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At least the Pope is ready (Getty)
It is not often that congressional hearings launch a golden week of memes. Last Wednesday, a subcommittee began questioning former Air Force intelligence officer David Grusch, who has accused the US Department of Defence of concealing a long-standing programme that retrieves and reverse-engineers alien spacecraft that crash on Earth. Congressmen are struggling to take him seriously. The tone of the chair, Wisconsin’s Glenn Grothman, was facetious, telling the capacity crowd that they were watching “the most exciting subcommittee in Congress this week”. But Grusch’s claims have inspired an enormous amount of interest, as well as a lot of jokes.
Most professional commentators are far more interested in the question of whether a US government department has been lying to congress than in whether aliens actually exist. In a recent column, the New York Times’s Ross Douthat questioned the credibility of a long-standing conspiracy, noting that the scope and depth of the secrets involved would be too vast to withhold. For most online commentators, meanwhile, this congressional hearing is simply entertainment. Even if either camp thinks it’s proper that the US government is looking for evidence of extraterrestrial life, neither seems inclined to ask: what if they find it? Those who ask “are there aliens?” rarely seem to ask “so what if there are aliens?”.
It’s easy to see why we might not take seriously the idea that alien spacecraft have crashed on Earth, not least because the Pentagon released its much-hyped and long-awaited report on UFOs last year, maintaining that there is no definitive evidence that aliens have set foot here. But if a government department really has been withholding information, we might question the validity of that report. Still, even the late-night radio hosts who speculate about various alien species — “grays”, “reptilians” — are more interested in the question of whether aliens exist than how we should react if they do. Should we make plans? Should we think about it in the same way as, say, the possible deceleration of the pivotal North Atlantic current system that shapes our global climate? Should we be scared?
Unlike climate change, the possibility of an alien apocalypse doesn’t seem to inspire much fear. Orson Welles’s radio adaptation of H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds caused a minor stir — nothing like the nationwide panic that some would later claim — and Ray Santilli’s 1995 film allegedly depicting an autopsy of an alien from the infamous 1947 Roswell crash invoked curiosity but was also debunked. Indeed, the ways in which our culture has imagined aliens are more likely to reveal human anxieties than genuine curiosity about what might exist beyond Earth. Popular dramas such as The X-Files, Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival often revolve around conspiracies or hoaxes of human origin — until the revelation of extraterrestrial life serves as a deus ex machina, subsequently obscured or left unexplained.
These narratives are often less about the aliens themselves and more about illuminating societal fears, challenging authority and questioning institutional integrity. Even Andrei Tarkovsky’s masterful 1972 adaptation of Stanislaw Lem’s novel Solaris — perhaps the most “realistic” depiction of humans reacting to an unusual planetary life form — doesn’t examine the long-term implications of our global society merging with that of another species. Introspection is easier than imagining something totally unprecedented.
The trouble is, the more knowledgeable we’ve become as a species, the less humble we’ve become about our ignorance. We too often assume that things we haven’t yet found don’t exist, and don’t take seriously the alternative. Here, we might benefit from emulating the wisdom of Epicurean philosophers. Democritus, and Epicurus himself, considered the existence and even the potential habitation of other worlds a likely outcome of the random collision of the atoms that they believed had formed the universe. Metrodorus of Lampsacus, a disciple of Epicurus, compared the idea of our world being the only one to “a single ear of wheat growing on a vast plain“, emphasising the unlikelihood of such a scenario. And the Roman Epicurean poet Lucretius proclaimed: “Nothing in the universe is unique and alone and therefore in other regions there must be other earths inhabited by different tribes of men and breeds of beasts.” Even though these ancient philosophers brought forth the concept of other worlds, they too did not directly grapple with the “so what?” aspect of the idea. Their wisdom primarily lay in recognising the limitlessness of the universe, acknowledging rather than truly grappling with the existence of the unknown.
