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Intelligence Squared · 2026-05-19 · 33 min · 5,467 words

Chasing Aliens, with Jon Ronson and Daniel Lavelle (Part One)

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Welcome to Intelligence Squared, where great minds meet. I'm producer Mia Sorrenti. Today's episode is part one of our recent live event with All World Prize-winning journalist Daniel Lavelle. Lavelle joined us at Conway Hall to discuss America's obsession with UFOs, aliens and the search for meaning beyond Earth. In conversation with journalist and podcaster John Ronson, Lavelle drew on his new book, Chasing Aliens, to reflect on a journey through America's UFO heartlands, from fringe believers and mysterious rituals to leading scientists and government insiders.

The images and video clips discussed here can be found linked in the episode description. Let's join our host John Ronson now live at Conway Hall. Hi, I'm John Ronson. I'm very excited to introduce Danny Lavell, talking about his new book, Chasing Aliens. Danny is great.

He's an Orwell Prize-winning journalist. His first book, Down and Out, was published in 2022 and won a Royal Society of Literature Award for non-fiction writing. And this is his new book. Before I bring Danny out, if you'll allow me, I nearly wrote a book about chasing aliens and and it didn't work out and I rarely get the opportunity to talk about it. So can I quickly tell you about the book I nearly wrote that was close, that was very similar to this.

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