computer science

Mutual UFO Network

Mutual UFO Network is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mutual UFO Network rather than just read about it. In short: The Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) is a US-based non-profit organization composed of civilian volunteers who study reported UFO sightings. It is one of the oldest and largest organizations of its kind, claiming more than 4,000 members worldwide with chapters and representatives in more than 43 countries and all 50 United States.

Key takeaways

Mutual UFO Network belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mutual UFO Network to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mutual UFO Network from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) is a US-based non-profit organization composed of civilian volunteers who study reported UFO sightings. It is one of the oldest and largest organizations of its kind, claiming more than 4,000 members worldwide with chapters and representatives in more than 43 countries and all 50 United States. The organization has been criticized for its focus on pseudoscience, and critics say its investigators fail to use the scientific method.

History MUFON, Inc. was originally established as the Midwest UFO Network on May 31, 1969, in Quincy, Illinois, by Allen R. Utke, Walter H. Andrus Jr., John F. Schuessler, and others. Most of MUFON's early members were associated with the SKYLOOK newsletter of Stover, Missouri and the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO), formerly of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. MUFON was renamed the Mutual UFO Network in 1973 because of its expansion to other states and countries. In 2013, Jan Harzan spoke at a UFO symposium. He was the executive director of MUFON at the time. During his talk, he said that something strange happened to him as a child. He claimed that a "humming" alien visited him when he was young. In July 2020, Harzan was arrested in Newport Beach, California. The arrest was for trying to solicit sex from someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl. But the "girl" was actually an undercover law enforcement officer. In response to the arrest, MUFON leadership reported that Harzan had been "permanently removed" as the organization's Executive Director, and "[Harzan] will no longer serve any role in the organization."

Operation MUFON is currently headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, has chapters in every U.S. state, and claims to have over 4,000 members worldwide. It holds an annual international symposium and publishes the monthly MUFON UFO Journal. In 2015, MUFON founded Mutual UFO Network University, an unaccredited online institution which seeks to train members to investigate UFO sightings. The group claims more than 500 field investigators and specialized teams to investigate possible physical evidence of extraterrestrial craft. The network trains volunteers to interview witnesses, perform research, and draw conclusions from the evidence. Although investigators are not paid, they must pass both an exam based on a 265-page manual, and a background check. MUFON features a newsroom and case management system on its website.

Criticism

Pseudoscience According to science writer Sharon A. Hill, MUFON's focus is "decidedly unscientific with talks on alien abduction, conspiracy theories, human-ET hybrids, hypnotic regression, and repressed memories", and reflects "a wide range of pseudoscience". MUFON has been the subject of criticism for drifting away from their original "nuts and bolts UFO investigation" into "bizarre conspiracy and exopolitics talk". The organization receives large numbers of UFO reports every year; the qualifications of the amateur volunteers examining the reports, however, have been questioned. Hill wrote that MUFON's idea of scientific researchers "appears to be people who are not scientists or propose fantastic, anti-science tales".

Officers and donors with far-right viewpoints An April 2018 article in Newsweek reported evidence of "anti-immigrant, anti-trans, anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic sentiments" among MUFON officials, including MUFON donor J. Z. Knight and former MUFON State Director for Pennsylvania John Ventre, both of whom have publicly expressed racist and/or antisemitic views, and are described in the article as "high-tier Inner Circle donors to MUFON". The expressed far-right viewpoints "kicked off a wave of anger and resignations across MUFON", including former MUFON Director of Research Chris Cogswell (who stated, "My internal conscience would not let me continue") and former board member and Washington State Director James Clarkson (who stated, "Remaining in MUFON in any capacity is morally unacceptable.") Erica Lukes, former MUFON State Director for Utah, is also reported in the article as describing MUFON as "an organization unwilling to adequately address sexual harassment". In 2020, Vice magazine reported that Ken Pfeifer, head of MUFON's Rhode Island chapter, posted racist memes and comments on Facebook during the height of national Black Lives Matter protests.

Popular culture MUFON has been mentioned in:

Television The 2008 Discovery Channel documentary miniseries UFOs Over Earth The 2008 History Channel series UFO Hunters The X-Files series The History Channel's series Ancient Aliens Hangar 1: The UFO Files series 9-1-1: Lone Star series, season 3 episode 6 "The ATX-Files"

News The New York Times article "People Are Seeing U.F.O.s Everywhere, and This Book Proves It" Forbes article "MUFON, America's UFO Experts, Discuss Roswell And Possible Cover-Ups"

References

External links

Official website. See archives over the years by Internet Archive. MUFON UFO Journal archive.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mutual UFO Network

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mutual UFO Network claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mutual UFO Network before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mutual UFO Network ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mutual UFO Network

In research: Mutual UFO Network appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mutual UFO Network in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mutual UFO Network is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics American organizations established in 1969, Non-profit organizations based in Ohio, Organizations based in Cincinnati, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mutual UFO Network outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mutual UFO Network in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mutual UFO Network means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mutual UFO Network out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mutual UFO Network in simple terms?

Why does Mutual UFO Network matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mutual UFO Network?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mutual UFO Network.