However, then as now, such claims failed to shake the foundations of the dominant philosophy. Unlike the Epicureans, Aristotle and his followers were fundamentally empirical in their approach, focusing on what could be observed, studied and understood through our senses. One of Aristotle’s central doctrines was the principle of noncontradiction; the existence of multiple worlds, especially inhabited ones, would have introduced paradoxes and ambiguities that his philosophy was not prepared to accept. Today, our natural inclinations lead us towards the Aristotelian perspective. We gravitate to the observable, the testable and the verifiable. Perhaps this is a constant throughout history, though — an immutable human instinct: this near-inability to engage with the truly abstract and unobservable, the preference to focus on the immediate and tangible.
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SubscribeiI am quite happy to accept the existence of alien life but a number of things puzzle me.
If aliens have the technology to visit earth from half way across the galaxy, why would they bother? It is the equivalent of us going bug – hunting – Perhaps it is their version of a kiddie’s hobby.
Why, if they are so advanced are they incapable of studying us, without themselves being, at least fleetingly, observed doing so? Have they not discovered stealth spaceships? Conversely, if they wish to be seen, why don’t they declare themselves?
Why do their spaceships crash on arrival? It is the alien equivalent of Columbus crossing the Atlantic Ocean, only for his ship to promptly sink when he dropped anchor.
Why, when us primitive earthlings can use unmanned drones to fight wars, do alien civilisations insist on sending manned ships? They can surely monitor earth from afar and decide whether it is just harmless, or just mostly harmless, without visiting in person.
The answer to all these questions is 42.
Honestly! Do you really think these questions have never been considered by those who have studied the UFO problem for decades? Unfortunately, when members of the thinking classes deign to apply their lofty intellect to the issue they tend to come up with the most pedestrian of ‘insights’ which they imagine would not have occured to lesser minds.
Anyway, Dr Jacques Vallée, long a researcher into UFOs and the paranormal, has speculated that many UFO events seem to be a ‘control phenomenon’ and should not be taken at face value. Vallée, himself has taken the study of UFOs well beyond the gormless popular notion of little grey chaps from outer space.
Aliens may well exist but the distance between suns is vast and the laws of physics are universal.
Perhaps an entirely electromechanical life form would be capable of visiting other solar systems but as you say, why would they bother. There’s also the vast time scale of the universe to consider. All human existence will effectively be the blink of an eye. Temporal coincidence is unlikely. Personally I don’t expect humans to ever encounter a single alien.
THIS is the key point. The closest stars to the Sun are a few light years away, and most are hundreds, thousands, or millions of light years away. So if such aliens exist it will take them a very, very long time to travel to earth if they could travel at the speed of light, which they cannot.
Travel at or near the speed of light requires immense amounts of energy. Nothing that we have discovered, including nuclear fusion, is capable of generating enough energy for the journey.
So the laws of physics make it essentially impossible for aliens to visit Earth, or for us to visit them.
Why would they come here in any case? Radio and TV signals from earth have been broadcast into space since the 1930’s (as famously depicted in Contact. So they only aliens that could be aware of our existence are less than 90 light years from Earth. This severely limits the number of alien civilizations (if any exist) that could be aware of us.
Our best chance of encountering alien life is through radioastronomy in the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) project. And, so far, no dice.
Agreed.
The speed of light, the distances between suns, and required temporal coincidence make the prospect of encountering aliens infinitesimally small.
We do not live in a Star Trek or Star Wars universe.
You have obviously never heard of warp speed
Oh everyone has heard of warp speed. But, back in the real world we have to work within the laws of physics.
Oh everyone has heard of warp speed. But, back in the real world we have to work within the laws of physics.
A conventional mind will reach conventional conclusions as you so clearly demonstrate.
Agreed.
The speed of light, the distances between suns, and required temporal coincidence make the prospect of encountering aliens infinitesimally small.
We do not live in a Star Trek or Star Wars universe.
You have obviously never heard of warp speed
A conventional mind will reach conventional conclusions as you so clearly demonstrate.
THIS is the key point. The closest stars to the Sun are a few light years away, and most are hundreds, thousands, or millions of light years away. So if such aliens exist it will take them a very, very long time to travel to earth if they could travel at the speed of light, which they cannot.
Travel at or near the speed of light requires immense amounts of energy. Nothing that we have discovered, including nuclear fusion, is capable of generating enough energy for the journey.
So the laws of physics make it essentially impossible for aliens to visit Earth, or for us to visit them.
