Michael Shermer: The Only Skeptic on the Alien Task Force

Michael Shermer: The Only Skeptic on the Alien Task Force

From Into the Impossible With Brian Keating by Big Bang Productions Inc.

July 15, 2026 · 1h 8m

About this episode

Michael Shermer discusses his role as the skeptic on the White House’s UAP task force and his views on evidence-based thinking regarding aliens.

Michael Shermer just joined the White House’s new UAP task force alongside Avi Loeb. He also has a $1,000 bet with Loeb that we won’t find aliens by 2030. Both things are true. Subscribe if you want science with evidence, not speculation. Shermer is the founding publisher of Skeptic magazine, author of Truth, and one of the most consistent voices for evidence-based thinking in public life. He was recruited onto the task force as the devil’s advocate. His job: be the skeptic in the room. He’s not a believer. He’s not even a neutral. He bet $1,000 against it. Shermer has been following the UFO story since the early ’90s. He’s heard every disclosure promise. He’s still waiting. What changed is that now he’s in the room — and his job is to be the hardest person in it to convince. What you’ll hear: -Why the post-truth thesis is self-defeating the moment anyone argues for it What Avi Loeb’s first ground rules reveal about what the task force actually is -Leslie Kean’s own numbers: 90-95% explained, and what lives in the residue -Why the extraordinary terrestrial hypothesis collapses under a simple counterfactual -Brian’s case against the fine-tuning argument and why the universe is…

People in this episode

Host: Brian Keating

Guest: Michael Shermer

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Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Skeptic magazine, White House

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