Confronting Unknowns
MIT's first Independent Activity in sensemaking.
Role: Creator and lead instructor. Program Engineer and Lecturer, MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering.
What it is
MIT's first Independent Activity in sensemaking, applied to non-human intelligence, aerospace safety, and unidentified anomalous phenomena. It is an Independent Activity, not a for-credit course or degree program. The first cohort convened in January 2026: 55 participants over two intensive days on the MIT campus, plus a voluntary writing workshop. Participants came from institutions including MIT, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, MIT Haystack Observatory, Harvard, Yale, Carnegie Mellon, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, the CIA, Americans for Safe Aerospace, Airbus US Space and Defense, and Shield AI. The cohort rated it 9 of 10 for value added.
The artifact
Verification
The MIT-hosted page names the creator and lead instructor.
Coverage
TIME's August 17, 2026 cover story, "America Is Finally Taking Extraterrestrials Seriously" by Jeffrey Kluger, quotes Miller and names Confronting Unknowns.
Cite this
Related
Dual-Use Ventures (MIT course) · Appearances · Full archive · Press