Why would they come here in any case? Radio and TV signals from earth have been broadcast into space since the 1930’s (as famously depicted in Contact. So they only aliens that could be aware of our existence are less than 90 light years from Earth. This severely limits the number of alien civilizations (if any exist) that could be aware of us.
Our best chance of encountering alien life is through radioastronomy in the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) project. And, so far, no dice.
Honestly! Do you really think these questions have never been considered by those who have studied the UFO problem for decades? Unfortunately, when members of the thinking classes deign to apply their lofty intellect to the issue they tend to come up with the most pedestrian of ‘insights’ which they imagine would not have occured to lesser minds.
Anyway, Dr Jacques Vallée, long a researcher into UFOs and the paranormal, has speculated that many UFO events seem to be a ‘control phenomenon’ and should not be taken at face value. Vallée, himself has taken the study of UFOs well beyond the gormless popular notion of little grey chaps from outer space.
Aliens may well exist but the distance between suns is vast and the laws of physics are universal.
Perhaps an entirely electromechanical life form would be capable of visiting other solar systems but as you say, why would they bother. There’s also the vast time scale of the universe to consider. All human existence will effectively be the blink of an eye. Temporal coincidence is unlikely. Personally I don’t expect humans to ever encounter a single alien.
iI am quite happy to accept the existence of alien life but a number of things puzzle me.
If aliens have the technology to visit earth from half way across the galaxy, why would they bother? It is the equivalent of us going bug – hunting – Perhaps it is their version of a kiddie’s hobby.
Why, if they are so advanced are they incapable of studying us, without themselves being, at least fleetingly, observed doing so? Have they not discovered stealth spaceships? Conversely, if they wish to be seen, why don’t they declare themselves?
Why do their spaceships crash on arrival? It is the alien equivalent of Columbus crossing the Atlantic Ocean, only for his ship to promptly sink when he dropped anchor.
Why, when us primitive earthlings can use unmanned drones to fight wars, do alien civilisations insist on sending manned ships? They can surely monitor earth from afar and decide whether it is just harmless, or just mostly harmless, without visiting in person.
The answer to all these questions is 42.
Brian Cox makes the point that whilst it didn’t take long for life to begin on Earth it took a third of the age of the universe for humans to evolve and then another 200000 years for anything like a civilisation to develop.
And even then there were a number of cosmic occurrences that were necessary even for THIS to happen – the stability provided by the presence of the moon, the extinction of the dinosaurs, the extent to which Jupiter protects us with its gravity etc etc.
The good professor therefore concludes that simple life is probably abundant; intelligent life vanishingly rare. Not a very comforting thought, but I think probably the truth.
As the author states in the article we are merely reflecting our own fears. The existence of other intelligent life would mean we at least had company and weren’t alone in the ceaseless dark.
Then there is the question of whether humans are intelligent or not, a moot point to be sure. We still behave in very apish (ape-ish?)ways in spite of Aristotle.
Humans, in the words of the legendary scholar Xabruphus.9 of Betelgeuse, are just intelligent enough to formulate theories about physics which change radically from one century to the next, but not intelligent enough to imagine anything which might exist beyond the limits of their present understanding; despite the obvious fact that their knowledge of past centuries, while often laughable by modern standards, was considered just as certain and immutable by the vast majority of the most intelligent contemporaneous humans.
Your grasp of Xabruphus.9 is unparalled.
We do not have company and we are alone in the ceaseless dark.
Maybe we should all try to get along.
Not to single you out for what is a common claim and a presumably heartfelt belief, I think after learning of the existence of other intelligent life we would likely still find ourselves feeling quite alone in the universe, or in the ceaseless dark, as you put it. Unless these NHIs, like angels, do swoop in and save us with a new, enhanced kind of companionship, or, say, a safe, inexhaustible form of energy, a cure for cancer, warp speed technology, abundant food and water for all, etc etc—whatever is on our wishlists—you’ll probably still have to work your lousy (or beloved) job, still have to pay taxes, still get toothaches, and still feel that same alienation humans are prone to.
