Trip 40: UFOs

Last year Nasa held its first ever public meeting on UFOs – or UAPs, as they’re now calling them: unidentified anomalous phenomena. Despite the inconclusive nature of the disclosure, the Nasa meeting confirmed that aliens are back on the agenda.

Should the left care about the existence of E.T? In this Trip episode, the ACFM gang explore the impact of UFOs on our politics and culture, with music from Sun Ra, The Carpenters and true believers Blink 182.

What are the connections between UFO conspiracies and right-wing thought? Why do some communists think aliens will bring about world revolution? Does Fermi’s paradox mean we’re not alone in the universe? And can Keir and Jem convince Nadia to give a crap about ufology?

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Books: Mark Pilkington – Mirage Men / Susan Lepselter – The Resonance of Unseen Things / Carl Jung – Flying Saucers / Erich von Däniken – Chariot of the Gods / H. G. Wells – The War of the Worlds / A. M. Gittlitz – I Want To Believe / Kim Stanley Robinson – Aurora

Music:
 Blink 182 – Aliens Exist / Sheb Wooley – The Purple People Eater / Sun Ra – Interplanetary Music / The Carpenters – Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Space / Pink Floyd – Interstellar Overdrive / Flying Saucer Attack – The Season Is Ours / Radiohead – Subterranean Homesick Alien / The Byrds – Hey Mr. Space Man

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley and Chal Ravens. PRS licence number: LE-0016481