. You may not hear much about them since the problem can be an embarrassment. They quickly understand to ignore walls moving as if breathing or rainbow colored rain in a clear sky. If you encounter a potential hallucination, quickly ask yourself some "bandwidth" questions: Can I feel it? smell it? hear it? and so on. The more senses are involved, the less able the brain is able to simulate reality. It is strange that I do not perceive continuous panic or intense advocacy or depressive paralysis from many skeptics as to UFO and related phenomena. If eyewitness information is to be ignored so completely and written off as unreliable, then much of our legal system is worthless and little better than selecting individuals for punishment randomly ( which worked well for Stalin). Likewise, many of the most dramatic encounters come from airline pilots or law enforcement officers or those charged with defense of our nation - even those who literally "have their finger on the button" of nuclear missiles. If they are all lying or hallucinating, I wonder why some skeptics even bother with any hope, investment or child rearing in an environment in which we depend for our lives on such people. "I hope you enjoyed flying with us". More than that, these people are often the most competently trained, experienced and vetted as to accurate observation relative to the general population. There is a 'law of unintended effects" that needs attention in our collective opinions about science and reality. Anything taken to an extreme can cause a result that is the opposite of what was intended --- and I believe that the persistent denial of UFOs and related psychic phenomena is now encouraging an anti-science public outlook - contrary to what skeptics think. If you keep encountering opinions that would classify you as a fool, you may stop listening altogether. Reality , as a concept, seems to be drifting away from common sense into a rarified ivory tower world of merely what some "approved" scientists say it is - and that "approved" can mean no foreigners allowed, also! ( Are results from Russian or Japanese scientists really given the same credibility? Italians? How about Mexican officials?) Let's add medicine to the denial destruction of scientific reality: So, marijuana has no medical uses according to the Federal government ( two days ago). Really? Are people expected to deny the evidence of their own bodies direct experience? They don't actually feel good because the government says otherwise? Is this a brick apartment building held together by mass hypnosis, a la Monty Python? Do I need a computer and range finders to guide me across a street busy with traffic? Or can I take my life in my hands and use intuition to cross like everybody else? There isn't a day that passes that I don't witness the abuse of what is termed science by authorities and cold fusion has been but one example. I really fear we may evolve into a situation in which the investigation of ANY subtle or intermitent anomaly becomes impossible because of "spin", bias, pseudo-skepticism, superficial debunking or "elegant" theories that act as a permanent barrier to the discovery of truth.