Chimpanzees, dolphins, and grey parrots are NHIs. They may not be able to do calculus, but they are sentient beings living right here on Earth with us, sharing our known, mundane reality. Yet, we feel no less alone in the universe for their existence. Why should it be different with other extraterrestrial or interdimensional species? Add to that the possibility the cognitive and experiential gulf between us and these potentially alien NHIs as described—with their far advanced technologies—might be as profound as the cognitive and experiential gulf between us and chimpanzees, dolphins, and grey parrots.
Having said that, if we could benefit from their advanced technologies, such as better energy sources, whether by sharing or by reverse engineering, of course it might change our lives and the world for the better.
Humans, in the words of the legendary scholar Xabruphus.9 of Betelgeuse, are just intelligent enough to formulate theories about physics which change radically from one century to the next, but not intelligent enough to imagine anything which might exist beyond the limits of their present understanding; despite the obvious fact that their knowledge of past centuries, while often laughable by modern standards, was considered just as certain and immutable by the vast majority of the most intelligent contemporaneous humans.
Your grasp of Xabruphus.9 is unparalled.
We do not have company and we are alone in the ceaseless dark.
Maybe we should all try to get along.
Not to single you out for what is a common claim and a presumably heartfelt belief, I think after learning of the existence of other intelligent life we would likely still find ourselves feeling quite alone in the universe, or in the ceaseless dark, as you put it. Unless these NHIs, like angels, do swoop in and save us with a new, enhanced kind of companionship, or, say, a safe, inexhaustible form of energy, a cure for cancer, warp speed technology, abundant food and water for all, etc etc—whatever is on our wishlists—you’ll probably still have to work your lousy (or beloved) job, still have to pay taxes, still get toothaches, and still feel that same alienation humans are prone to.
Chimpanzees, dolphins, and grey parrots are NHIs. They may not be able to do calculus, but they are sentient beings living right here on Earth with us, sharing our known, mundane reality. Yet, we feel no less alone in the universe for their existence. Why should it be different with other extraterrestrial or interdimensional species? Add to that the possibility the cognitive and experiential gulf between us and these potentially alien NHIs as described—with their far advanced technologies—might be as profound as the cognitive and experiential gulf between us and chimpanzees, dolphins, and grey parrots.
Having said that, if we could benefit from their advanced technologies, such as better energy sources, whether by sharing or by reverse engineering, of course it might change our lives and the world for the better.
Brian Cox makes the point that whilst it didn’t take long for life to begin on Earth it took a third of the age of the universe for humans to evolve and then another 200000 years for anything like a civilisation to develop.
And even then there were a number of cosmic occurrences that were necessary even for THIS to happen – the stability provided by the presence of the moon, the extinction of the dinosaurs, the extent to which Jupiter protects us with its gravity etc etc.
The good professor therefore concludes that simple life is probably abundant; intelligent life vanishingly rare. Not a very comforting thought, but I think probably the truth.
As the author states in the article we are merely reflecting our own fears. The existence of other intelligent life would mean we at least had company and weren’t alone in the ceaseless dark.
Then there is the question of whether humans are intelligent or not, a moot point to be sure. We still behave in very apish (ape-ish?)ways in spite of Aristotle.
It’d be a big surprise if aliens didn’t exist. Why we don’t see them is the question I wonder about. Yet we already have some answers for this. Our literature (e.g. Star Trek) imagines a space age humanity that seeks not to disturb unaware natives. We seek to preserve and put conservations areas for the non-human life we have on earth and value life even if we see it below us. I don’t see why aliens would be so different.
The Voyager 2 spacecraft has been travelling for 50 years and in that time has covered 0.02 light years. Our nearest neighbour star in space, other than our own sun is Proxima Centauri, which is over 4 light years distant. If Voyager 2 was headed in that direction it would require 10,000 years to get there. The diameter of our galaxy, the Milky Way, is 105, 700 light years. It would take Voyager 2 a staggering 264 million years to cross from one side to the other. Of course our own galaxy is only an infinitesimal speck in the universe so travelling to other galaxies would take Voyager trillions of years… many times the age of the universe.
Keep in mind also that if a fast means of travel could be devised where an appreciable fraction of the speed of light could be approached the occupants of the spacecraft would experience time dilation. During any flight lasting several years centuries would pass on Earth. Everyone and everything would be gone back home before any destination could be reached. Civilizations on Earth might rise and fall and, if the voyage was sufficiently long, the human race itself might evolve and change out of all recognition. The occupants of the spacecraft might appear to be akin to early hominids to the beings back on Earth.
The Voyager 2 spacecraft has been travelling for 50 years and in that time has covered 0.02 light years. Our nearest neighbour star in space, other than our own sun is Proxima Centauri, which is over 4 light years distant. If Voyager 2 was headed in that direction it would require 10,000 years to get there. The diameter of our galaxy, the Milky Way, is 105, 700 light years. It would take Voyager 2 a staggering 264 million years to cross from one side to the other. Of course our own galaxy is only an infinitesimal speck in the universe so travelling to other galaxies would take Voyager trillions of years… many times the age of the universe.
Keep in mind also that if a fast means of travel could be devised where an appreciable fraction of the speed of light could be approached the occupants of the spacecraft would experience time dilation. During any flight lasting several years centuries would pass on Earth. Everyone and everything would be gone back home before any destination could be reached. Civilizations on Earth might rise and fall and, if the voyage was sufficiently long, the human race itself might evolve and change out of all recognition. The occupants of the spacecraft might appear to be akin to early hominids to the beings back on Earth.
It’d be a big surprise if aliens didn’t exist. Why we don’t see them is the question I wonder about. Yet we already have some answers for this. Our literature (e.g. Star Trek) imagines a space age humanity that seeks not to disturb unaware natives. We seek to preserve and put conservations areas for the non-human life we have on earth and value life even if we see it below us. I don’t see why aliens would be so different.
If it’s printed in the New York Slimes, that is good reason for supposing that it is not true. That rag of a paper isn’t fit for lining birdcages.
If it’s printed in the New York Slimes, that is good reason for supposing that it is not true. That rag of a paper isn’t fit for lining birdcages.
‘Pope Francis has even stated that space aliens could seek baptism — a benevolent thought, to be sure, but an anthropocentric one.’
When I was in the Army (Military Survey) in the late 70s we had something called character training on a Wednesday. We would pick a subject and discuss and debate it with three men of God. Three different denominations. One day we picked, ‘Is there life outside of Earth?’ and one churchman, the Rev. Mitchell, stated that, if any were to be found, he would relish the task of taking the word of God to them. A friend of mine popped his head above the parapet and asked, ‘Reverend, has it ever occured to you that we may be the targets of their missionary zeal?’. The RC padre laughed his socks off. It certainly made me think more carefully.
‘Pope Francis has even stated that space aliens could seek baptism — a benevolent thought, to be sure, but an anthropocentric one.’
When I was in the Army (Military Survey) in the late 70s we had something called character training on a Wednesday. We would pick a subject and discuss and debate it with three men of God. Three different denominations. One day we picked, ‘Is there life outside of Earth?’ and one churchman, the Rev. Mitchell, stated that, if any were to be found, he would relish the task of taking the word of God to them. A friend of mine popped his head above the parapet and asked, ‘Reverend, has it ever occured to you that we may be the targets of their missionary zeal?’. The RC padre laughed his socks off. It certainly made me think more carefully.
“Extraterrestrial life, should it exist, may be so fundamentally different from our life on Earth that we might not even recognise it as “life” at all. We may not be sure if it appears among us.”
It may not recognise us as ‘life’ either, of course. Our activities may seem to it as little deserving of that epithet as the interaction of elementary particles does to us. And its timescales may be different. A billion years might scarcely register.
“Extraterrestrial life, should it exist, may be so fundamentally different from our life on Earth that we might not even recognise it as “life” at all. We may not be sure if it appears among us.”
It may not recognise us as ‘life’ either, of course. Our activities may seem to it as little deserving of that epithet as the interaction of elementary particles does to us. And its timescales may be different. A billion years might scarcely register.
I’ll stop dismissing it when there’s some proof.
I, however, will keep an open mind until there is proof of either existence or nonexistence.
You cannot prove non existence it’s like trying to prove a negative. The best you can say is highly improbable
This subject reminds me of the futile debates between famous atheists and clergymen of past decades. As if there is a giant Frankenstein laboratory switch that flips between “The God of Abraham” and “The complexity of nature is a purely accidental result of spontaneous evolution.” Because of course no other possibilities can be imagined. Don’t nobody go listenin’ to that ole Ramana Maharshi or Pramahansa Yoganada, nor dem ole Taoist hermits who were spoutin’ all dat jazz before Abraham came down de pike! What the hell do dem cats know?
This subject reminds me of the futile debates between famous atheists and clergymen of past decades. As if there is a giant Frankenstein laboratory switch that flips between “The God of Abraham” and “The complexity of nature is a purely accidental result of spontaneous evolution.” Because of course no other possibilities can be imagined. Don’t nobody go listenin’ to that ole Ramana Maharshi or Pramahansa Yoganada, nor dem ole Taoist hermits who were spoutin’ all dat jazz before Abraham came down de pike! What the hell do dem cats know?
You cannot prove non existence it’s like trying to prove a negative. The best you can say is highly improbable
I, however, will keep an open mind until there is proof of either existence or nonexistence.
I’ll stop dismissing it when there’s some proof.
“There might be no shared basis for understanding…”
Sort of like blue vs. red in the U.S. today.
“There might be no shared basis for understanding…”
Sort of like blue vs. red in the U.S. today.
My wife and I were driving in the early afternoon from SFO to San Francisco a few years back. We saw the classic flying saucer — flat on the bottom with a domed top — drifting west toward the Pacific a couple of thousand feet or so above the crowded freeway traffic. It was identical to the photos in a book my mother bought a half century before. Hundred of people in cars could not help but see this UFO when we did, and there was a small ho-hum article about the sighting a day or two later in the SF Chronicle. This sort of stuff has been old news for a long time and the media largely ignores sightings or reports them in grinning elbow-in-the-ribs style. I have always assumed governments have concealed what they know because of fears of some sort of earthquake-like collapse of civilizational and social values. It’s interesting to learn the Catholic Church is giving the matter some thought and the Hellenic philosophers did likewise. I have also assumed whoever or whatever these beings are have been slowly making their awareness known out of sympathetic don’t-scare-the-horses reasons or for more strategic causes. Would they intervene in some way if they came to believe that the loose handling of nuclear weapons threatened our extinction?
My wife and I were driving in the early afternoon from SFO to San Francisco a few years back. We saw the classic flying saucer — flat on the bottom with a domed top — drifting west toward the Pacific a couple of thousand feet or so above the crowded freeway traffic. It was identical to the photos in a book my mother bought a half century before. Hundred of people in cars could not help but see this UFO when we did, and there was a small ho-hum article about the sighting a day or two later in the SF Chronicle. This sort of stuff has been old news for a long time and the media largely ignores sightings or reports them in grinning elbow-in-the-ribs style. I have always assumed governments have concealed what they know because of fears of some sort of earthquake-like collapse of civilizational and social values. It’s interesting to learn the Catholic Church is giving the matter some thought and the Hellenic philosophers did likewise. I have also assumed whoever or whatever these beings are have been slowly making their awareness known out of sympathetic don’t-scare-the-horses reasons or for more strategic causes. Would they intervene in some way if they came to believe that the loose handling of nuclear weapons threatened our extinction?
Good news for those of us jaded by endless variations of the Roswell story, never ending repeats of the Rendlesham Forest story and repeat showings of those US Navy ‘Tic Tac’ videos. We are about to get a new a spookier take on the UFO mystery with a soon to be released documentary on The Collins Elite.
Not to be confused with the office stationery of the same name The Collins Elite are a group of investigators inside The Pentagon who believe that JPL founder Jack Whiteside Parsons opened ‘a portal’ to a demonic world back in the late 1940s by performing extreme magic rituals devised by Satanist Alistair Crowley. The theory is that this opening allowed through evil supernatural entities who appear to us as Aliens in super high-tec craft but are actually demons intent on consuming human souls.
Be interesting to see how that plays out in the MSM – and it could give Nick Redfern’s career a boost.
Good news for those of us jaded by endless variations of the Roswell story, never ending repeats of the Rendlesham Forest story and repeat showings of those US Navy ‘Tic Tac’ videos. We are about to get a new a spookier take on the UFO mystery with a soon to be released documentary on The Collins Elite.
Not to be confused with the office stationery of the same name The Collins Elite are a group of investigators inside The Pentagon who believe that JPL founder Jack Whiteside Parsons opened ‘a portal’ to a demonic world back in the late 1940s by performing extreme magic rituals devised by Satanist Alistair Crowley. The theory is that this opening allowed through evil supernatural entities who appear to us as Aliens in super high-tec craft but are actually demons intent on consuming human souls.
Be interesting to see how that plays out in the MSM – and it could give Nick Redfern’s career a boost.
This says it all:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1Ba4BbH0oY
Worked well as a BBC Radio 4 series (imagination is always better than tacky special effects), was rubbish as a BBC TV series and hopelessly ill-conceived as a big-screen movie.
Agreed, but I still enjoyed the actual ‘destruction’ scene!
Agreed, but I still enjoyed the actual ‘destruction’ scene!
Worked well as a BBC Radio 4 series (imagination is always better than tacky special effects), was rubbish as a BBC TV series and hopelessly ill-conceived as a big-screen movie.
This says it all:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1Ba4BbH0oY
Big difference between the scientific fascination as to whether there just might be organic forms of life below the ice crust and near the volcanic vents of Europa and little Green men hopping round the stratosphere teasing us as to their presence in flying saucers.
Big difference between the scientific fascination as to whether there just might be organic forms of life below the ice crust and near the volcanic vents of Europa and little Green men hopping round the stratosphere teasing us as to their presence in flying saucers.
That there is alien life elsewhere in the universe, of that I have no doubt. That any of it has ever visited our planet, of that I am much more skeptical. While the romantic in me wishes that UFOs were, in fact, alien spacecraft, the skeptic in me can only conclude that there are probably more quotidian explanations.
That there is alien life elsewhere in the universe, of that I have no doubt. That any of it has ever visited our planet, of that I am much more skeptical. While the romantic in me wishes that UFOs were, in fact, alien spacecraft, the skeptic in me can only conclude that there are probably more quotidian explanations.
I made this comment several hours ago in reply to a comment by polidori redux:
Below-the-line comments that have been posted since then simply illustrate that point. All the tired old stuff about the vastness of the Universe, the impossibility of faster than light travel, the probability (or not) of intelligent life, humanity’s (alleged) fear of being alone. And of course let’s not forget those chin-stroking wiseacres who claim to be sceptical while keeping an open mind. Has anybody said “extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof” yet? It can only be a matter of time before that old chestnut is posted.
I made this comment several hours ago in reply to a comment by polidori redux:
Below-the-line comments that have been posted since then simply illustrate that point. All the tired old stuff about the vastness of the Universe, the impossibility of faster than light travel, the probability (or not) of intelligent life, humanity’s (alleged) fear of being alone. And of course let’s not forget those chin-stroking wiseacres who claim to be sceptical while keeping an open mind. Has anybody said “extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof” yet? It can only be a matter of time before that old chestnut is posted.
If the idea that a visiting alien is bipedal, oxygen breathing, grey, naked, with a penchant for showing off in front of our aircraft and abducting yokels isn’t proof our ‘thinkers’ spend little time thinking then ascribing foolish religious superstition to something possibly plant, insect or a bacterial community based, makes me question their ability to think at all.
If the idea that a visiting alien is bipedal, oxygen breathing, grey, naked, with a penchant for showing off in front of our aircraft and abducting yokels isn’t proof our ‘thinkers’ spend little time thinking then ascribing foolish religious superstition to something possibly plant, insect or a bacterial community based, makes me question their ability to think at all.
Sort of a tempest in a teapot here. If we were being visited by aliens ( always a possibility from a philosophical standpoint ), why would the evidence of such visits be the exclusive domain of government agencies? Shouldn’t we expect that at least a few of these hypothetical visits would result in some civilians bumping into hard, physical evidence?
This article equates healthy skepticism, demonstrated in an evidence-based inquiry, with arrogance. I think that’s hogwash. If aliens want to visit, fine. Let them make their presence known. Until then, we are right to take a less than credulous approach to the whole question.
Sort of a tempest in a teapot here. If we were being visited by aliens ( always a possibility from a philosophical standpoint ), why would the evidence of such visits be the exclusive domain of government agencies? Shouldn’t we expect that at least a few of these hypothetical visits would result in some civilians bumping into hard, physical evidence?
This article equates healthy skepticism, demonstrated in an evidence-based inquiry, with arrogance. I think that’s hogwash. If aliens want to visit, fine. Let them make their presence known. Until then, we are right to take a less than credulous approach to the whole question.
If one is disposed to imagine that the mysterious experiences claimed by certain aircraft pilots can only be accounted for by invoking some very advanced technology, which is more likely? That these supposedly alien craft came from literally billions of miles away on journeys taking thousands of years or more, or else that they are AI drones constructed by ancient terrestrial intelligence thousands or millions of years ago, perhaps solar-powered and equipped with the capacity to self-repair over countless millennia, long after the final extinction of their creators? I don’t say the latter is remotely probable: I would give it no more than a one-in-a-million chance; but it still seems a lot more likely than the idea of genuine space aliens, the probability of which would seem to be more in the one-in-a-million-billion-zillion ballpark.
If one is disposed to imagine that the mysterious experiences claimed by certain aircraft pilots can only be accounted for by invoking some very advanced technology, which is more likely? That these supposedly alien craft came from literally billions of miles away on journeys taking thousands of years or more, or else that they are AI drones constructed by ancient terrestrial intelligence thousands or millions of years ago, perhaps solar-powered and equipped with the capacity to self-repair over countless millennia, long after the final extinction of their creators? I don’t say the latter is remotely probable: I would give it no more than a one-in-a-million chance; but it still seems a lot more likely than the idea of genuine space aliens, the probability of which would seem to be more in the one-in-a-million-billion-zillion ballpark.
Our author seems to think it is a useful expenditure of people’s tax £/$’s having a plan for the presence of aliens on earth. How depressing.
Lighten up, Francis.
Lighten up, Francis.
Our author seems to think it is a useful expenditure of people’s tax £/$’s having a plan for the presence of aliens on earth. How depressing.
I accept the principles, but given the media are hiding everything real behind false stores for last few years is a huge red flag! Why now? I don’t think anything has ever entered our planet, that doesn’t me other alien life doesn’t exist but it’s nonsense it has happened here! They use UFO and AI now as exercises to hide behind, all used to be huge conspiracy theories! The true things happened are now called conspiracy like one world government being established through CBDCs and central banking, digital ID, and moving to a technocratic society. Governments across the world have a plan to reduce population, and it’s happening now!!
I accept the principles, but given the media are hiding everything real behind false stores for last few years is a huge red flag! Why now? I don’t think anything has ever entered our planet, that doesn’t me other alien life doesn’t exist but it’s nonsense it has happened here! They use UFO and AI now as exercises to hide behind, all used to be huge conspiracy theories! The true things happened are now called conspiracy like one world government being established through CBDCs and central banking, digital ID, and moving to a technocratic society. Governments across the world have a plan to reduce population, and it’s happening now!!
The important dimensions here are time, distance, and speed….light speed. An explosion on the sun wouldn’t be felt here for 8 minutes, the time it takes light to get here.
And, if you’re lucky enough to see the collision of Stephan’s Quintet through Hubble, what you’re seeing now happened 280,000,000 years ago…when earth was in the “pre-dinosaur” Permian Period.
So space is big. And old. And unless you (or something visiting us) can travel in excess of the speed of light, it doesn’t seem feasible to me.
Still, more chance of that than God.
The important dimensions here are time, distance, and speed….light speed. An explosion on the sun wouldn’t be felt here for 8 minutes, the time it takes light to get here.
And, if you’re lucky enough to see the collision of Stephan’s Quintet through Hubble, what you’re seeing now happened 280,000,000 years ago…when earth was in the “pre-dinosaur” Permian Period.
So space is big. And old. And unless you (or something visiting us) can travel in excess of the speed of light, it doesn’t seem feasible to me.
Still, more chance of that than God.